Isolationism is a very scary policy.
Thinking that you are going to “bully” your way into making our neighbors to the north and south, into bending a knee to his highness’s stupid tariffs and trade agreements is so dumb.
I’m a United States citizen that believes that what he is attempting to do, will ultimately make our country become an island nation isolated and surrounded by neighbors that simply do not, and won’t play, that game.
I love Canada and Mexico. Look nothing is perfect, but our relationship for hundreds of years has been free of miltary engagement. They leave us to govern the way we want to, and we have allowed them to do the same. We haven’t forced them to change their way of life, or their beliefs, and they have done the same with us.
Not many countries around the world can say that about their neighboring countries. Not in Europe, not in Asia, not in the Mid East, not in Africa.
We have had a unique situation based mostly on mutual respect for each other.
We certainly have had controversial trade agreements over the years. Some were harmful to the United States, and helpful to Mexico and Canada. The standard of living in Mexico increased because of it. Job security was achieved in some industries best suited to be done in Canada.
Politicians and Economists favored the agreements and rationalized the loss of manufacturing jobs away. Apparently, the higher paying jobs the displaced factory workers were left with were flipping burgers, running cash registers, and doing jobs that they had to be re-educated and trained to do. So, in the end we pissed off a whole bunch of people and he used the resulting job loss to fuel the fire of hate.
Trade deficits have blown way out of proportion. At one time, during the Industrial Revolution, the United States exported way more than they imported. Other than Europe, the rest of the world lagged far behind in having the machinery, equipment, and knowledge to compete.
But what they did have was an almost endless supply of manpower that would work for a lower wage than what the United States workforce would work for.
Our undying belief in a capitalistic society, and freedom to pursue massive amounts of money. Along with the belief that the Federal government should be limited in their powerful reach to control corporate decision making, led to “Industrialization” and imports from other countries around the world skyrocketed.
Not everyone was happy with this situation. Far too much dependency on other countries for critical items. Far too much migration caused by good paying jobs. The “capitalistic industrialists” had too much say and power.
To address this major concern, one President decided to enact very high tariffs on all imports. This was back when the Federal government was engaged with a nasty struggle for power against corporate America. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor essentially ended the United States isolationist policy.
The result helped create the Great Depression. The 2 World Wars created a necessary economic unification between countries. Massive amounts of materials and jobs were needed to be done to support the War effort.
Now, times and economic policies have evolved into a World economy. Nations around the world trade with each other, even during times of conflict. Some legal and some illegal, but it still happens.
The entire world has developed financial relationships, free markets, and a somewhat standardized monetary system. Once upon a time, the value of money being used was based on the value of gold. The world used a gold standard to establish how much a yen, a ruble, a dollar, or a franc was worth.
Today, the gold standard no longer exists. The standard being used now by the majority of the world’s nations is the U.S. dollar.
There are many factors behind why this happened. The issue to remember is that the standard is not locked in and can be changed.
So, keep pushing for higher tariffs and isolationism and soon countries may grow tired of dealing with your economic temper tantrums.
Why would they continue to buy U.S Treasury Bonds or Treasury Bills, if you treat their economic situation as though it is meaningless. They could just as easily just buy Chinese Yen instead.
If they are getting a raw deal on trade with us, they will just shift their imports to other countries, reduce their exports to us, and increase their exports to countries that want to establish fair trade with them.
I have a really bad feeling about the future of the United States of America.
I pray that the harm that is going to occur with our neighbors to the north and south is not permanent or irreparable.
I wish I could them how sorry I am for what he is planning on doing. What little, if any good results come from his actions, they will be short lived and unnecessary.
The guy just isn’t as smart as he thinks he is.
I guess time will tell.
Ruminati 