[TheRealThing]

Does this mean that you have lost faith in Art Laffer and Stephen Moore now that they have criticized Trump's protectionist moves?

No country has ever taxed itself to prosperity and this country will not be the first to do so.

I agree with you 100 percent about environmental extremists and other liberals being toxic to the economic health of this country, but the reason that the U.S. dominated manufacturing during the late 40s, 50s, and into the 60s was that WWII was not fought on our soil. We rebuilt Germany and Japan, in part, to create an export market for our manufactured goods.

However, Trump's projected $1.2 trillion deficit budget, his amnesty plan for 1.8 million illegal aliens, and his gun control initiatives are not conservative negotiating positions. If you want to continue to blame liberals for what ails this country, you might want to reserve some criticism for the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

These tariffs make no sense to me. China is U.S. Enemy #1, IMO. Only 2 percent of the steel used in this country is imported from China. If Trump was going to punish the bad actors in the global economy and raise prices for American consumers, then he should have wielded a big economic stick at China - not at Canada and the EU.

It remains to be seen whether Canada would really be included.

It is not my intention to come on here and try to act like an economist and I understand all about tariffs. I do trust Laffer and Young, and to a somewhat lesser extent, Kudlow. Laffer said, subsequent to 'The Hill' article in question, that he believes Trump may be using the real threat of tariffs to strengthen our negotiating position on NAFTA. Laffer sees NAFTA as a drag on our economy, because absent normal trade controls based on competition, they have become fat on our substance, and lazy and complacent on NAFTA's guarantees.


I posted the picture of the now idled Armco Steel Mill just to make a point. ALL of the diverse industry that once flourished along the Ohio River valley for the 100 mile or so stretch of which I am familiar, are now closed. I watched the cascading calamity begin to go down soon after the signing of NAFTA. In referencing that particular situation a couple of days ago, Art Laffer said all NAFTA did was create a trade safety net for Canada and Mexico. No matter what goes wrong for them, America is on the financial hook. Once set in motion, terms of the agreement guaranteed that the only entity that could lose money in most foreseeable pitfalls of governed trade, is the US. Consequently we have transferred much wealth to those two countries since signing NAFTA. It is possible that in the minds of some, tariffs though not the best option, may nonetheless still be a preferable last ditch fall back if the other negotiations fail.

Reagan (or his advisors) supposedly came up with the forerunning ideas for what would eventually become NAFTA, back in the early 80's. It is said that if H W Bush had been reelected, a finalized NAFTA would have never been signed. At any rate the original vote went down party lines with no Democrats voting for the bill as signed between H. W. and Mexico. But Bill Clinton was elected, and running against what seemed to be the wishes of his own party, he was all hair-on-fire to get the thing through. Go figure. No matter how we got here or whose fault it is, the plants and mills are gone, as are the jobs. We might not, maybe probably won't, get all the jobs back. But even splitting the odds down the middle for a level playing field would be a tremendous victory for the trades. And we need that element for our society to remain relevant if you ask me.

Following the example and advice of Lyndon Baines Johnson when he advocated for Americans to subsidize the poor through the Great Society Initiative, and to paraphrase what Mark Levin says; America "bought" the world's financial problems. We give money to anybody who can, at least for the short term, be bought. And that is a very replete list.

Every week, if not every day, somebody somewhere comes up with a charge or a case for why Trump will surely fail. It's been ridiculous. To date, the thick smoke of controversy has been completely unwarranted. The establishment and the Deepstate STILL deny 'we the people' the government we elected, by not allowing the administration to properly staff agencies and bureaus. Cabinet changes are nearly out of the question owing to a confirmation process in which it is guaranteed that Dems will do everything possible to deny outright, or drag confirmations out so long that the effect of which is that we are still languishing under Obama administration loyalists. Trump ain't the bad guy here. IF the entrenched establishment would work with him, even if only on a cooperation level of say 25%, things would be waaay better. Instead he's having to fight in effect, something that looks like a coup de etat. The Chinese dictator isn't stupid. He knows as does North Korea, Russia and Iran, that American opposition to their global aspirations will rise and fall with this administration and more particularly the midterms of 2018. Resistance Dems and establishment Republicans should be so proud of themselves.