If we put a massive tariff on all good from overseas...

[DC at the Ridge]

Let's see, raise tariffs so other countries can't afford to export goods into the United States, and oooh, they find other markets for their goods, and since we've just cut our economy off from the rest of the world, we can expect runaway inflation and for countries holding our debt to start demanding payment. You think we'd have to bail out China? We'd be begging China to bail us out, considering how much of our debt China carries. A stagnant economy is a dying economy. Why would we want to commit economic suicide?

[txgolfer130]

Originally Posted by kentuckydad95

...what would happen to retail businesses? For example, put a $40 tax on a currently $10 toaster from Walmart and make it $50. How long would it take before OUR manufacturing gets back on a roll? Of course China would nuke us for that. And then we would have to bail them out because they are "too big to fail."

Talk about destroying our economy. Tariff's are NOT Good or sound economic policy even for a short term on that scale. The world would retaliate in kind and impose even greater counter-tariff's negating any boost or impetus for recovery, and with the tariff war then full blown, our economy would be driven further down with the continued tariff's from our trading "partners".

This single idea would be catastrophic and be akin to cutting off our arms, to spite our fingers, letting us bleed out in the process.

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by DC at the Ridge

Let's see, raise tariffs so other countries can't afford to export goods into the United States, and oooh, they find other markets for their goods, and since we've just cut our economy off from the rest of the world, we can expect runaway inflation and for countries holding our debt to start demanding payment. You think we'd have to bail out China? We'd be begging China to bail us out, considering how much of our debt China carries. A stagnant economy is a dying economy. Why would we want to commit economic suicide?

Exactly. And allmost all of American companies potential sales growth in foreign markets these days. Americans are too far in debt to consume at the levels they did in the previous 15 years. The middle class in a lot of the world has actually been growing. Brazil, China, Russia, and India all have a new class of consumers that emerged only recently. Furthermore, a lot of Asian countries(to say nothing of Europe and the EU) have been making trade agreements to knock down trade barriers.