Ghost of Smoot Hawley Tariff Act in the $819B Economic Porkulus Bill

CottonCandyCurls · 01-29-2009, 03:07 PM

It's bad enough that this so called economic stimulus package will do little to stimulate the economy. It requires too much unnecessary spending, borrowing, and inflation. But this bill could be even worse than I imagined. This recession could easily be prolonged into a nasty depression courtesy of clueless bureaucrats.

From the Washington Post:

Quote:

A Senate version, yet to be acted upon, goes further, requiring, with few exceptions, that all stimulus-funded projects use only American-made equipment and goods.

Proponents of expanding the "Buy American" provisions enacted during the Great Depression, including steel and iron manufacturers and labor unions, argue that it is the only way to ensure that the stimulus creates jobs at home and not overseas.

Opponents, including some of the biggest blue-chip names in American industry, say it amounts to a declaration of war against free trade. That, they say, could spark retaliation from abroad against U.S. companies and exacerbate the global financial crisis.

(Full Article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews)

Nappy_curly_crown · 01-30-2009, 12:18 PM

obviously you didn't read the very FIRST 8 words of the quote you supplied "A SENATE VERSION, YET TO BE ACTED UPON" as in they havn't even voted on it yet. The bill that passed the house, did not have this included in it.

CottonCandyCurls · 01-30-2009, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nappy_curly_crown

obviously you didn't read the very FIRST 8 words of the quote you supplied "A SENATE VERSION, YET TO BE ACTED UPON" as in they havn't even voted on it yet. The bill that passed the house, did not have this included in it.

What a silly and reactionary response. I never said that it was in the House version. I read the whole article, I'm not sure you did. There is a reason why I said the ghost of...There is real concern on the Hill that this proviso could be included and among other measures that are recreating the poor government decision-making that prolonged the Great Depression. If you have something of value to add to the conversation, I'd like to hear it. Until then, chill out on the caps lock and boldface.

Nappy_curly_crown · 01-30-2009, 04:33 PM

*sigh* Let me see if I can help u understand.....

You posted an article and a quote from that article. I made a comment based on what you wrote and the title of the thread which both imply that this "ghost of the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act" is included in the current economic stimulus package that was approved by the house, to which I tried to clarify your statement by pointing out that it is not...which is clearly stated in the quote that you supplied. The bold and caps lock was to draw your attention to that part, which I assumed from your passionate tirade, you had not read or simply had over looked.

CottonCandyCurls · 01-30-2009, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nappy_curly_crown

*sigh* Let me see if I can help u understand.....

You posted an article and a quote from that article. I made a comment based on what you wrote and the title of the thread which both imply that this "ghost of the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act" is included in the current economic stimulus package that was approved by the house, to which I tried to clarify your statement by pointing out that it is not...which is clearly stated in the quote that you supplied. The bold and caps lock was to draw your attention to that part, which I assumed from your passionate tirade, you had not read or simply had over looked.

Look what the final bill will look like when passed is up to Congress. It will be passed back and forth between the House and Senate with provision and alterations. Right now it is up with the Senate.

But both of your replies indicate that you are 1) Completely unaware of what the Smoot-Hawley Act was and the effects it had and 2) didn't even bother to read the article.

And here's a simplistic definition of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act from Wikipedia:

Quote:

The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act (sometimes known as the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act)[1] was an act signed into law on June 17, 1930, that raised U.S. tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods to record levels. In the United States 1,028 economists signed a petition against this legislation, and after it was passed, many countries retaliated with their own increased tariffs on U.S. goods, and American exports and imports plunged by more than half. In the opinion of some economists, the Smoot-Hawley Act was a catalyst for the severe reduction in U.S.-European trade from its high in 1929 to its depressed levels of 1932 that accompanied the start of the Great Depression.

You can read more about this act on your own time.

As for the article here's the first paragraph.

Quote:

The stimulus bill passed by the House last night contains a controversial provision that would mostly bar foreign steel and iron from the infrastructure projects laid out by the $819 billion economic package.

Here's the seed of Hooverian protectionism.

Now for the rest of article:

Quote:

A Senate version, yet to be acted upon, goes further, requiring, with few exceptions, that all stimulus-funded projects use only American-made equipment and goods.

Proponents of expanding the "Buy American" provisions enacted during the Great Depression, including steel and iron manufacturers and labor unions, argue that it is the only way to ensure that the stimulus creates jobs at home and not overseas.

Opponents, including some of the biggest blue-chip names in American industry, say it amounts to a declaration of war against free trade. That, they say, could spark retaliation from abroad against U.S. companies and exacerbate the global financial crisis.

The provisions also confront President Obama with his first test on trade policy. He must weigh the potential consequences of U.S. protectionism against the appealing slogan of "Buy American" and the jobs argument.

Now if we get the proposed Senate provision, that is a good indication that Congress is in full protectionism mode which could not come at a worse time. It's one thing to want a chunk of the steel and iron to be domestic as in the House version. It is quite another to be anti-competitive as in the proposed Senate plan.

This is the kind of anti-competive spirit that was ushered in by Hoover and thrived under Roosevelt.

And considering that most all of Obama's appointments are Keynesian and schooled under Rubin, they would most likely enhance the multiplier effects by raising import tariffs (they did it overtime in the Clinton years). Only, then we would be in full Smoot-Hawley territory.

susancnw · 02-22-2009, 08:08 PM

Do you ever catch yourself wondering who is more stupid? Congress or us for electing them (and many of them time after time after time...is no one in Murtha's district in PA paying attention?)

I'm putting together a letter to my Congresswoman...she voted for it and gave me a list of reasons. I am currently putting together rebuttals to her asinine response. Or rather, non-response. When she cuts and pastes the response that her staff puts together, she really needs to make sure that the font and size are the same as her signature...she can't really string a couple of sentences together anyway...her acceptance speech consisted of the words, "oh, I guess I am your new representative...then there was this really weird Valley Girl squeal....scared the crap out of me. So far the two new reps from our state have voted in lockstep with the national party....to the extent that their noses are brown up to their eyeballs.