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rayinertoday at 7:53 PM3 repliesview on HN

> Tariffs are taxes.

Taxes are good! China, which is run by some of the smartest technocrats in the world, has a very strong system for controlling the flow of foreign products into the country. Because of the nature of their government, they have more tools at their disposal than just tariffs, e.g., requiring foreign companies to establish joint-ventures with Chinese companies. But the purpose is the same.

> a man who could not run casinos successfully

Trump didn't invent tariffs. The political thread in favor of strong tariffs started with Alexander Hamilton: https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-pr.... Strong tariffs were a core plank of the Lincoln GOP: https://www.abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org/abraham-lincoln-in-....

"Tariff" didn't become a naughty word until the Cato folks took over the GOP in the 1980s.


Replies

chermitoday at 8:01 PM

Tariff is a naughty word because of its proven negative side(main) effects.

Not all taxes are equal. Regressive ones suck.

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khrisstoday at 9:46 PM

And how many times did Alexander Hamilton apply tariffs to islands inhabited by penguins while specifically exempting Russia and Belarus?

overfeedtoday at 8:18 PM

> Taxes are good!

Add that to the list of things I thought I'd never hear a conservative say.

Say what you will about the man, but Trump's takeover of the mainstream conservertive movement has been thorough, and eerily cordyceps-like.

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