Buy *Insert Nation State Name* Sweeps the Globe
Numerous times have I moaned about Barack Obama’s protectionist instincts, manifested overtly in the “Buy American” scheme, and covertly in many surreptitious barriers to trade.
Alas, this little misguided craze is catching on throughout the planet with various government interventions even copying the branding.
In the Philippines, a new law forces state-funded organisations to “Buy Filipino,” as well as outlining plans for subsidisation, tax exemptions and explicit favouritism when selecting companies that win government contracts.
Meanwhile “Buy Aussie” is kicking off in the state of New South Wales, which would similarly force authorities to give preference to domestic firms.
Pertinently, today is the 79th anniversary of the passing of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in the USA – arguably the most destructive protectionist bill of all time, which resulted in a tide of similar measures entrenching the global Great Depression.
Humans, they learn slowly, and so we seem to be heading the same way again – albeit, admittedly, to a lesser extreme.
June 17th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
“The signature by President Hoover of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Bill at Washington is the tragi-comic finale to one of the most amazing chapters in world tariff history, and it is one that protectionist enthusiasts the world over would do well to study.” (The Economist, 1930)
Let’s really hope it doesn’t come to this. The “buy British/American/Patagonian” cry seems to be some strange Pavlovian reflex: even the Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt encouraged Swedes to “buy Swedish” for Christmas in 2008. As Johan Norberg pointed out, it’s a rather foolish sentiment for a country that has built its prosperity on trade.
Fortunately he and Enterprise Minister Maud Olofsson have redeemed themselves by refusing to bail out SAAB Motors. As Mr Reinfeldt said recently, “when a ship is sinking my main aim is to save the sailors — not the ship.”
What I’m trying to say is we should be very wary of these campaigns, even though they seem more comical than serious. But we should also understand that politicians can say these things without meaning them – Nick Clegg managed to produce a “buy British” soundbite a while back.
June 18th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
[…] on the heels of yesterday’s protectionism story, the Chinese government are now rolling out their own “Buy Chinese” impositions – in […]
June 18th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Good title, btw. Very Onoin.
June 18th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
The Onion can be extremely amusing
Check out these stories
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/38517
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28832
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/30_miserable_lives_lost_in