Benefit scrounging parasites from Europe

[Mich the Tester]

Fair enough. Let's talk about S. Korea, Japan and Taiwan now. What's your thoughts on their historic protectionist policies that got them rich?

Shall I try? They and everyone else would have been much richer without those policies and the sun would shine more often and there wouldn't be any more boom and bust and the market would achieve perfect equilibrium la la la fantasyland.

[Robinho]

Fair enough. Let's talk about S. Korea, Japan and Taiwan now. What's your thoughts on their historic protectionist policies that got them rich?

Why bother, you ran away from the America conversation, i can only presume you will run away from the next countries when you're proven wrong on them too.

[EternalOptimist]

you gotta know when to stop ohniboR

[Robinho]

you gotta know when to stop ohniboR

It kills the hours in the day.

[sasguru]

Why bother, you ran away from the America conversation, i can only presume you will run away from the next countries when you're proven wrong on them too.

If you look at the thread you didn't prove anything at all about the US.
ZG pointed out the fact that the US had massive tariffs against British steel, in order to protect their industry and your response was "And what about the cost of US steel to the payers" or words to that effect.
Which is spectularly missing the point: when you're building up your national industry to compete abroad, you're not going to be worrying about its costs at home. That only comes when you have a developed economy.
Britain did the seem with its cotton industry by putting traiffs on Indian cotton.

So you see, I'm failing to see your point at all.

[sasguru]

It kills the hours in the day.

Can't an ekonomiks jeenius like yourself find a challenging job?

[Robinho]

Which is spectularly missing the point: when you're building up your national industry to compete abroad, you're not going to be worrying about its costs at home.

Why not? If you bankrupt every industry that consumes steel because you granted a monopoly on local steel producers, that's of no use to the country.

If producing steel in the US had a competitive advantage to buying it from abroad then the industry should not need favours from the government. If it doesn't have a competitive advantage what's the point?

[Mich the Tester]

Why not? If you bankrupt every industry using steel because you granted a monopoly on local steel producers, that's of no use to the country.

If producing steel in the US had a competitive advantage to buying it from abroad then the industry should not need favours from the government. If it doesn't have a competitive advantage what's the point?

A competitive advantage is temporary and comes and goes; unfortunately it can come, go and come back again in a cycle that's to fast to close down, rebuild, close down, attract new capital and so on, but too slow for industries to survive the dips (many companies won't survive a downturn in sales of just a few months because their shareholders demand dividends instead of the company laying down reserves) . That's why the Germans have subsidized their heavy industries several times; they've kept the skills and the infrastructure, even in times when it wasn't producing profits, and in doing so they've done well in the long run.

[Robinho]

A competitive advantage is temporary and comes and goes; unfortunately it can come, go and come back again in a cycle that's to fast to close down, rebuild, close down, attract new capital and so on, but too slow for industries to survive the dips (many companies won't survive a downturn in sales of just a few months because their shareholders demand dividends instead of the company laying down reserves) . That's why the Germans have subsidized their heavy industries several times; they've kept the skills and the infrastructure, even in times when it wasn't producing profits, and in doing so they've done well in the long run.

We have banks to gauge risk and reward of industries and invest appropriately.

What you are suggesting is the government be the bank. But why is the government more qualified to act as a bank over an actual bank?

[sasguru]

Why not? If you bankrupt every industry that consumes steel because you granted a monopoly on local steel producers, that's of no use to the country.

If producing steel in the US had a competitive advantage to buying it from abroad then the industry should not need favours from the government. If it doesn't have a competitive advantage what's the point?

That's a theoretical and ideological argument.

Yet it is a fact that by the 2nd World War, US industries that consumed steel were not bankrupt - in fact the US produced more materiel (ships, tanks, guns, jeeps etc) during the 2nd World War than any other country. US industrial might was one the factors that won the war. Doesn't look like consumers of steel were bankrupt, does it?

When the facts conflict with a theoretical argument, it's time to ditch the theory.
That's what intelligent people do anyway.