free trade?

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO FREE TRADE

Governments got into the act of acquiring unearned money!!!

This morning I received a note via e mail from a fellow in Canada asking how the tariffs between the US and Canada were going to affect Wiggy’s. I was intrigued by the comment so I called him.

He told me that sleeping bags were on the list of products imported from the US to Canada that will have a tariff applied to them. I did check the published list of items and at the almost bottom of the list is sleeping bags.

I asked if the bags were made in Asia for a US company and sold to a retailer in Canada were they subject to the tariff, he did not know. I asked if the individual consumer buying via mail order a sleeping bag made in the US were they subject to paying a tariff. Again since this is so new he did not know.

This is all happening in retaliation to the tariffs by the US government on products coming into the US.

According to this Canadian fellow the reason that sleeping bags were chosen is because the US congressman from this district the western slope of Colorado is a republican. In reality I did not know the guys affiliation; Scott Tipton, so I can’t even ask him to help me, not that I would anyway.

What will the effect be on Wiggy’s; reduced sales to Canadians, at the moment the Canadian dollar are worth about $0.80 to the US dollar. Also, the cost of mailing product to Canada goes up and now the Canadian citizen will have to pay a higher import tax. This will probably reduce my sales to Canadians.

Wiggy’s employees will see a decline in production since the market for Wiggy’s bags and other cold weather products has been reduced.

I am told the European market is in the process of establishing a list of products coming from the US as well to be hit with tariffs. They may very well copy what the Canadians have listed.

Who gets the tariff money, the governments!!! How does this make the country better? It doesn’t, it make it worse off.

I am a free trade advocate and believe that ALL tariffs from ALL countries should disappear. There was a French business man in the 1700 who told a French representative of the king when he asked what he could do for the business man the man said “LAISSEZ-NOUS SEULE” which translates to “LEAVE US ALONE”. Isn’t it about time? This is not to be.

Governments have an insatiable desire for money and whose money is it; ours. Governments create nothing other than waste that is they waste our money.

I am writing about this and I am by no means the first and probably will not be the last, but the only way the world economy can change is if the governments decide to leave us alone so we the businessmen of the world can do our job which will ultimately employ people which will raise the standard of living for all who chose to work.

Until about 1900 or so the US was the freest capitalist country in the world and as such we became the richest and the country immigrants like my family came here so people like me could get an education and support themselves.

All this government interference has and still is destroying this.

The following article was sent to me and it was the article originally read by the guy who I spoke with earlier today.

“WHAT CANADA IS TARGETING AND WHY

SLEEPING BAGS

According to a published list or the party’s targets, the Democrats will be zeroing in on battleground districts in California and Colorado in the 2018 midterm election.one thing those two states have in common is selling sleeping bags to Canada and, now, a tariff on them. The Democrats are targeting no less than eight districts in California the biggest sleeping bag exporting state to Canada. Wiggy’s –an outdoor apparel company based in Grand Junction, Colorado, that supplies gear to the US military—is based in a district represented by the vulnerable Republican Scott Tipton. His district leans slightly Republican, compared to the national average, but could be one of the first to go in a Democratic wave election.”

Seen in the National Post

So Wiggy’s has made Canadian national news, maybe this will help the Canadian military to decide that if Wiggy’s sleeping bags are good enough for the US military they are certainly good enough for the Canadian military. By the way many of the Canadian military members have been buying Wiggy’s sleeping bags for years because they know the Canadian issue bags made with down do not work worth a d—n.

I also see the article as free advertising and it does not make a difference to me what they say so long as it is Wiggy’s they are talking about.

As for California being the largest exporter of bags to Canada, I doubt that since I do not believe there are any sleeping bag factories in California. As for Wiggy’s I do not sell any retailers in Canada, just mail order customers.

I do not know if all this trade nonsense will take effect but it should suggest very strongly to the governments involved free trade is the best way to go.