Rand Paul goes full retard over Canada tariffs
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The problem is he's being to principled over a pragmatic problem.
He believes in free trade, 100% across the board, the problem is, EVERY OTHER country is tariffing the US so there is no free trade.
The best way forward is reciprocal tariffs as the only way to stop the US tariffing you is to stop tariffing the US. Trying to maintain free trade before the negotiations are done is shooting yourself in the foot.
Rand has always been principle over logic. Its both his greatest strength and weakness.
So there are times he will be the best ally possible because he refuses to budge when everyone else is, but just as often if not more he will be the loudest retard because he cannot be reasoned with to compromise for the best outcome.
I'm convinced that the real reason GamerGate was such a watershed moment is because it exposed the lie they've been using everywhere to convince the public they want things which they absolutely do NOT want.
We aren't fungible consoomers of cheap goods in an economic zone
Most industry was driven out by labor laws, regulations, and corrupt subsidies of trans-Pacific shipping. None of which will be repealed. The end result is going to be higher prices.
It's a good example of why libertarianism is a wholly unviable ideology, economically and culturally.
They do not take bad faith into account and they do not act against it when and if they admit that it exists at all.
The libertarian response to being buttraped is to offer the guy some lube in hopes you'll tear less.
They don't work for this countries either, everything there is expensive, for more than here. The exception being a subsidized good in socialist states like Norway (oil).
Leftists hate tariffs because they protect workers without communism.
Rand Paul is demonstrating the utter uselessness of big L libertarians when it comes to any issue of note. Rand Paul would see the entirety of US manufacturing sent overseas if it meant lower prices for goods in stores, and he makes no allowance for what that would do for American society, or national security.
He hasn't paid even a little bit attention to the hundreds of thousands of dead working class Americans that have died due to the loss of purpose those men have experienced when their jobs were offshored.
Did he ever voice this displeasure when the other countries put tariffs on the US?
I really like Rand but, yeah, sometimes he's too principled.
Also, as someone who is fairly libertarian myself, I really don't agree with the libertarians on tariffs. I think it's a major blind spot for them. Just like how lefty "libertarians" believe in open boarders, and don't see the contradiction with property rights, libertarians in general want complete global trade, and see any protectionism as anti-free-trade. I'm not well versed in economics, so I could even be wrong, but it just seems terribly shortsighted.
I don't want the government mucking about too much in economics but, just like with the physical boarder, international economics seems like it's totally the domain of the government...or it gets hard to keep a nation. Pure laissez-faire globalist trade has been a fucking disaster, and has helped worsen our economic prospects. We have to disincentivize corporations outsourcing jobs to slave countries and, as sad as it is as a libertarian, a government is probably just about the only ones who can do that.
Unless we want to keep spiraling down the drain, we need something like tariffs. Doesn't mean this initiative is executed perfectly or even well, but the "open boarders" argument for economics is a hard sell for me.
We need to do things in order. If, for the sake of argument, global free trade is truly a good thing...well, unless every nation is playing the same game, that can't happen. So we should focus on the domestic economy first, then maybe try to open up the rest of the world to free and fair trade. Which, ironically, is part of the stated goal of these tariffs! These tariffs are, on paper at least, trying to create more free and open trade. Again, doesn't mean this operation is perfect, but I think the libertarians - usually good on many aspects of economics, in my opinion - miss the mark on this big time.