rnments permit to enter into a country. They are laws that not only restrict the choice of consumer goods, but also contribute greatly both to the cost of goods and to the cost of doing business. So under ``protectionism'' you end up poorer, with less money for buying other things you want and need. Moreover, protectionist laws that reduce consumer spending power actually end up des troying jobs. In the U.S.A., for example, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's own statistics, ``protectionism'' destroys eight jobs in the general economy for every one saved in a protected industry. HIGHER PRICES: Japanese consumers pay five times the world price for rice because of import restrictions protecting Japanese farmers. European consumers pay dearly for EC restrictions on food imports and heavy taxes for domestic farm subsidies. American consumers also suffer from the same double burden, paying six times the world price for sugar because of trade restrictions (to give but one example). The U.S. Semiconductor Trade Pact, which pressured Japanese producers to cut back production of 256K comput er memory chips, caused an acute worldwide shortage of these widely used parts. Prices quadrupled and companies using these components in the production of electronic consumer goods, in various countries around the world, were badly hurt. HIGHER TAXES: Protectionist laws not only force you to pay more taxes on imported goods, but also raise your general taxes as well. This is because governments invariably extend their Customs Department bureaucracies to force compliance with their new rounds of trade restrictions. These bureaucrats must be paid. There is also the expense of more red tape and paperwork for trading companies and more harassment of individual travellers passing through the borders. THE DEBT CRISIS: Western Banks are owed hundreds of billions of dollars by Eastern European and Third World countries. Trade restrictions by Western governme...
