Shoul we pay more for imported goods?

Should Americans pay more for the things they buy? Yes and No.

Yes, if they pay more for imported goods, then they buy more domestic goods, better employing more Americans.

No, if they pay more taxes, or some other way of making the rich richer especially foreign rich.

Maybe we should pay more to treat the very poorest people in the world fairly, and then not charitably give them food before they die of disease. Here is how.

The United States should declare a worldwide minimum wage, say $2 per hour plus 1.5 over 40 hours. Only factories that pay that minimum wage for all its workers, all the time, without subcontractors, for all goods(whether imported or not) can those goods be imported to the USA. We cannot regulate the world but we can regulate what we buy. This changes the economic dynamic. US workers are competing with workers who are not abused. Win Win. As a result for example, we will export (charitable giving) less used clothing; that prevents the poorest regions from making their own clothes for their own people, entrepreneurs that learn to do other things for themselves as well.

Compensation should be allocated to those that produce, wherever in the world that maybe.

This story was originally published February 13, 2017 at 6:33 PM with the headline "Shoul we pay more for imported goods?."