I don't think so. I'm certainly somewhere "on the right", but I wouldn't consider myself a populist. I'm too unpopular and won't cater to most Trump-Left policies or Right-Authoritarian policies. I'm not going to support protectionism, and protectionism always has some amount of popular support.
My complaint is that I'd go a lot further in tearing apart the government's regulatory system as it stands because most of those jobs were intentionally disincentive from working in the US, and government agents were actively supporting Chinese interests. Trump did engage in protectionism, but the real damage he did to China came from not supporting them so thoroughly.
Again, the government system incentivized China taking all available manufacturing jobs. Trump disincentivized it. My argument would be be break the restrictions and regulations that form protectoinism within the US so that there would be a larger profit incentive for manufacturing to function in the US. Incentivizing China intentionally and immediately kills manufacturing in America. Disincentivizing China only hurts manufacturing in the long run. The correct answer is to incentivize manufacturing in the US by allowing it to function in a free market where the government doesn't take their shit.
It's kinda like this argument about the stimulus checks. The Democrats want to strengthen the lockdown and give out a pittance of people's money back. Trump wants to give more of people's money back. I want to end the lock down and stop stealing people's money. To me, that's way better than taking their money and giving some of it back to them... but it starts out with me saying "I'm not giving you any money".
Which, if you think about it, is exactly how the Dems hit Trump on his tax cut. The Dems screamed that Trump had caused people's Tax returns to either not go up, or even go down. Yes: because he withheld less of their income from them. Some voters got confused because their return went down, but they kept $50 more with every paycheck. Their feedback mechanism was being intentionally confused by the state. That's why I object to Tax Returns altogether. If you had to pay the feds all of your taxes, all at once, on April 15th, you'd be screaming "taxation is theft!" too. You would sit there and think: "I'm not paying Barack Obama $10,000!"
Populism is just a slur used on democracy when the public doesn't vote the way the ruling class like.
Market signals are necessary for an economy to function but protectionism doesn't erase those signals. At worst it can keep bad businesses afloat when better ones could do better with their market share. But do you think America could outdo China when China is communist and protectionist? China's cheating.
Ehhh. You may be right, but I'd just call it whatever happens to be very well received by the majority of the masses.
Market signals are necessary for an economy to function but protectionism doesn't erase those signals.
It very much does this. Fundamentally, that's the purpose. Protectionism exists to prevent those signals from arriving, and for the consequences of those signals to be borne out only in the future.
At worst it can keep bad businesses afloat when better ones could do better with their market share.
It can go a lot worse than that too. It can intentionally cartelize an industry to the point where all competition is stifled, all companies are extensions of government make work programs, and then the industry dies and doesn't recover due to a final bust in the market and burdensome regulations that prevent all future growth. This is basically what happened to Wales' coal miners.
But do you think America could outdo China when China is communist and protectionist? China's cheating.
Hell yes, absolutely, we could smoke the absolute fucking shit out of them. They are wildly inefficient by their very nature and have no ability to capitalize on the market in the same way that we do. They will always remain susceptible to extreme busts, and all booms must be created by extracting wealth. They have no ability to have a normal functioning economy, and any success they do have is basically because the party decreed it necessary while everyone else suffers.
The Soviet Union had a similar disastrous economy on it's hands (but the Chinese were smart enough to introduce FEZ's in order to have price discovery, where the Soviets had almost nothing). The Soviet Economy was so shit that it can be argued that they never recovered from WW2, and worse, they never actually recovered from WW1. What we saw of progress came from developments stolen from the west, or the government siphoning more and more money from other sectors to boost a specific industry or sector.
We have a far better and more diverse & adaptable economy. Honestly, I think the American economy may be stronger than I thought, because the Covid Lockdowns could have nearly destroyed us just from the initial shutdowns. I'm not saying we're properly recovering, but we aren't dead yet. That's actually stronger than I expected.
I don't think so. I'm certainly somewhere "on the right", but I wouldn't consider myself a populist. I'm too unpopular and won't cater to most Trump-Left policies or Right-Authoritarian policies. I'm not going to support protectionism, and protectionism always has some amount of popular support.
Would it be protectionism for America to bring American jobs back to America and way from China?
Yes.
Again, that's why I'm not a populist.
My complaint is that I'd go a lot further in tearing apart the government's regulatory system as it stands because most of those jobs were intentionally disincentive from working in the US, and government agents were actively supporting Chinese interests. Trump did engage in protectionism, but the real damage he did to China came from not supporting them so thoroughly.
Again, the government system incentivized China taking all available manufacturing jobs. Trump disincentivized it. My argument would be be break the restrictions and regulations that form protectoinism within the US so that there would be a larger profit incentive for manufacturing to function in the US. Incentivizing China intentionally and immediately kills manufacturing in America. Disincentivizing China only hurts manufacturing in the long run. The correct answer is to incentivize manufacturing in the US by allowing it to function in a free market where the government doesn't take their shit.
It's kinda like this argument about the stimulus checks. The Democrats want to strengthen the lockdown and give out a pittance of people's money back. Trump wants to give more of people's money back. I want to end the lock down and stop stealing people's money. To me, that's way better than taking their money and giving some of it back to them... but it starts out with me saying "I'm not giving you any money".
Which, if you think about it, is exactly how the Dems hit Trump on his tax cut. The Dems screamed that Trump had caused people's Tax returns to either not go up, or even go down. Yes: because he withheld less of their income from them. Some voters got confused because their return went down, but they kept $50 more with every paycheck. Their feedback mechanism was being intentionally confused by the state. That's why I object to Tax Returns altogether. If you had to pay the feds all of your taxes, all at once, on April 15th, you'd be screaming "taxation is theft!" too. You would sit there and think: "I'm not paying Barack Obama $10,000!"
I'm not a populist, because I think you need negative feedback. Protectionism intentionally stops negative feedback, even if you really should have it. It's like being unable to feel pain. If you can't feel pain, you might not realize when you've been set on fire.
Populism is just a slur used on democracy when the public doesn't vote the way the ruling class like.
Market signals are necessary for an economy to function but protectionism doesn't erase those signals. At worst it can keep bad businesses afloat when better ones could do better with their market share. But do you think America could outdo China when China is communist and protectionist? China's cheating.
Ehhh. You may be right, but I'd just call it whatever happens to be very well received by the majority of the masses.
It very much does this. Fundamentally, that's the purpose. Protectionism exists to prevent those signals from arriving, and for the consequences of those signals to be borne out only in the future.
It can go a lot worse than that too. It can intentionally cartelize an industry to the point where all competition is stifled, all companies are extensions of government make work programs, and then the industry dies and doesn't recover due to a final bust in the market and burdensome regulations that prevent all future growth. This is basically what happened to Wales' coal miners.
Hell yes, absolutely, we could smoke the absolute fucking shit out of them. They are wildly inefficient by their very nature and have no ability to capitalize on the market in the same way that we do. They will always remain susceptible to extreme busts, and all booms must be created by extracting wealth. They have no ability to have a normal functioning economy, and any success they do have is basically because the party decreed it necessary while everyone else suffers.
The Soviet Union had a similar disastrous economy on it's hands (but the Chinese were smart enough to introduce FEZ's in order to have price discovery, where the Soviets had almost nothing). The Soviet Economy was so shit that it can be argued that they never recovered from WW2, and worse, they never actually recovered from WW1. What we saw of progress came from developments stolen from the west, or the government siphoning more and more money from other sectors to boost a specific industry or sector.
We have a far better and more diverse & adaptable economy. Honestly, I think the American economy may be stronger than I thought, because the Covid Lockdowns could have nearly destroyed us just from the initial shutdowns. I'm not saying we're properly recovering, but we aren't dead yet. That's actually stronger than I expected.