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Bill Cypher 9mo ago

Your body is a complicated system. There are a lot of factors that interact to decide your overall health. I can still confidently say hitting yourself in the hand with a hammer is bad for you.

The economy is a complicated system. There are a lot of factors that interact to decide the overall health of an economy. I can still confidently say a party that adds no economic value to anyone pocketing a huge chunk of the value of every exchange is bad for the economy.

Every argument I've seen for tariffs might be good is analogous to saying hitting your hand with a hammer might improve your health. Why not, the body is a very complicated system you couldn't possibly know.

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Bill Cypher 9mo ago

I wrote an anti tariff post and all other taxes got caught in the crossfire.

Good, they fucking deserve it.

Taxation is theft but some people seem to miss that tariffs are a class of taxes and therefore also theft.

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wymike 9mo ago

I like the analogy.

Wouldn’t it be more accurate though to compare what is happening to hitting a hand with an assortment of different things interspersed with some healing and then afterwards trying to say which thing did which damage?

Just to be clear I’m not trying to take the position that the tariffs are a good thing. But what examples do we have where an economy as big as the US imposed wide ranging tariffs on its trading partners? I just don’t think it stands to reason to say “look, Iran has 12% tariffs, if we have 12% as well our economy will be like theirs”.

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Bill Cypher 9mo ago

Why is the burden of proof on the people who want the action not to be taken? Shouldn't the burden of proof be on those who want to take action that their action is a benefit?

Setting a sane burden of proof let's start over.

Explain to me how an economically unproductive entity getting a 10% (I know the proposed tariffs vary I just picked a number) cut of the value created by 2 economically productive entities in exchange for nothing in return benefits anyone other than the unproductive entity getting free money?

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wymike 9mo ago

I agree with you.

I never intended to take the position that tariffs are a good thing.

I’m 100% behind the notion that government should be small and have limited power.

I still stand behind my initial assertion though that economists are only making their best guess on what’s going to happen because it’s not a science.