“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it” is a well-known truism.  

Would-be President Trump seems intent on putting the U.S. and the World on track to repeat history.

An AP article about the Fed’s upcoming interest-rate reduction published on November 3rd raises concerns about the hazy economic future ahead of us – just as the economy begins to look like it is solidly on the road to recovery (“https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-election-inflation-economy-prices-rates-302de435f48e4de701a15dc99880fc9d”).

One of the issues the article refers to is “Trump’s proposals to impose high tariffs on all imports […]”.

Look at History

Think back:  what happened 95 years ago, in October, 1929, and why?

Republican President Calvin Coolidge had left office after his second term.  Coolidge was extremely popular; he made his thinking very clear:  “The business of America is business.”  America was in the midst of the Roaring Twenties – the country’s greatest economic boom ever.

As an added cause for celebration, the win of the 1920 election by the Republicans had been a country-wide rejection of Democrat President Woodrow Wilson’s socialistic policies.  The Republicans’ hands-off policies were popular with voters and so the Republicans were dominating American politics.

Herbert Hoover, Coolidge’s Secretary of Commerce, was elected President in 1928.  

In 1930, he signed into law the Smoot-Hawley Act, which substantially raised tariffs.  Canada, France, and other nations retaliated by raising their own tariffs.  

Tariffs Are a Bad Thing

The result was a contraction of international trade. The American economy got worse, on top of the damage already done by the 1929 Depression.

Germany, still reeling from WWI war debt, tottered on the edge of default, providing an opportunity for the rise to power of Adolph Hitler and the resulting start of World War Two, nine years later.

Theoretically and in practice, tariffs are a bad idea.  

Trade Is a Good Thing

Trade with other countries is to the advantage of every American individual and family.  

It is indisputable:  the greater the level of trade, the wider the range of products which are available for purchase by each of us; i.e., the greater the opportunity for each American to improve his standard of living and well-being.

Trade Breeds Peace

The greater the level of trade, the less the chance for war.

Thanks to Republican Hoover’s tariffs, Democrat Franklin Roosevelt was elected President in 1932.  

Roosevelt quickly enacted many Socialist-oriented changes.  Worse, Democrats held the Presidency and Congress – and thus the Supreme Court – from 1933 until 1968, except for war hero Dwight Eisenhower’s Presidency of 1953-1960.

Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris wants to set us on a course towards Socialism.  

Donald Trump

Donald Trump wants to set us on a course that once led to a severe Depression, the destruction of Germany’s economy, the rise of a madman dictator, and that caused the decimation of Europe in World War II. 

Last but not least, Hoover’s tariffs resulted in three and a half decades of Democrats in control of running the U.S.A.  

Bad and Worse?Talk about being put between a rock and a hard place!

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