Foreign goods may not be cheaper due to cheaper labor costs. In fact, they may be more expensive, but easier to obtain from foreign locales rather than domestic. I may also just prefer to own an expensive foreign car because it has a design that I like. For some reason that only you can explain through some mystical process, I have to pay 3% on the foreign value of that vehicle because I need "security" from the United States when it crosses a line that's drawn on the map.
Even if foreign imports do lower the cost of domestic goods, they are not as low as they could be if there were no tariff - therefore you are *forcing* people to pay more for a product than they otherwise would. If you use the argument about choice then you open everything up to that interpretation. After all - what's wrong with compelling you to send your children to a school? You could *choose* not to have children! If you have children you are forcing the country to deal with their potential criminality if they grow up lacking any formal education.
I say that your claims are very laughable, just as are many of your claims. You can't explain the very basis of your ridiculous argument - that an imaginery line drawn on a piece of paper entitles you to take some of my property in return for "security." However, I won't accuse you of being a liar, as you have just done to me.
Paul <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
You say I haven't provided any logic explaining why it's not an
initiation of force, but that is a lie.
I have said many times. It's not force if you CHOOSE it. The state
absolutely has the legitimate authority to charge for the PRIVILEGE of
bringing goods across national borders.
If the state charges a tariff for the PRIVILEGE of bringing goods
across the borders, especially a fair and flat very low percentage
tariff that can't be considered "protectionist" by any sane person,
those wishing to bring goods know about the tariff before they CHOOSE
to import the goods. If they CHOOSE to do so anyway, they are
CHOOSING to pay the tariff. If they try to bring goods across without
paying the tariff, they are committing an act of aggression...namely
trespass and theft.
Charging based on the value of the goods is fair because it's a
measurement of the economic impact they will have, and a measure of
how much protection they'll require from government in making sure
their transactions are secure, and they have some form of judicial
recourse if they are defrauded, robbed, etc.
You aren't being FORCED to pay more for anything. You can CHOOSE to
buy domestic goods or foreign goods. And since foreign goods are
usually cheaper due to foreign labor costs, your price will normally
remain unchanged or lower than domestic goods.
I will not entertain any ridiculous claims that your ownership of
property entitles you to bring goods across national borders or that
this is a "right" rather than a privilege. Such claims are outright
lies. I will also not entertain any notions that the government
doesn't have the legitimate authority to charge for the PRIVILEGE of
bringing goods across our borders. Neither of these laughable claims
holds any merit.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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