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December 02, 2003
Steel Tariffs
Regardless of what you think of steel tariffs, the difference between Democrats like Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D - WV) who support them and President Bush is that Rockefeller is elected to represent the admittedly narrow interests of one state, while Bush is supposed to be above regional interests since he is president of the entire country, overseer of the whole economy, etc.
Some of the babblings of the current Democratic candidates for President aren't exactly pro-trade. I'd argue, however, that any random Democratic president would be less likely to impose a tariff like the steel tariffs for two reasons. One is that, given a similar situation, it makes more sense to bail out the retired steelworkers health and retirement packages than to impose tariffs to try and save a dying industry. Somehow, conservative economists consider this "more" of an anti-market solution than tariffs, but you really shouldn't listen to economists who argue in favor of market economics and then squirm to explain away a partisan decision with clarifiers like "more anti-market" when clearly both solutions are equally anti-market.
The second reason I think a Democrat would be less likely to impose regional tariffs such as the steel tariffs is that (for some unknown reason) Democrats don't get the benefit of the doubt re: free markets that Republicans do and are always extra-careful so as not to get tagged as some sort of socialist.
Finally, a look at this county map of the 2000 election results shows that Democratic presidential candidates will have their base located in the economically vibrant commerce centers that least need protectionism to survive, while Bush and the Republicans increasingly represent areas whose industry or even entire way of life is dying out, making them most desperate for protectionist measures cloacked in traditional conservative way of life rhetoric.
Posted by Chris at December 2, 2003 08:05 PM
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