• misk
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    3 hours ago

    Won’t the tariffs incentivise domestic production and give work to more regular folks? There’s also less stuff to be hauled around the world so there’s environmental benefits too. Sounds like a leftist idea to me.

    • ampersandrew@lemmy.world
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      54 minutes ago

      We don’t have infrastructure to produce a lot of the components in the things we buy, and even if we did, it would inherently cost a lot more to produce than in the countries that are about to have tariffs placed on them. That the US ever was a manufacturing powerhouse was, in my understanding, a very “place and time” sort of deal after World War II. Not only were all of our competitors recovering from being bombed, but we also advanced to a services based economy very quickly, raising the standard of living beyond a point that manufacturing jobs can typically afford to support. I’m no economist though; I just watch one on YouTube, and “the middle income trap” is a frequent topic.

      • misk
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        32 minutes ago

        Tariffs can serve as a stimuli to build out local manufacturing capacity, which sounds pretty leftist to me. I understand arguments for laissez faire policies but at heart they are liberal and not left. It’s the refusal to accept it that led to far right being as popular as it is.

        • ampersandrew@lemmy.world
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          17 minutes ago

          Anyone promising to return people to previously prosperous economic conditions will be popular, even if people don’t know that the promise can’t possibly be delivered. Coal isn’t coming back either, and there’s no “clean” version of it, but if all you’ve done in your life is coal, you’ll vote for the guy who says he’s bringing coal back.