Domestic Production Quotes
This same argument was used before and since to justify protecting domestic manufacturing from foreign competition until it can mature sufficiently to compete in a global economy. One difficulty occurs if protective tariffs are imposed for this reason. The manufacturers protected never seem to reach the point where they can compete without the subsidy.
La Guardia was the first member of Congress with flying experience and was alarmed that although Americans had invented the airplane, most airplanes were developed and manufactured in Europe and not America:
Shortly after the Cuban revolution, the U. S. placed an embargo on the Fidel Castro regime. Medicine was one of the critical items that hurt Cuba the most. However, the Cubans, facing the problem of inability to import any U. S. patented medicinals, moved to a two pronged approach to health care. First since the could not get the medicines for the ill people, the places an enormous emphasis on preventive medicine which U. S. medical experts have always advocated, but America has been slow to implement. The second effort was to create their own drug research and manufacturing industry. They were amazingly successful at both even as the rest of the communist regime was crumbling. At the time of this quotation, Cubans had a HIGHER average lifespan than Americans, and the Cuban drug industry had become the 3rd largest in Cuba earning hard currency for the country. The had over 200 international patents on medicines and were selling to 57 countries.
It is interesting that the first national women’s political party was a strong advocate of protectionism and saw free trade as an unfair hurdle for mostly male workers. At the time, the Republicans were staunch protectionists, and the Democrats, the free traders thus illustrating that the major parties continuously flip-flop on major issues.
Ruffin is more widely known as the man who fired the first shot of the Civil War.
