It’s hard to find one topic I have been absolutely consistent on in my life, my opinions have changed that much over the past 70 years. I think this is normal, if we’re honest with ourselves. Life is a learning experience, and if we’re unable to change we haven’t learned, haven’t grown.
    My first Inspection column was published in fall of 72. I was a William F. Buckley wannabe who from age 10 had been enjoying the rational, logical end of the new conservative movement, attending local Conservative Party meetings. This was before “free” market fanatics and fanatical religious fundamentalists had hijacked the movement. After that the movement increasingly wouldn’t tolerate those not obedient to dogma.
    Once National Review had prochoice and prolife articles side by side, pro-legalizing pot and anti-legalization.
    Obviously I have changed over the years, as the Conservative movement moved away from what it once was: hijacked by the dogmatic. I look back and realize how much I was wrong about then, yet have found a few issues where I have been consistent, and consistently right.
    Tariffs? Pretty much, yes. Given the right conditions.
    And that’s the problem.
    Back then I supported them, given conditions at the time: a somewhat healthy manufacturing infrastructure. One of my columns back then mentioned we shouldn’t sell off our industry, locate it elsewhere. Now? I can’t support tariffs for that reason: crucial conditions have dramatically changed. Tariffs now are like trying to close the barn door when industry ran off long ago. If our situation as a country was different, more like back then? Sure. But it’s not.
    Back then we HAD industry. We had the kind of country where cars could be built, radios, record players: just about everything, with 100% USA labor and parts. If only we had protected our means of production, but that’s not what we did. Instead, over the years, we allowed companies to offshore production and parts from China, Vietnam, Mexico…. We allow the same companies to gobble each other up, the same companies off shoring production. Tariffs, to some extent, made sense back before we did that because we HAD the infrastructure where we could have kept making decent products here at home, made the parts that go inside. Even expand production.
    Sometimes we paid more due to the cost of labor, but worth the price. Better than the lowest bidder with horrible labor conditions.
    Instead we outsourced, sold off our industry, gutted infrastructure. More tariffs now would punish us. We’d over pay for parts that already exist in our cars; just to provide one example. No, not just Toyota, Honda, Kia, VW… some of those are made here while American cars are marginally American made. Some “American” cars have more foreign parts than supposed foreign cars.
    Overall parts are sourced from all around the globe. And even if we still had the number of factories we used to have, updated, we’d be competing with countries using slave labor or prison labor in some cases.
    Meanwhile fair competition has become an uncommon topic of discussion. That’s why many downtowns have died while China sourced product dominates chains like our Walmarts.
    I suppose we could just throw everyone not rich into prison for free labor.
    I must admit I find that concept not unlike when slavery was legal.
    Tariffs? If we hadn’t thrown away our infrastructure. If we enforced, and had more, fair competition laws we could have more locally owned businesses and USA built product.
    Where I live now we have no Walmarts, few chains, and those we have are small. Yes, we pay more. I’m OK with that. But we are an anomaly compared to cities of any size with significant suburbs.
    The whole idea that overseas companies/governments will simply pay tariffs is dangerous nonsense. All they have to do is shut us off and our economy will dump a lot faster than theirs. Yes, we are a huge market but thanks to this libertarian idea of a free worldwide market with few to no regulations they have plenty of other markets.
    No more unilateral economic disarmament. That’s what we have had for many years.
    All this was brought to you by the “free” trade policies of Reagan, Carter, on to Obama and Bush the Sequel. Ironically the “green” industries are building an infrastructure. “Ironic” because those who cry out for tariffs often are the ones who mock, who hate, have no respect for, “green” industries.
    I’m all for a free USA-based energy market. Competition is good. May the best, most practical, win.
    The answer is, with government help, build and rebuild the infrastructure first. Like we did and do for oil drilling and refining. Look at how solar, windmills and EV businesses have grown, building their infrastructure. Economically encouraging rebuilding and building works. Like it did for oil drilling. There are government subsidies for that too, just to inform the uniformed who may think “green” energy may be the only energy production the government is helping.
    You’ve heard of putting the cart before the horse? Tariffs before building and rebuilding infrastructure would be carts before jackasses. The jackasses in this case being those who mindlessly suggest otherwise and are all too eager to kill off industry that is building an infrastructure.

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    “Inspection” is a column that has been written by Ken Carman for over 50 years. Inspection is dedicated to looking at odd angles, under all the rocks and into the unseen cracks and crevasses that constitute the issues and philosophical constructs of our day: places few think, or even dare, to venture.
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