We Should Just Say "Thanks" Instead
Don Boudreaux argues that we should not retaliate vs. countries who subsidize exports to the US.
I know of no cases in which a country was impoverished, or even
measurably damaged, by its refusal to "retaliate" against alleged
instances of foreign subsidies. This fact, combined with the ease of
abusing the ability to accuse foreign rivals of being subsidized,
counsels strongly in favor of our own government turning a deaf ear to
such accusations.
I have never, ever, ever understood how the average person in the US could actually get mad that a foreign government taxes its people for the sole purpose of subsidizing lower prices in the US. I have the same reaction to "dumping" accusations, where folks get upset that some foreign company is allegedly selling its products in the US below cost. Instead of complaining, I think we should just say "thanks." And maybe "cha-ching!" Nothing like getter over on the taxpayers of China or Japan.
Dan:
When I was living in Japan, I was wishing for some import dumping to take place. Instead I got jacked up prices on rice. Thank you, 700% import tariff.
March 10, 2007, 12:30 amtriticale:
In fact, the "dumping" of commodity ram into the US did much to fuel the computer boom, and generated fortunes for the makers of memory-dependent chips, until Congress ended it on behalf of all the US dynamic ram manufacturers, not that there were a whole lot of those which needed saving.
March 13, 2007, 9:12 pm