>Would protective tariffs be an example? Tarrifs in the US were designed to
>shield the new American industrial sector from foreign (eg British)
>competition -- "fostering infant industries," in List's words. By the late
>19th century, American industry was out producing the British in all the key
>sectors (like steel) but the tariffs were maintained. Only now they were
>maintained to "protect the wages of the American worker," -- or at least
>that became the publicly stated rationale. Now, I'm sure no one really
>believes that the American capitalist class was interested in protecting the
>wages of American workers from European competition, but the fact is that US
>wages WERE higher, and that protective tariffs enjoyed popular support.
Tariffs are one thing for a "developing" country, and another for a rich one. In the U.S. tariffs would be a subsidy to our capitalists, who would have no incentive to share it with the working class. Better to strengthen the institutions of the working class than subsidize capitalists, I say.
Doug