Posted on 02/02/2009 10:56:33 PM PST by Tempest
Thank you, glad to be of service.
I am sure you knew what I suggested anyway!
“Free Trade is a giant fraud based on lies promoted by liars and paid for by the American people.”
I think that’s too harsh, and I think as well we are talking at cross purposes.
Free trade, as I and I suspect many of the people who have commented on this thread, is truly wonderful. It moves goods around that are plentiful in one area and scarse in another, and allows everyone to get richer.
The problem is that what is being practiced by certain nations now is NOT free trade. If I am producing a widget for $10 and someone in SE Asia is making them for $5, then even with his extra transportation costs the SE Asia widget is going to be cheaper. Unless I make a better widget, or work out a way of making them cheaper, Im going to be in trouble. That’s competition for you. I work out how to compete, or I’m toast.
But if SE Asia manufacturer is being subsidised by his government to the tune of $2 per widget, I stand no chance. But that’s not free trade. That subsidy is effectively a protectionist measure - an aggressive protectionist measure. A pro-active protectionist measure, if you will.
I agree - trade wars are bad things. The problem as I see it is that we are already IN a trade war, and we are losing.
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