{"id":6008,"date":"2016-03-11T22:54:08","date_gmt":"2016-03-11T22:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/?p=6008"},"modified":"2016-03-11T22:54:08","modified_gmt":"2016-03-11T22:54:08","slug":"trump-grocery-boycott","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/blog\/2016\/03\/trump-grocery-boycott\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Trump Boycott Grocery Stores for Their Unfair Trade? – Article by Edward Hudgins"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"The<\/a>Edward Hudgins<\/span>
\n<\/big><\/big><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
******************************<\/div>\n
\n

Donald Trump\u2019s stump thump against Mexico is that it runs a $58 billion annual trade surplus with the United States. Trump somehow thinks this leaves America the poorer.<\/p>\n

He claims that it is out of that money, presumably sitting in some giant vault in Tijuana, that Mexico will pay for the border fence he wants to build to keep immigrants from entering the United States illegally. Trump\u2019s pronouncements only demonstrate how he keeps facts and reason from entering his thoughts and, how he would keep Americans from making their own free choices in a free market.<\/p>\n

International free trade is win-win<\/b>
\nTrump\u2019s very language reveals a glaring error concerning trade. Mexico and America do not trade. Mexicans and Americans do.\u00a0Mexicans have $58 billion more in cash (pieces of paper with George Washington\u2019s picture on them or the equivalent credits on bank ledgers) and Americans have $58 billion more in goods (electrical equipment, Trump-themed apparel).<\/p>\n

And Trump doesn\u2019t bother to ask, what are those Mexicans supposed to do with those pieces of paper? If they don\u2019t spend them in America, they\u2019ve got nothing but useless paper. So the\u00a0Mexican trade surplus also means that Mexicans are investing an equivalent amount in America, helping the U.S. economy grow.<\/p>\n

Further, the fundamental nature of trade between individuals is a win-win situation. Someone who buys an orange Donald hat for $20 to show his support for the former host of \u201cThe Apprentice\u201d values the hat more than the twenty. And the manufacturer in Mexico who has a warehouse full of said head gear prefers the $20.<\/p>\n

If The Donald slaps a 30% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico, maybe his starry-eyed supporters would shell out $26, the higher cost of the hat. But a poor mother with five kids seeing the price of a pair of shoes jump from $20 to $26 might be hard-pressed to afford the extra $30 she\u2019d need to cover the feet of all her five little ones. But Trump doesn\u2019t care. He wants to get rid of that pesky trade imbalance and what better way than to discourage that mom from buying Mexican-made shoes for her family! On the other hand, maybe he will notice when Mexican investors pull out of his latest golf resort or skyscraper projects, because his policies have destroyed their profits.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s grocery store trade deficit<\/b>
\nIf Trump is so against trade deficits, he should have a serious problem in his own household. Trump no doubt runs a huge trade deficit with his grocery store. He gives them piles of money when he buys food\u2014no doubt top-priced cuisine\u2014but the store never buys anything from him. Maybe he should boycott it. Maybe we should all boycott our local grocery stores lest we be victims of a trade deficit. Maybe if elected president, Trump will slap a 30 percent \u201cgrocery tariff\u201d on everything that those stores try to sell to us poor, exploited schleps until those stores start purchasing stuff from us.<\/p>\n

Trumps versus liberty<\/b>
\nTrump poses as a friend of the people, but he wants to use government to prohibit the Americans from purchasing goods from whomever they wish\u2014including Mexicans. The Donald presumes to know better what individual Americans should buy with their own money and at what price than they do. He\u2019s determined to drive up the prices for Americans buying from Mexicans to teach those Mexicans a lesson. So what if American consumers and businesspeople are collateral damage.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s policies would only add more instability to an already unstable world. Ayn Rand explained that \u201cThe essence of capitalism’s foreign policy is free trade\u2014i.e., the abolition of trade barriers… the opening of the world’s trade routes to free international exchange and competition among the private citizens of all countries dealing directly with one another. During the nineteenth century, it was free trade that liberated the world, undercutting and wrecking the remnants of feudalism and the statist tyranny of absolute monarchies.\u201d<\/p>\n

When governments take away the liberty of individuals to pursue their self-interest by trading freely with other individuals\u2014a win-win situation\u2014they set the stage for conflicts and even wars between countries. Trump\u2019s proposed trade war is really a war on the American people.<\/p>\n

Dr. Edward Hudgins directs advocacy and is a senior scholar for The Atlas Society, the center for Objectivism in Washington, D.C.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Copyright The Atlas Society. For more information, please visit www.atlassociety.org<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Edward Hudgins ****************************** Donald Trump\u2019s stump thump against Mexico is that it runs a $58 billion annual trade surplus with the United States. Trump somehow thinks this leaves America the poorer. He claims that it is out of that money, presumably sitting in some giant vault in Tijuana, that Mexico will pay for the border fence he wants to build to keep immigrants from entering the United States illegally. Trump\u2019s pronouncements only demonstrate how he keeps facts and reason from…<\/p>\n

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