> then why was the wealthiest time for america also the time it had the highest overal tarrifs? because that time also coincided with the smallest government. if you're referring to the 1950 and 60s, that's before they had nearly 1/10th the amount of regulatory agencies they had now, medicaid/medicare didn't exist, and social security was less than 8% the size it is now.  the larger the government, the worse the private sector will function, tariffs are one of the few ways we've actually improved in the last 70 years in terms of shrinking the size of government. > there are only 2 ways to develop competitive industry in an industrialized world. no, it's to increase average productivity of workers by investing in technology and capital stock. this raises output/worker. the way to do this is less government, and lower taxes, especially on the investor class. not imposing trade barriers.
Canada