Trade, Tariffs, Currencies, Colonialism, the Gold Watch, and Everything
The present-day tariff-trade-war conflicts boil down to Neocolonial strategies to gain control of markets for exports and resource extraction on terms that are only favorable to the Neocolonial power.
The title of today’s essay pays homage to the inimitable John D. MacDonald’s novel The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything in which the gold watch has the power to stop time.
In the context of today’s keening cries of tariff-trade-war agony, let’s use this imaginary power over time to return to the ancient world’s many long, dangerous and immensely profitable trade routes, for example the (mostly) sea route from Rome to the ports and riches of the southern coast of India, an enduringly profitable trade bonanza ably described in The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean: Rome’s Dealings with the Ancient Kingdoms of India, Africa and Arabia.
Let’s start by dispensing with the conveniently pliable fantasy of “free trade.” Though some reckon the author’s estimate that 30% of the Imperial income resulted from Rome’s duties on foreign trade exceeds the actual percentage, the trade’s great volume through the customs offices in Alexandria are described in ancient texts.
On the Indian side of the trade, various restrictions limited Roman access to approved ports and local merchants’ dealings with visiting Roman ships and merchants, who established permanent polyglot colonies of Mediterranean traders in Indian ports.
What characterized this trade was not that it was “free” but that it was mutually beneficial and not within the control of either side of the trade. Rome ruled the Mediterranean largely by extending the mutual benefits of commerce to the territories it had conquered. Pay your taxes a
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LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.
