On Mon, Sep 25, 2006 at 10:05:05AM -0700, Lan Barnes wrote: > On Mon, Sep 25, 2006 at 09:31:33AM -0700, John Oliver wrote: > > On Mon, Sep 25, 2006 at 09:38:17AM -0700, Lan Barnes wrote: > > > And what is our threat to China? "If you don't start honoring all our > > > Mickey Mouse and Microsoft copyrights and patents, we'll ... we'll ... > > > we'll STOP SELLING YOU OUR BONDS! Yeah, that'll show you!" > > > > In theory, we could stop buying massive quantities of consumer goods > > from them. If we tariffed the hell out of Chinese products, that would > > more than sting them. > > I don't know whose theory you're quoting. There is this idea called > "free trade" (the real thing, not what passes for it these days) that in > _accepted_ economic theory is good for both countries, their consumers, > and their competitive positions vis a vis each other.
Since when does a "theory" have to belong to someone? Are you saying that it would be absolutely impossible for us to tariff or boycott Chinese goods? I'm not saying we should... just that we could. Personally, I'm against tariffs and protectionism... they're artificial restraints on free trade that the market will attempt to route around. And they invite retaliation. Trade wars are bad for a meshed global economy. And there's absolutely nothing that says "our" response to lack of Chinese respect for patents has to be reasonable or rational. It's absolutely feasible that Microsoft could buy the response that they thought was most appropriate, ie. the one that would protect their profits, at least in the short run. -- *********************************************************************** * John Oliver http://www.john-oliver.net/ * * * *********************************************************************** -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
