4 ms·

But a 25% tariff isnt going to do that, its just going to make things much more expensive - its another thing if you're trying to do cost adjustment tariffs - a

by Aloha 2y ago

But a 25% tariff isnt going to do that, its just going to make things much more expensive - its another thing if you're trying to do cost adjustment tariffs - and just price in all the externalities (labor cost, regulatory regime, environmental rules, and human rights costs) that US manufacturing must bear - and make it a level playing field - thats not what this is.

emodendroket 2y ago
> labor cost, regulatory regime, environmental rules, and human rights costs These don't strike you as themes they're interested in? They're kneecapping or eliminating regulators and driving up unemployment. Their deportation drives, it's true, are a bit contradictory here, but those have other motivations.
- Aloha 2y ago
  Not particularly, no. I do think they want to create more manufacturing jobs, which in general are a better quality than service ones however.
  - emodendroket 2y ago
    In what sense are they “better”?
    - Aloha 2y ago
      Manufacturing generally provides higher margin than service jobs, so the generally provide better benefits.
      - chii 2y ago
        > Manufacturing generally provides higher margin than service jobs manufacturing jobs outsourced to low cost countries begs to differ. Now of course, you'd argue that those are the bad ones, and the good ones are what you'd want to keep (like semiconductor manufacturing).
      - emodendroket 2y ago
        The opposite is true. The highest-margin stuff is services (like, to choose the obvious one, software). Frankly it seems pretty obvious to me why margins would tend to be lower for manufactured goods, especially commodity ones — you have more inputs besides labor, the primary one a service-oriented business has to worry about. There is a fairly sensible reason we don’t have those jobs. I suppose you have in mind jobs like home health aides. But 1) we really do need a lot of them with an aging population 2) I’m not sure their lives would be improved by working in a textile mill instead.

by Aloha 2y ago

emodendroket 2y ago

> labor cost, regulatory regime, environmental rules, and human rights costs These don't strike you as themes they're interested in? They're kneecapping or eliminating regulators and driving up unemployment. Their deportation drives, it's true, are a bit contradictory here, but those have other motivations.

Aloha 2y ago
Not particularly, no. I do think they want to create more manufacturing jobs, which in general are a better quality than service ones however.
- emodendroket 2y ago
  In what sense are they “better”?
  - Aloha 2y ago
    Manufacturing generally provides higher margin than service jobs, so the generally provide better benefits.
    - chii 2y ago
      > Manufacturing generally provides higher margin than service jobs manufacturing jobs outsourced to low cost countries begs to differ. Now of course, you'd argue that those are the bad ones, and the good ones are what you'd want to keep (like semiconductor manufacturing).
    - emodendroket 2y ago
      The opposite is true. The highest-margin stuff is services (like, to choose the obvious one, software). Frankly it seems pretty obvious to me why margins would tend to be lower for manufactured goods, especially commodity ones — you have more inputs besides labor, the primary one a service-oriented business has to worry about. There is a fairly sensible reason we don’t have those jobs. I suppose you have in mind jobs like home health aides. But 1) we really do need a lot of them with an aging population 2) I’m not sure their lives would be improved by working in a textile mill instead.