Essential Economics for Politicians

U.S., South Korea come to agreement on trade deal

The United States and South Korea have come to an agreement on revisions to the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, known as KORUS, senior administration officials confirmed on Tuesday.

South Korea's trade ministry announced changes to the trade pact on Monday during a briefing in Seoul, calling the discussions "heated" but ultimately successful in eliminating "two uncertainties."

On a conference call with reporters, administration officials said that the countries resolved KORUS changes and agreed to a steel quota for the Koreans, granting them an exemption from the 25 percent tariff imposed by President Donald Trump last week.

"Subject to steel, Korea will be subject to hard quote – a hard annual quote," an official said. "It will be a product specific quota equivalent to 70 percent of average annual export volume for these steel products, based on a three year average from 2015 – 2017."

South Korea will not receive an exemption on their aluminum exports, the official added, which will be subject to a 10 percent tariff.

The changes to KORUS, which officials billed as "a huge win for the American worker," include an extension of a 25 percent tariff on American pick up trucks for another 30 years, a doubling of the cap on U.S. vehicle exports built to U.S. safety standards that can enter Korea from 25,000 to 50,000 vehicles per manufacturer, and the elimination of "burdensome regulations" such as additional environmental testing.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-south-korea-come-to-agreement-on-trade-deal/
 
During the Napoleonic War, English landowners had enjoyed a monopoly in the production of food. At the end of the war, they instituted the corn laws—a form of import control—to protect their domestic monopoly from competition. The laws kept the price of grain high, and since bread was the primary sustenance for most families, the laws created particular hardship for the poor. The issue had been brewing for some time. Charles Villiers had proposed corn law repeal in Parliament every year, and the Anti-Corn Law League was formed in Manchester in 1839. Richard Cobden and John Bright were instrumental in its founding.

Bright and Cobden embarked upon a hectic speaking tour. The climax was a meeting in the Covent Garden Theatre, where Bright railed against the protectors of upper-class privilege:

The law is, in fact a law of the most ingeniously malignant character ... The most demoniacal ingenuity could not have invented a scheme more calculated to bring millions of the working classes of this country to a state of pauperism, suffering, discontent, and insubordination...[2]

Leading Whigs and Tories were convinced of the need for repeal, and on June 25, 1846, a bill for repeal was carried. The elimination of other import duties followed, and a 70-year era of British free trade began; in the popular mind, free trade now signified cheap bread.
 
In his activity in support of free trade, Bright was motivated above all by a concern for the plight of ordinary people. From the same motive, he opposed all the legislation which regulated working conditions in factories. The Factory Act of 1847 was in part a retaliation by the landowners for the corn law repeal: regulation of factories was a means of penalizing manufacturers. Bright was certain that it would make people worse off by reducing the number of hours in which they could earn money.

Espola will remember a similar case years later as the Lochner vs. New York case of 1905
 
Economics vs. Politics II. The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.”

Politics deals with the same problem by making promises that cannot be kept, or which can be kept only by creating other problems that cannot be acknowledged when the promises are made.
--Sowell
 
We easily forget the economic rationale that Marx taught us, namely, that socialism would have to provide unprecedented abundance if it were to sustain social liberation of any kind. With a few notable exceptions, leftists no longer find it fashionable to discuss economics at all beyond the now routine rejection of a "command economy" and some disingenuous mumbling about the necessity for markets. But where is there a serious attempt to determine the extent to which any socialism could function without a command economy or to show how a socialist economy could integrate markets? A few left-wing economists, most notably Louis Ferleger and Jay Mandle, tried to raise these questions long before the collapse of the socialist economies, but they were effec- tively shut out of the left-wing press and are still ignored. And we may doubt that the wry remark of Nancy Folbre and Samuel Bowles, two other respected left-wing economists, will cause a wrinkle: "Leftwing economists— among whom we count ourselves—have thus far failed to come up with a convincing alternative to capitalism." (Nancy Folbre and Samuel Bowles, letter to the Nation, Nov. 29, 1993; and see also, Louis Ferleger and Jay R.Mandle, A New Mandate: Democratic Choices for a Prosperous Economy, University of Missouri Press, 1994).--Genovese
 
Bruddah IZ said:
We easily forget the economic rationale that Marx taught us, namely, that socialism would have to provide unprecedented abundance if it were to sustain social liberation of any kind. With a few notable exceptions, leftists no longer find it fashionable to discuss economics at all beyond the now routine rejection of a "command economy" and some disingenuous mumbling about the necessity for markets. But where is there a serious attempt to determine the extent to which any socialism could function without a command economy or to show how a socialist economy could integrate markets? A few left-wing economists, most notably Louis Ferleger and Jay Mandle, tried to raise these questions long before the collapse of the socialist economies, but they were effec- tively shut out of the left-wing press and are still ignored. And we may doubt that the wry remark of Nancy Folbre and Samuel Bowles, two other respected left-wing economists, will cause a wrinkle: "Leftwing economists— among whom we count ourselves—have thus far failed to come up with a convincing alternative to capitalism." (Nancy Folbre and Samuel Bowles, letter to the Nation, Nov. 29, 1993; and see also, Louis Ferleger and Jay R.Mandle, A New Mandate: Democratic Choices for a Prosperous Economy, University of Missouri Press, 1994).--Genovese
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You've fallen for and into a trap.
 
Sheriff Joe said:
It shows he never hit 3%, the only president evah.
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Gee, what happened just before he took office you disingenuous political hack?

So which is it? I would say ones politics and the questioned asked has much to do with the outlook these days . . .

A decade after the financial crisis hit, 52 percent of Americans say they are still feeling its impact on their pocketbooks, according to a new report by Morning Consult.

Still, large majorities (74 percent) say their financial health is fair, good or excellent, though only 11 percent put themselves in the latter category.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/3...icans-still-feeling-impact-of-great-recession
 
Hüsker Dü said:
Gee, what happened just before he took office you disingenuous political hack?

So which is it? I would say ones politics and the questioned asked has much to do with the outlook these days . . .

A decade after the financial crisis hit, 52 percent of Americans say they are still feeling its impact on their pocketbooks, according to a new report by Morning Consult.

Still, large majorities (74 percent) say their financial health is fair, good or excellent, though only 11 percent put themselves in the latter category.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/3...icans-still-feeling-impact-of-great-recession
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I will give him some cover for hiz first term, but that's all he gets.
This iz trumps economy, get over it.
You elected a bum in 08 and in 12, he was so bad the people would rather have the pussy grabber that American Hero killing whore you nominated, this iz all your fault, whatever happens.
 
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