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Bill: Infant Industry Protection Act
Details
Submitted by[?]: Nacionālistu Tautas Partija Likatonija
Status[?]: passed
Votes: This is an ordinary bill. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: May 3297
Description[?]:
| "The imposition of tariffs is a vital policy tool for any sovereign nation. No nation can feasibly hope to develop adequately, or to develop new industries adequately, without the strategic use of tariffs in vital areas. In our instance we propose to use such tariffs to help our 'infant industries' to grow and to become strong enough to compete on the world market. New industries would find it impossible to compete with well-established foreign competitors without the use of such policy tools. Only when our own nascent industries are at a sufficiently high level to compete with other nations will the benefits of free trade be felt. Such tariffs are intended to be used sparingly and temporarily however, they are not intended as a permanent measure." - Matleena Rask, Finance Minister and author of "Infant industries: development strategy in historical perspective" |
Proposals
Article 1
Proposal[?] to change International trade (this is a default in the absense of a specific free trade agreement or specific trade embargo)
Old value:: The nation imposes reciprocal tariffs on imports, with no tariffs imposed on states which impose no tariffs on our exports.
Current: The nation allows for imports, but imposes "ethical" tariffs on nations with lower environmental and labour rights standards.
Proposed: The nation allows for imports, but imposes tariffs and quotas in certain areas.
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | 14:12:56, April 30, 2012 CET | From | Commonwealth Workers Army | To | Debating the Infant Industry Protection Act |
| Message | "This assumption that we need or want imports is flawed. There's no reason why we can't suffice on our internal capacity - and doing so would stop the constant drain of Likatonian economic strength into lesser nations. But if we must import, this is arguably the most sensible compromise. We support." Yoav Kaiser, Trade and Industry Panel, September 3296 |
| Date | 00:54:37, May 01, 2012 CET | From | AM Radical Libertarian Party | To | Debating the Infant Industry Protection Act |
| Message | While we are philosophicaly opposed to tariffs in general, if the Finance Minister will be a bit more specific on the industries being protected, and the duration of the tariffs, we may be inclined to support this. Angus MacTavish Shadow Minister for Finance, AM RLP |
| Date | 11:32:32, May 01, 2012 CET | From | Nacionālistu Tautas Partija Likatonija | To | Debating the Infant Industry Protection Act |
| Message | "In answer to the shadow minister: we can not go into specifics at this time as this is a process which requires careful consideration. The tariffs would be applied to industries which do not possess the requisite economies of scale to be internationally competitive. When they achieve this milestone however, the tariffs would be abolished. This measure would not only keep us technologically and economically competitive, but would help to ensure job creation and maintenance. If the AM would like to maintain some sort of oversight over this process then they are welcome to nominate some of their members for admittance to the Industry Protection and Maintenance Board. As to the suggestions made by Mr. Kaiser that Likatonia should pursue self-sufficiency: this is patent nonsense and dangerous to boot. Likatonia needs to trade in order to absorb new technologies, to stay competitive, to obtain foreign currency reserves and to maintain good international relations. Notions of self-sufficiency are a delusion advanced only by the economically illiterate and the insane. I'll leave it for you to decide as to which category you fall into." - Vassily Østergård, Minister of Trade and Industry |
| Date | 15:19:47, May 01, 2012 CET | From | Commonwealth Workers Army | To | Debating the Infant Industry Protection Act |
| Message | "The idea that we want to encourage international trade is one that is counter-intuitive. On the surface it may seem like a good thing, but serious consideration shows that it is almost universally harmful, if one looks beyond the most short-sighted and self-serving of considerations. Where there is international trade, it should be as minimal as possible, the acquisition of technologies and materials that simply cannot be homegrown, obtained at the absolutely best return for Likatonia. As such, ALL international trade should be tightly controlled, and orchestrated only through government channels, Otherwise, Likatonia will go the way of all the other international-ist nations - currency devaluing, corporations replacing local business because of economy of scale, and work for Likatonians outsourced to Lodamun, or some other thirdworld hellhole." Yoav Kaiser, Trade and Industry Panel, May 3297 |
| Date | 21:52:20, May 01, 2012 CET | From | AM Radical Libertarian Party | To | Debating the Infant Industry Protection Act |
| Message | As you can see, the ideologues of the party would not permit an affirmative vote, so it was determined that the best thing was abstenstion. As to the arguements of the DRRP, we do not see allowing the consumers of Likatonia to obtain the best possible products at the most competative price to be self-serving. On the other hand, forcing them to buy a potentially infreior product at a higher price to satisfy the greed of home grown industrialists who cannot compete in a free and open market....one wonders as to the funding of any party which proposes such a thing. |
| Date | 01:30:43, May 02, 2012 CET | From | Commonwealth Workers Army | To | Debating the Infant Industry Protection Act |
| Message | "Ah, the AM RLP make a number of textbook mistakes. First - the assumption that imported products must be better. Second - the assumption that 'competitive price' is a valid consideration. Third - that native products must be inferior or more expensive. Fourth - that being more expensive is bad. Fifth - that protecting 'home grown industrialists' is a matter of 'greed' (we admit, we are surprised to hear a libertarian party admitting that business is mainly about greed). Sixth - that being able to 'compete in a free and open market' is actually something we should desire. Apparently, everything the AM RLP believes is wrong. This is not because the AM RLP are bad people, they've just based their conclusions on horribly flawed assumptions. Unfortunately, the grim truth is that the AM RLP would destroy Likatonia if they ever got their way. Slave-labour in foreign hellholes can make everything cheaper, and so buying JUST on price-point analysis is supporting slave-labour AND taking jobs away from Likatonians. So the huge megacorps buy slave-labour imports, which they sell cheaper than native companies can match, and cheaper than native companies can produce. So small businesses fail. Megacorps drive lesser private enterprises out of the market, and form barriers to entry for entrepreneurs. Basing business decisions on price is incredibly short-sighted, and - in this case - actively bad for Likatonia. The AM RLP may be content to fund criminal practices, to make Likatonians redundant, to stifle small business, to crush Likatonian entrepreneurial spirit, and to bankrupt the Likatonian economy - all so that we can import cheap t-shirts from Lodamun - but the DRRP will not stand silently by." --Yoav Kaiser, Trade and Industry Panel, June 3297 |
| Date | 04:52:09, May 02, 2012 CET | From | AM Radical Libertarian Party | To | Debating the Infant Industry Protection Act |
| Message | As to the first and third of Mr. Kaiser's points, what we said was potentially inferior products. There is no assumption there, merely the admission of the possibility. As to number five, of course business is mainly about greed. Why else would a man work his entire life at building a company if he was not greedy for the profits it would bring. "Greed is Good". As to the other points; slave labor imports are fine for t-shirts, but no one builds their jet airliners with anything less than a well trained, competitive work force. If Lodamun wants to sell us cheap shirts, we'll sell them good aircraft to pay for them. Our workforce is better educated and more professional than most of the rest of the world; just what we need to corner the market on high skill and high paying jobs. At no time did we ever a\say that price was the only decision point for a sale, only that given equal quality and service, price points win. |
| Date | 05:29:01, May 02, 2012 CET | From | Commonwealth Workers Army | To | Debating the Infant Industry Protection Act |
| Message | "The saying "greed is good" is satire. It's tragic that so many people seem to have instead considered it a sensible policy. Business doesn't have to be about greed. Some people just want to get services and products to people, and be able to do it as their vocation. Others... unfortunately.... just want to see the world burn, provided they get temporarily rich. Second - no, slave labour imports are not fine. Economic considerations aside, there are still serious questions about us supporting slaver regimes. Third - even if we accept that our jet industry is second-to-none, it simply does not make sense to allow 98% of our population to be unemployed, under-employed, or adversely employed, just so that 2% of our population can continue to thrive on the jet air trade. No one will deny that open trade borders mean lower prices due to foreign imports - but no one can realistically deny that it's costing us realworld employment, local business, and entrepreneurship." --Yoav Kaiser, Trade and Industry Panel, July 3297 |
| Date | 06:05:08, May 03, 2012 CET | From | AM Radical Libertarian Party | To | Debating the Infant Industry Protection Act |
| Message | The jet aircraft industry was just a representative example; there are many other industries in which our well trained and technologically advanced workforce would be unbeatable. We need not attempt to compete in low tech areas, those we can leave to the less advanced nations of the world. |
| Date | 12:56:20, May 03, 2012 CET | From | Commonwealth Workers Army | To | Debating the Infant Industry Protection Act |
| Message | "Oh, indeed. They can have all the low-tech jobs. Likatonia is above all that. Of course, the REAL diplomacy will be explaining to the Likatonian people why more an more of them are unemployed, while we ship ever more money and employment to slaver nations - but those are small prices to pay for ideological purity." ----Yoav Kaiser, Trade and Industry Panel, March 3298 |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | ||
| yes | Total Seats: 143 | ||
| no | Total Seats: 0 | ||
| abstain | Total Seats: 158 |
| Random fact: Players should not role-play characters without the consent of the owner, and if they find they have role-played the character beyond what the owner intended, they should withdraw or amend the role-play appropriately. |
| Random quote: "The European Union and environmental advocacy groups use global warming hysteria to advance their own special agendas. The European Union recognizes any significant reduction in CO2 emissions by the United States will significantly reduce its economic output, thereby bringing it closer to the inferior output of European nations. Environmental advocacy groups work to stifle economic and industrial progress wherever they find it to inhibit the successful advancement of peoples in developing nations, inevitably making mankind a second class citizen of planet Earth." - Dr. Jay Lehr |