大侠行天下日记 我见我闻我思 06/10

我见 我闻 我思

建材价格暴涨 拜登政府难為

美国全国经济在疫情好转后正强劲復甦，从木材、 铝片、 钢铁及晶片价格全面上涨， 也导致拜登政府面临两难之窘境。

如果在保持关税，保护国内就业市场和抑制暴涨之原材料是件不易操作的动作，如果总统立即取消或减少进口关税，立即会使国内工人失去竞争力，反之物价上涨也严重影响经济成长及通货膨胀。

川普总统在二O一七及二O一八年採取对中国大陆及加拿大等国之加关税政策，其目的是在保謢国内钢铁木材工人的饭碗，但是疫情造成之停工，使得原物料飞涨，因而造成民生物价同时飆涨。

拜登总统正在推动国内基建工作，一方面全面更新铁路、机场、桥梁、 公路， 但是，高价之原材料将会严重影响到基建之预算和品质。

今天我们也非常淸楚疫情对美国和世界经济带来的极大影响，全球经济之互相依赖是无法逆转的事实，如果政府只是在关税上做為阻止他国商品进口之手段，已经无法解决工人失业问题， 只有譲一般百姓增加负担，生计日愈困难也非明智之举。

Tariffs Are Not The Only Solution

The U.S. economy is so hot that the demand for key materials can’t keep up. The prices for everything from lumber to computer chips is skyrocketing.

In 2017 and 2018 President Trump wanted to protect domestic jobs by adding tariffs on steel and the lumber industry

Despite a 20% pullback in recent weeks, lumber prices still were up 400% from the April 2020 low. This makes the average price of a new home go up $36,000. The price of steel products also went up 270% last year.

Lot of economists believe the high tariffs are hurting our economy in many ways. Meanwhile, both the steel and lumber industries are strongly urging Biden to keep the tariffs in place.

We also want to point out that the world economy is changing and the fact we all depend on each other. Our producers need to export overseas to stimulate our job market at home. If we continue using the strong tariffs policy, many other countries can do the same thing.

Because President Biden wants to accomplish the infrastructure project, we need to plan ahead. All the costs need to be calculated, not just create more jobs.