Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests Excellent Commentary By Buchanan On Our Economy

The articles I've read said that the price of automobiles would rise about $30 per car. That's a price I'm willing to pay to keep many ten's of thousands of American steelworkers jobs!
Also, another article said that domestic steel orders rose, IIRC, about 20% in the same period.
So the tariffs seem to have helped the US economy.
Speaking of steel, I work in an industry (refinery) that requires equipment fabricated with alloy steels. Unfortunately, many of these are no longer available domestically made, so now I have to pay a premium to get it and wait...and wait...and wait for delivery. I can thank dumping for that!
Furthermore, the last US fabricator of large diameter, heavy wall vessels (i.e., reactors, distillation towers, etc.), Nooter, closed shop last year. Where can I get these now? you guessed it! - Japan (or Italy). And now I have to pay a premium and wait...and wait.
This is one example of many where we have lost some strategic manufacturing ability.
When I write specifications for materials or equipment, I state that the materials or components must be domestically made, if available. I'm willing to pay that little bit extra, if I have to, to support domestic industries.
These guys who complain about higher steel prices resulting from the tariffs don't realize how much higher steel will be once the local competition is out of business and all that is available is the off-shore stuff.

Again, what about the security concerns? The trade deficit is also an indicator of our reliance on foreign manufactured goods. What happens if a significant foreign power becomes hostile, or simply decides to start calling the shots. We buy a lot of goods from China, and I'm not convinced that in a crisis, we could spool up a manufacturing base(here or somewhere else) fast enough to avoid a domestic/economic crisis.

During WWII, we got bit in the ass for our reliance on Germany as a primary source of jeweled bearings (the kind used in gaging for avionics and weaponry). Congress passed the Jeweled Bearing Act to preclude it happening again.

China is becomming a Major player in OUR economy. Maybe not for high tech security stuff the modern day equivallent of jeweled bearings, but stuff like SHOES, HEAVY EQUIPMENT, HAMMERS, SHOVELS, (not concerned with discretionary stuff like consumer electronics) and a myriad of other relatively basic goods that we probably only notice when they are no longer available, or suddenly inflated to beyond reach prices because of demand on a limited availability.

China is positioning to win the war without firing a shot. Think about it - Where you gonna' get shoes?

Middle and South America.

Yeah, the sandals I just bought came from Portugal. But could they meet such a huge delta in demand if the need for a supplier base switch was sudden and not predicted? Is the capacity already there? Sure, we could get petroleum from other sources, but from just the few blips in my lifetime sent prices spiraling and average Americans running for cover(no thanks to the media). If the excess industrial capacity is not already in place, I'm still seeing big trouble. I can't imagine the scenario with a sudden break in the supply of a variety of common goods, not just shoes.