patrick.net

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/news/international/1010/gallery.rare_earths_china.fortune/index.html

Obviously it was a bone head move to allow some else to control the entire worlds supply of rare earth's. It's not only a economic disaster waiting to happen, but a national security issue as well. If rare earth, or some other industry that another country holds a monopoly on because it's too expensive to produce here, trade tariff's should be placed on the product to make up the difference. I'm no fan of tariffs, they cost the consumer more and can cause other products that depend on the tariff item to cost me, placing us at a competitive disadvantage for exports. If an industry is large enough tariff's should not be used to protect it, for example Tires. There are plenty of tire manufactures in the United States, there doesn't need to be tariff's on Cheap Tires from China to protect those industries. But if the last US tire manufacture is in danger of going out of business, then steps should be taken to protect it from cheap imports. Having no tire manufacturing in this country places the entire country at the mercy of a foreign power. If in the event of a war with only country that supply's Tires, Tires will become a rare commodity in this Country, severely damaging the economy and national security. Perhaps if several other counties produce a product, we don't need to produce it here, since there are several sources it can be obtained, but to allow ONE country to be the sole provider of a good or service is very dangerous in my opinion.