01-09-2017, 04:34 PM
Quote:Assembly type jobs are not easily automated; that's why they're still done by people. That's the kind of thing that's borderline "IRobot stuff".
I can remember when the situation I describe was the basic situation for certain categories of goods. Protectionism against silk imports, for example, did not result in lots of silkworm farms being established in the US; it resulted in silk being virtually unavailable for those on ordinary incomes.
From the article I posted earlier,
Quote:Where Mr. Winthrop relies on labor — the cutting and sewing of the sweatshirts, which he does in five factories in California and North Carolina — is where the costs jump up. That costs his company around $17 for a given sweatshirt; overseas, he says, it would cost $5.50.
I think you are vastly exaggerating the price pressures involved.
Quote:The "already occurring" pressure is market based and not dependent on protectionism. I've already agreed that's a good thing. Do you agree that protectionism can have bad effects?
I agree it could have bad effects. I also think that "free trade" has bad effects. That's life.
What I have less patience for are these sorts of all-or-nothing comparisons between totally free exchange of goods and services (which doesn't exist anywhere) and "Protectionism", the complete cessation of all imports, exports, capital and labor movements across borders, etc. The whole thing exists on a spectrum, and all I would like to see is us tack back a little bit in the other direction.