Chapter 513 Reducing Tariffs
Gail spent ten days visiting Washington, explaining things to Puerto Rican guests with both reason and emotion. Most importantly, he made them aware of the current situation. At least for the next four years, the Democratic Party is the dominant force in the country. Gail should fulfill the duties of an opposition party and at the same time avoid causing trouble for the ruling party.
Maybe Republicans have not yet learned how to do what an opposition party should do. Out of friendship, Gale feels it is necessary to remind them and make them recognize the current situation.
After doing all this, Gale left Washington without stopping and returned to New Orleans. There was nothing worth staying in this shabby place, but he was fascinated by the warm climate in the south.
"Are there no tough congressmen who don't respect you?" Sheffield was a little curious. He squatted down and unleashed the dog leash to let the dog run around while he chatted with Gail.
"It's not that there aren't any. Just like you said, there are far more fools than smart people in this world. However, those who can become congressmen finally know the pros and cons. In addition, the Democratic Party is strong now, so it's not as difficult as imagined to achieve the goal. The main reason is that we won the national election this time." Gale said cynically, holding a cigarette in his mouth, "If we didn't win, it would definitely not be so easy."
Sheffield nodded in agreement. The so-called democratic checks and balances require a certain degree of tacit understanding. But if the two parties have no tacit understanding at all and are only hostile to each other, the fate of the opposition party will not be so wonderful. Take the Cannon Party, which has retreated to the Fraud Island, for example. "It is not enough to describe its incompetence as a piece of mud that cannot be supported by a wall."
Comparing the Republican Party to the Cannon Party is certainly somewhat insulting to Republicans, and the United States is much more perfect in this regard. However, with the presidency and the majority of seats in the hands of one party, there are not many means left for the Republican Party to check and balance.
In later times, the ruling party could be checked and balanced by the Federal Supreme Court. However, in the early 20th century, the Supreme Court did not live up to its claimed status.
The Supreme Court has long been a role that thrives under the two-party politics of the United States. One of the landmark events was the case of Taft, who was supposed to be president this time.
Taft had always coveted the position of Supreme Court Justice, even more than being interested in being the President. Because of his rather special experience, he became the President first and then the Supreme Court Justice, which completely made the Supreme Court a level of the political system, and made the Democratic and Republican parties begin to pay attention to the opinions of the Supreme Court.
But now? Taft was not president, so he could not establish the status of the Supreme Court.
Taft's desire to become a Supreme Court Justice was not something he had done overnight. He even deliberately appointed elderly judges when he was president. Taft's adjustments to the Supreme Court later bore fruit. More than a decade later, Taft would lead the group of justices he personally appointed.
When the authority of the Supreme Court was established, Taft was a very important figure. Because he had been president, he liked to cooperate with Congress as his goal. Under his leadership, the authority of the Supreme Court increased greatly. However, since he cannot be president now, the Supreme Court is still just a mediator and cannot become a weapon for the Republicans to check and balance the Democrats.
Given the current age of the Supreme Court, it is very likely that the Democratic Party will replace judges with those who support their conservative ideas within the next four years and become more powerful. It can only be said that the timing is very good.
"It seems that our goal has been achieved." Sheffield whistled and sighed, "It's good to cooperate with the party you like. Otherwise, why would I have been thinking about helping the Democratic Party take back power for so many years?"
"Yeah, it's true when you say that. I'm so happy to see a Democratic president in the White House," Gail said as he took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took out one at random, threw it into Sheffield's hand, and took another one for himself and put it in his mouth.
"We are essentially the same!" Sheffield asked Gale to light his cigarette and expressed his gratitude. "How can we, the descendants of those who were once glorious and watched the Democratic Party control the country, always watch the Yankees shouting arrogantly? The United States has always been ours. How many years has the Republican Party been established? Being an opposition party should be the position that the Republican Party should have. The country has made mistakes, and now is just the beginning of correcting them. We still have a long way to go."
Did the slave owner only have gold? That's not the case. In fact, the amount of gold he had was not much compared to silver. Now we are waiting for the war in Europe. The demand for precious metals will definitely increase. In the face of war, which is a gold-eating beast, the belligerent countries don't care about gold or the gold standard. It's good to have it. It's not like it can't be used.
The issue of tariffs can be resolved through Congress, but it cannot be resolved only through Congress. It definitely requires a necessary process of waving flags and shouting, and Sheffield is not unfamiliar with this operation.
Today, the New Orleans Morning Post published by New Orleans Publishing House has made an unprecedented economic report. The core content is the tariff issue that has caused widespread controversy, analyzing the pros and cons of the tariff issue. High tariffs promote exports, and low tariffs promote imports. This is only the appearance of the tariff issue. In fact, whether the tariff is high or low is a very complicated issue.
From last year to now, the entire United States has experienced a general economic stagnation, and various industries have experienced declines to varying degrees. The economic downturn has inevitably put the federal government's money under pressure. Currently, the domestic capital outflow is very serious. In essence, it is because of the international environment that it has been drained by the British Empire.
Of course, the story of being bled by the British Empire cannot be written. This is inconsistent with the propaganda of the American Century. Writing it down will only cause more troubles to the citizens of the United States. Will the United States and the British Empire go to war? The federal government does not have the courage to do so.
Sheffield has always known that the United States has always dealt with the weak with heavy blows, and it is impossible for the United States to face powerful opponents alone without bringing out dozens of countries to fight on the battlefield.
There are only two ways to fight against the money shortage: either print money or strengthen supervision, or both. However, the United States at the beginning of the century could not choose the former, but the British could do so.
From the perspective of macroeconomics, the amount of money in circulation in a country is constant over a certain period of time. The adjustment of this coefficient is in the hands of the central bank. Once inflation appears in the national economy, the central bank will introduce policies, implement monetary tightening measures, increase the central bank's reserves, and raise bank deposit rates.
But there is no such thing as a central bank in the United States. It almost came out, but was suppressed by the slave owners.
The New Orleans Morning Post linked the tariff issue with the antitrust law, which was a different way of creating momentum, pointing out that over the years, the increase in tariffs to prevent foreign companies from entering the market had objectively led to the growth of major trust companies. After these trust companies grew stronger, they not only did not use their strong strength to promote technological innovation, but instead used high tariffs to do whatever they wanted in the country, disappointing the citizens' expectations that their domestic companies would become bigger and stronger.
Now the internal situation has led to the growth of major trusts, which in turn has forced citizens to choose only inferior products. The New Orleans Morning Post called for tariffs at the end of the year to allow European companies to compete, which is definitely not a bad thing, but will become a driving force for innovation.
They believe that even if antitrust laws operate unimpeded, they will not be able to solve this deep-rooted problem. To improve competitiveness, it is better to lower tariffs and allow these self-proclaimed already very powerful trusts to face competition.
If these corporate trusts are really as powerful as they claim to be, this competition will not have an impact on the industry of the United States. If, on the contrary, they are unable to adapt to this competition, it will not be a pity if they are defeated.
"I absolutely do not believe that our industry, which has seemed so powerful for so many years, cannot withstand external shocks." The New Orleans Morning Post ended with a word of encouragement.
This entire report was naturally dictated by Sheffield. His wife Anne was a witness. After seeing this article being published, she was delighted from the bottom of her heart and said, "William, you seem like a real economist."
"A true economist is a liar who constantly overturns his predictions from the previous day the next day. I told you long ago that economics only looks like it is related to mathematics because it uses statistics. But in fact, this is an illusion to deceive the public." Sheffield accepted his wife's compliment, "As long as you are thick-skinned enough, anyone can be an economist."
Sheffield cannot tell Alton Parker what to do, because he is the president of a country, not Martin Luther King II, the black butler of the Sheffield family. But there is absolutely no problem with some goodwill campaigning. As for whether the president has received the signal, it depends on whether the tariff bill is passed smoothly.
From April 1st to the end of April, Sheffield has been preparing for the shopping festival. The Senate and the House of Representatives in Washington voted on the tariff issue again, and Democratic lawmakers really brought it up. The New Orleans Morning Post said that even with strong administrative power, the problem cannot be fundamentally solved. Tariffs cannot be lowered and the invisible hand of the market can be allowed to increase competition.
On the last day of April, the two parties voted on the proposals in Alton Parker's State of the Union address. With both sides prepared, Congress passed resolutions on racial subdivision and tariff reductions. Alton Parker's road to power got off to a smooth start, and Congress decided to reduce tariffs within three months to promote domestic competition.
(End of this chapter)
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