The Affordable Footwear Act is a misnomer. ("Senators try to boot shoe tax," June 11). The act will doom an already blighted American shoe industry, relegating more manufacturing workers to low-wage, temporary and/or part-time employment while increasing the deficit.
Eliminating the tariff on imported shoes will result in lower prices for consumers — a solution to a crisis that doesn't exist — but proponents of AFA neglect to mention these indirect costs. In effect, the act will trade long-term social and economic stability for immediate consumer satisfaction. There's no such thing as free trade.
Proponents assure us dismissively that shoe manufacturing in this country has all but disappeared. Well, I'm wearing American-made boots now, and I like them.
John G. Bailey, Edgemere