Posted on 03/30/2016 6:26:02 AM PDT by central_va
“Free trade” would more accurately be called “freedom for other countries to undercut and destroy American domestic production” because in practice that is what is happening. This is an undeniable fact that should be obvious to any consumer or business in this country. Very little of what is consumed here is made by American-owned companies operating in America. This was not formerly the case, and it was not how the wealth of this country was created.
Proponents of “free trade” justify their position by saying it is supplying American consumers with access to the lowest cost, most competitive market. However, this does not justify the terrible consequences. Proponents dismiss the destruction to American domestic production by wishfully thinking we will find new ways to reinvent ourselves. How will we continue to pay for these cheap foreign goods with no industry to generate our own wealth?
“Free trade” proponents fail to say that free access to subsidized foreign production is destroying America’s chances to be competitive.
(Excerpt) Read more at economyincrisis.org ...
“Free trade” would more accurately be called “freedom for other countries to undercut and destroy American domestic production” because in practice that is what is happening. This is an undeniable fact that should be obvious to any consumer or business in this country. Very little of what is consumed here is made by American-owned companies operating in America. This was not formerly the case, and it was not how the wealth of this country was created.
If China exports us 100% of their output for a year ....
.... and we export nothing to China for that year ....
.... who wins?
Offshoring All Production to third World Countries using Slave Labor and importing those goods Duty Free is NOT TRADE, and it is NOT FREE, it is Economic Suicide!
A rabbi and a priest are in a field of strawberries dotted with tall apple trees. In order to meet their Maker, they must thoroughly harvest their hectare. The priest is 7 feet tall; the rabbi is a pisher (5 feet tall, for those of you not fluent in Yiddish). Who should do what?
Duh. The tall guy picks the apples; the short guy harvests the strawberries. Easy call. That’s comparative advantage – the rabbi is vertically-challenged so he has a comparative advantage picking things low whereas the priest is high so he may pick unforbidden fruit.
The notion follows that countries have similar advantages: Kiwi grows easily in New Zealand, and not so easily in Saudi Arabia. Now Saudi gardeners could probably build shade, import soil, and mist-ify water to try and replicate the natural conditions of New Zealand but… why? Why not just let the Kiwis grow their kiwis and ship ‘em (on boats powered by Saudi oil…).
In lieu of this morning’s Conservative Economics thread, please visit this one, and assist!
Enjoy.
Let’s think about these in terms of individuals instead of nations and choices we all understand... like trying to decide whether to become a fry cook or a heart surgeon. (That’s a debate we have internally just about every single day.)
Let’s say you’re a wonderful fry cook and a talented heart surgeon. Your neighbor is a pretty good fry cook and (since he is near-sighted and has a severe hand tremor) an absolute butcher as a surgeon.
You have an absolute advantage over your neighbor as a fry cook. He just can’t hang with you around a pan of sizzling lard. And you also possess an absolute advantage over him as a surgeon—your patients actually survive their surgeries occasionally.
Which career should you pursue? To become a fry cook, you must sacrifice your far more lucrative work as a heart surgeon; your opportunity cost is very high. On the other hand, your moderately skilled fry-cooking neighbor has a relatively low opportunity cost—to pursue a career as a fry cook he only has to sacrifice his malpractice-suit-waiting-to-happen career as a surgeon. Therefore your neighbor has a comparative advantage in fry cooking... even though you’re objectively a better fry cook than he is.
I love the B.S. arguments posited by “Globalist” free trade supporters. Oh, American workers may EARN less but they pay less for the cheap Chinese crap in stores. Oh, REALLY.
Will shifting part of the production of Oreos to Mexico, cause the price of Oreas sold in the US to drop? LOL. Apple stuff is made in China and Apple stuff isn’t low-priced.
How about health care, tuition, house prices, and apartment rent? How does being able to buy cheap crap from China compensate for not earning enough to pay for these?
Also, not every worker has the mental chops to become a software engineer, and not every person will benefit from getting a college degree, but millions of people getting college degrees WILL drive up the price of getting one for EVERYONE, including the people who need degrees.
Any Republican that votes for globalism and free trade, resulting in more working class Americans having crap retail jobs instead of manufacturing jobs, is essentially creating a large constituency that will ultimately support socialism.
Do you know what you want to be when you grow up? Choosing a career is one of the most important choices you’ll make in your entire life. If you don’t want to make the wrong choice, you’d better think about comparative advantage—both your own as an individual and your country’s in the international market.
If you’re living in the United States, it really doesn’t matter if you’re the world’s most talented stitcher of men’s underpants. Other nations where labor is much cheaper (hey there, Indonesia!) have such a strong comparative advantage over the high-wage United States in the underwear assembly industry that you’ll never be able to find and keep a job in that field.
To Oppose Free Trade is to Embrace Violence
Let the discussion begin.
Let’s suppose we put on trade restrictions.
Who decides?
The answer is “your master”.
Who, precisely by name, is so wise, fair and all knowing that they arrogate unto themselves the power to dictate to me with whom I may trade on pain of more tax revenue for the leviathan state?
You?
Some fun over here!
All production?
..using Slave Labor and importing those goods
Slaves earn wages?
Better our own masters than Communist Chinese masters. But hey that's just me.
government strangulation = fig leaf to fool Conservative as to what is really happening which is labor arbitrage on an international scale to the lowest bidder. Regulations and taxes have nothing to do wit it. They are cover for corporate welfare.
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