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September 18, 2009

Sen. Jeff Merkley on Wheels

This week once again we're reminded that when you live in a liberal state, sometimes you have to draw the line so that each of the parties that has skin in feel like they're coming about better than they went in – or at least, not as bad as they could have come out.

Insert your own obligatory comparison between politics and sausagemaking here.

During this last week, a dispute about China flooding the low-end auto tire market came to a head. On the one side was labor, which was apparently advocating for a quota. On the other side was, notably amongst others, the iconic Central Oregon economic dynamo, Les Schwab Tires – they of the perky, always-cheerful and clean-cut employees, and great deals on inexpensive tires, driven by those low-cost Chinese numbers.

As detailed by Mapes, what Jeff supported was drawing the line in the middle. Taking the position that a quota would put a hole in the Oregon economy that would take jobs with it, he eventually supported tariffs (35 percent the first year, 30 percent the second and 25 percent the third). Schwab pouted a bit, and China complained some, so the story ain't necessarily over, but this is a good thing overall …

I'm a big believer in tariffs. Does some other country want to sell their exports here? Fine. But there should be some price of entry, otherwise, we're giving away the store – in the jobs that flee overseas to the countries that have the actual manufacturing base, free to make us pay again for the resources we let go while they profit from it.

Tariffs level the playing field, and encourage manufacturing growth in the USA – which is what we're going to have to do if this country is to return to economic strength.

Posted by The Chinuk at September 18, 2009 06:22 PM