OPINION:
People who are decrying President Trump’s tariffs should watch documentaries on World War II to become aware of how close the free world came to being dominated by brutal Axis powers less than a century ago. It was U.S. manufacturing and technology that saved civilization.
Governments and economic systems all have their ups and downs. There is always a period of adjustment whenever fundamental economic changes are made. Prior to Reaganomics, despite a period of inflation, we were still the richest, most powerful nation, with our manufacturing assets intact — and we did not have huge sums in national debt.
Approximately 50 years ago, a historic, fundamental trade and economic change was made to our national structure, and it curtailed our productive capacity, greatly reduced our middle class and rendered us a multi-trillion-dollar debtor nation. With reduced incomes, this supply-side system has never produced enough tax revenue to sustain our country’s expenses. Any illusion that this volume of national debt is sustainable is fantasy.
Outsourcing our environmental and labor problems overseas has proved damaging to both these issues.
Tariffs to increase revenue and protect manufacturing have been used successfully since the dawn of our republic. Unsurprisingly, the principal beneficiaries of this importing scheme — which operate at our expense and own much of the media — are resisting by all means possible. Both Presidents Trump and Biden have been politically castigated for using tariffs to remedy our current national trade policy.
President Trump is neither an actor nor a career politician, and his candid communication efforts are frequently used against him. Since the onset of our aristocratic and divisive importing scheme, no one but Trump has had the inclination or temerity to remedy the situation. Will Trump be given the chance to right our imperiled ship of state?
LOUIS L. BOEHM
Orchard Park, New York
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