Was doing some brainstorming and had an idea

What would happen if we installed massive tariffs on ALL imported goods and greatly increased (think tripled) the federal tax of transportation fuels.

I know that most people think economic depression would follow.. costs of goods would go up, prices would go up, sales would go down and the economy would grind to a halt. I think that is the conventional thinking anyhow.

But I'm wondering if something different would happen..

What if companies who still had a base here, suddenly found themselves in a position to now be competitive. What if they had to increase employment to keep up with the new demand. What if people had to live closer to the places they work and play.. new infrastructure and community building. What if it become too expensive for tax payers to subsidize big companies by maintaining highways for them.. and they had to actually pay their own way. What if those big companies decided it was cheaper/more cost effective to build more smaller plants then one large plant and ship everything. What if this resulted in our economy become self-sufficient again and we stopped making other countries rich.

I realize that exports would be impacted. I would suspect that you'd see some consolidation in those industries which are export heavy. A large American company with a considerable amount of exports would end up buying into a company over seas in order to supply products into that market. Or they would have to build there.

I don't care if they build there.. because they are already building there, what I'm striving for is holding on to what we have and to encourage large corporations who are flooding our market with imports to have to build here.

The American Economy is 300 Million people strong.. its still the #1 GNP country in the world. Industry can not and will not ignore this market.

There are good reasons to want to do business in China, India and Russia.. but it should not come at the detriment of Americans.

Those companies that which to leave and pursue higher profits can leave. Don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out. They will be replaced by companies who want to be here and sell here.

I can hear the haters already..

Tariffs shielding American industries from competition only allow them to remain less efficient. furthermore, the added costs to all consumers saps consumers' purchasing power and outweighs any benefit to producers 

 On a level playing field, yes, shielding a company does allow it to be less efficient. However, when the laws of a country allow it to operate on a completely different level, no amount of efficiency can over come that. There is no way a company can produce tennis shoes in the US and compete with .10/hour and zero pollution controls of India, Korea or China.

The added costs do sap consumer purchasing power in the short term.. however it does not outweigh the long term job. A company which saves me 30% on goods.. and takes 100% of my income.. isn't good for me or any other consumer.

And this doesn't reduce competition for goods.. it just balances the playing field for those domestic companies who are competing. Nothing prevents those companies in other countries from setting up their shops and competiting "in this market, under this market's rules".

Right now we see government supported industries in foreign lands trumping private companies on US shores. Those companies are operating outside the rules placed on our own manufacturers.

Without doubt.. there will be short term pain. Like going on a diet. But the long term benefits greatly outweigh the short term pain.