Quote:
Originally Posted by nmap
Two points...
First, there does not seem to be a consensus that U.S. standards of living are improving. LINK
A more complete - and, perhaps, more cogent article appears HERE
Now you mention that tariffs or other trade barriers are a form of tax. That certainly seems reasonable. But if we suppose a (government) revenue-neutral mix of taxes, might tariffs be better than some other taxes? For example, if tariffs were high, but income taxes were lowered, would that promote American growth better than does the current mix?
I certainly don't claim to know. But it seems an interesting speculation. |
This is kind of the point I was making.
How many times are relative comparisons made?
Why is nominal income such a big issue?
Again, economic cycles happen.
They don't last forever.
How much does the average person have to labor to get a good or service comparable to what was available 10 years ago?
How much did the average person have to labor 10 years ago to get that same good or service then?
We can always moan and complain about the better deal someone else is getting.
We can always moan and complain about how much faster someone else is climbing.
That doesn't equate to our own situation getting worse.
It's just a case of zero-sum thinking.
The marketplace is competitive.
People have to be willing to change with changing conditions.
If we aren't willing to benefit from cheap goods and services produced elsewhere, another nation will gladly step in and enjoy those benefits.
Granting competitive advantage to some of our citizens, at the expense of other citizens, is just redistribution by another name.