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by JavaBatman
2086 days ago
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That's what the rich countries did to get rich. Germany, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, and the US. The US was the most protectionist country in the world from 1814 - 1914. Alexander Hamilton's "American System" (tariffs, national banks, infrastructure investment) was basically national policy for 100 years until the US got rich enough to compete with the other great powers and then adopted free trade. It inspired Friedrich List and Germany, which inspired Japan, which inspired Korea, which inspired Deng Xiaoping and China. |
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This was a time when the US government was gradually becoming more globalized by transitioning its funding from tariffs over to income tax instead.
Once you get rich enough on your own, then it seems like you should be able to afford all kinds of cheap stuff from all kinds of less prosperous places.
But if not reduced and replaced by something else, the tariffs could be more than the cost of the cargo.
By shifting the financial support of Washington's efforts from those having the wherewithal to move things around the globe back then, over to ordinary working people today, it has enabled global merchants to bring more cheaper stuff every decade and more people are getting by with a less worthy dollar than ever before.
Speaking of less prosperous places Haiti is just one where wealth has been systematically removed more thoroughly these same centuries, and it can be considered _almost_ as an island over the long term.
On the other half of the island in the Dominican Republic, wealth has been less thoroughly removed by corresponding global efforts over the same period, so fortunately they are not as non-prosperous today.