Why so many things are made in China, or Taiwan, Singapore . . . or Mexico?
I have no beef with foreign trade, mind you. Just as I don’t want government to favor one business over another here in the U.S., I don’t really want that to happen across borders, either. I know what comparative advantage means.
But one reason we rely so heavily on imports is that we don’t have a free market in the states. Too much regulation favors some businesses at the expense of others.
Tesla Motors is trying to sell its cars direct to the public. But, in most states if not all, the market for automobiles is heavily regulated. Direct, factory sales are prohibited by law. Why? To protect dealerships.
So, after the Ohio legislature failed to make a special deal to keep Tesla’s electric car out of the state, a number of special interest groups, including Midwestern Auto Group and Ricart Automotive Group, have sued Tesla, the Ohio Department of Public Safety, and the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The idea is to get Tesla’s license to sell cars in the state revoked.
Forget competition and the innovation it brings. Instead, businesses conspire with governments to keep out upstarts, competitors. You know, the innovators.
Tesla’s electric sportscar may be way out of my price range, but it would be interesting to see an electric car actually make a go of it. I hope the suit fails, and we get to see whether Tesla can make it on the open market.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
6 replies on “Against Innovation in Ohio”
And where is the the correct interpretation of the Commerce Clause when we need it?
If Tesla can sell, and satisfactorily service, their voluntary purchasers in Ohio, more (electric) power to them.
Some products, like GM cars, are made in Mexico because the administration in Washington let them stiff American taxpayers for $12 billion while they(GM) ploughed $93 million into a new manufacturing plant in Mexico. Had they been allowed to bankrupt and file for reorganization under Chapter 11, the taxpayers would have been able to keep their money and the debt would not have increased, the reorganized GM would have been stronger here in the states and not had the economic wherewithal to be sending that much money out of the US, let alone to be giving jobs to foreign workers at the expense of Americans, and the business that GM lost would have been picked up by Japanese label manufacturers that are building their cars here with American parts and labor.
We rely so heavily on imports because the federal government makes it difficult to manufacture here. Argueably intentionally but definitely having the effect of undermining the middle class and moving more America into poverty
The percentage of Americans living in poverty has moved up from 13.3% to 15% in the last 6 years and most of that has been lately, not due to Bush.
JFB/ The Commerce Clause is inconsequentila compared to the bastardization being done with the “general welfare” clause. Every itme that the federal government gives to a specific individual is unconstitutional as specific welfare, not general. The Constitution reserves the power to do that specifically to the states and the people and specifically excludes the federal government from doing that.
Every Obamcare exemption is a specific welfare. Every subsidy is unconstitutional. We no longer have a republic like we were guaranteed since the Senate is controlled by the 51% party, which is not a republic.
Many products are imported because too many people put cost over quality. I recently had a disaster in which a <3 yr old pipe above a water heater completely rusted through, sprayed water into my heat pump, and shorted out all its electrical components. This $6000 disaster was due to a 2.5 inch steel pipe made in China.
If you go to a hardware store, you will find that all the electrical supplies, most of the plumbing supplies, and most of the screws and bolts are made in China. China's steel and brass are markedly inferior to what is produced in the USA, Japan, and South Korea. The Chinese products are cheaper up front, which is why the stores, contractors, and other buyers like them. But, the cheap Chinese products fail so quickly that the overall costs are high. When I was young, toilet innards lasted for decades. Now, the cheap Chinese ones last only a few years, and the costs of buying and installing new parts greatly outweighs the $10 lower cost versus the (unavailable) better quality parts.
mingo,
I like the toilet innards reference. But, you know, it’s what makes the world go around. Remember what a total piece of crap the old Datsun’s from Japan were? They were cheap and along the way they turned into some very good autos named Nissan. You do get what you pay for, in products and contractors who install inferior pipes as well.
Here’s one that will blow your mind. Milton Friedman standing in front of the AMA telling doctors that there should be no medical diploma because in a free market, people would figure out who could deliver quality medicine at a competitive price and in the process, keep doctors from having a monopoly on medicine because the only people that CAN practice medicine are people with an MD, sanctioned by the government.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6t-R3pWrRw
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