Things to remember about tariffs

Tariffs are often in the news, and they are always pictured as something bad. Really bad. We may have to pay more for something when we go to the store. But we forget some things, if we ever knew them at all.

1) Taxes on imports paid for almost our entire federal budget for most of our nation's history. We didn't even have an income tax until 1913. Which would you rather pay: an income tax with hours and hours of filling out forms and going through a ton of paperwork, or paying a little more for something that you buy?

2) When we stopped taxing imports, millions of good paying jobs left our country, and the middle class shrunk dramatically.

3) We got cheaper products, but we paid a lot in taxes to pay for people who now depended on government assistance.

4) We don't make anything here anymore. Try to find something made in America besides small novelty items. Maybe it's just me, but I find that a little embarrassing as a nation.

It was American industry that saved us during World War 2. Now we make China rich by buying from them all kinds of things that we used to make here. And they are one of the reasons we have to spend so much on our military.

I think we should bring all the jobs back to America. American companies shouldn't have to go out of the country to make their products. You can always make something cheaper somewhere in the world, but I think we lose more than we gain when we do.

Larry Craig

Wilmette