Too_Many_Tools wrote in article
...
On Mar 11, 1:38*am, Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
On Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:16:38 -0800, "Hawke"





wrote:

GeoLane at PTD dot NET wrote in message
.. .
On Sun, 9 Mar 2008 22:07:39 -0700 (PDT), Millwright Ron
wrote:

labor is the cheapest. It comes about by lobbying for "free trade"
such as the NAFTA and CAFTA legislation.

Yay. *Way to go Ron. *Bring back the Smoot-Hawley tarriffs of the
1930s. *We can repeat history. *The financial leg of our economy is
already weakened by the mortgage mess. *Lets impose punitive tariffs
and take out another leg.

RWL

The Asians impose punitive tariffs on our goods and it doesn't seem to
have
hurt them at all. In fact, they are kicking our asses. Maybe if we had
brains we'd copy them. We would say we're all for free trade but then
have
protectionist policies just like Japan and China. We're not smart enough
to
do that though and will continue having our asses kicked. And we'll
complain
a lot.

Hawke

The fact is that most Asian countries import very little from the U.S.
But you are correct that there are high import duties in most asian
countries, with the exception of Singapore, where duties are so low
that it is effectively a duty free port.

The reason that they are "kicking our asses" is simply that they
manufacture goods at an attractive cost and thus "sell" more goods
then they need to "buy".

In Thailand for example, nearly all the imported goods are either raw
materials or luxury goods while they are the main manufacturer (world
wide) for Toyota and Isuzu pickups.

The real answer is that the U.S. has priced themselves out of the
world market.

Let me give you one simple example: I buy Zestril, a medicine for
hypertension, in Thailand, for the equivalent of US$ 12.90/30 tabs. I
saw it advertized on the Internet, for sale in the U.S. for $48.00/30
tabs. The same medicine, made by the same people, in the same factory.
Does that give you a hint why the U.S. is losing business?

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

What you are seeing there is the drug companies taking advantage of
the American consumers with the blessing of George Bush.

Someone has to pay for his kickbacks.

TMT

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So, you are saying that the Democrat-majority Congress is refusing to pass
any consumer protection bills in order to allow Bush to swing in the wind.

Or are you suggesting that Bush, somehow, holds a magic spell over Pelosi
and her posse?

Surely, you understand that the President alone cannot arbitrarily and
unilaterally pass laws.

That's grade-school civics.