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Many people might be skeptical of the premise that it's beneficial for the government to manipulate balances of imports and exports.
by civilized 5y ago
Many people might be skeptical of the premise that it's beneficial for the government to manipulate balances of imports and exports.
- colechristensen 5y agoMany people are skeptical that the world is round, when you phrase a statement like that you have the luxury of being right but without having said anything at all because "many" and "skeptical" are extraordinarily vague and trivial to make true about anything. Having trade policy is as old as government, skeptics or not. "Free markets" in the absolute sense have never and will never exist, and talking in absolutes isn't helpful, a "assume a spherical cow" kind of approximation which is just as useful to the real world.
- civilized 5y agoYou could have just as well said "War is as old as government, skeptics or not. 'A peaceful world' in the absolute sense has never and will never exist, and talking in absolutes isn't helpful etc. etc." I'm open to the idea that trade policy is sometimes useful but such a defense of it is facile nonsense. The ubiquity of something across time and space doesn't make it good or pragmatic or savvy or endow it with any other nice quality. Some things, like war, are basically bad, and at best perhaps necessary in some very limited situations.
- thaumasiotes 5y ago> Having trade policy is as old as government, skeptics or not. This isn't even true. Government is much, much older than trade policy.
- someguydave 5y agoEven if the us governmemt adopted a purely neutral stance toward, nearly all of our trade partners have adopted extremely unbalanced trade policies.