Obama And Romney Are Wrong: Outsourcing Is Actually America At Its Best

Forbes ^ | 07/28/2012 | Harry Binswanger

[SeekAndFind]

Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are currently fighting over who is the more patriotic. Obama slams Romney for having outsourced jobs to China during his Bain Capital days. Romney punches back by labeling Obama “Outsourcer in Chief.” The latest is that both John Boehner and Harry Reid are voicing outrage over America’s made-in-China Olympic uniforms. “Burn them!” thunders Reid.

Republicans and Democrats strangely agree that outsourcing is unpatriotic, and that the moral and patriotic thing to do is to “Hire American” and “Buy American.”

Well, no. Not in a thousand years. The fear of outsourcing and international trade is economic nonsense and moral blindness. More than that: this anti-profit attitude is un-American.

Despite the ongoing Europeanization of America, America still symbolizes the land of freedom, entrepreneurship, profit-making, above all, individualism.

But collectivism is the premise of “Hire/Buy American”: we are to view ourselves and others not as individuals, but as units of a nation. Businesses are urged to pay more in labor costs, simply to hire workers who are American; consumers are urged to forgo Walmart’s low prices, pay more, simply because the pricier goods were made by “our guys.” This is not rational patriotism, it is not Americanism, it's primitive tribalism.

American individualism means making buying decisions on the basis of economic merit, giving no regard to the nationality or race of the seller. Let’s not hide behind patriotic-sounding slogans. Let’s name things straight for a change: giving preference to American sellers over foreign sellers is the same mindless injustice as giving preference to sellers who are white over those who are black.

Economic nationalism is as morally outrageous as racism. Buying on the basis of nationality or race is the same collectivist evil: judging men and their products by the group from which they come, not by merit.

[bert]

Business is business and has nothing to do with patriotism.

Your assumption to the contrary is incorrect.

Profit is the source of everything American.

[DoughtyOne]

No one is arguing that trade with Germany would have prevented WWII. That is your straw-man argument.  But it was the argument in the day.  Churchill was telling folks to quit helping Germany build up it's military machine.  Nobody listened.  Sound familiar?  Evidently not.  I did introduce the concept.  Bad on me huh.  Bad on Churchill too.

I'm sorry that you take that observation as a personal insult. You shouldn't be so sensitive.  A personal insult?  Yes I did take it as one.  That's what was intended.  I got it dead on right.  And I called you for being the ass you were being.

Maybe you should reexamine the need to write BS like "people we have right here on this forum." Where are they? Why insult anyone specifically, when you can insult everyone who disagrees with you on any number of issues?  If I have experienced a certain thing on this forum, it's up to me to relate it to others as I see fit.  I have had conversations with Free Traitors here, and they refuse to believe that our current situation with China, could be similar to Europe's pre WWII dealings with Germany.  In fact, I'm having a conversation with a pin-head right now, that fails to make the connection.  I don't need to go any further than to point at you, as being the poster child for this type of neglectful thinking.

And finally, just to put the argument to rest: trade would not have prevented WWII, just as tariffs (or whatever) would not have prevented WWII.  Unbridled trade with Germany helped it build it's military machine.  Raw materials, technology, and an income stream, helped Germany just like it's now helping China.  Where are they?  Look in the mirror ass-bite.

And I certainly don't go running around these threads claiming that there are people "right here on this forum" arguing tariffs would have prevented WWII (well, I could, but it would be a straw-man argument).

Well petunia, perhaps you can link me to where I made a tariffs reference.  I don't recall having made one.

When the subject of whether it's a good thing to conduct the trade with China that we are, it is relevant to bring into focus all aspects of what that trade could facilitate.  I did so.  You don't like it.  Tough!

Hitler was going to push east, just as Stalin was going to push west. The only question was who would do so first.

Hitler went into action when he felt his war machine was strong enough to achieve what he wanted.  China will operate under the exact same principle.  Every nation that instigates hostilities does.

[central_va]

Business is business and has nothing to do with patriotism.

Wow, there it is in all its ugliness, a philosophy of sellout for a buck. Tariffs now before these gloBULList reduce us to a banana republic.

[DoughtyOne]

Free Traitors

Good one. Did you come up with it yourself? The only reason I ask is that it is an insult. Have you ever used it before? lol  I don't think I did come up with it.  It's a term I use not infrequently, because it is so fitting.  It's a big hoot for you, something quite funny, but when our young service members start dying in hostilities with a nation we more than any other nation, helped build it's military infrastructure, it will be folks like you who will suddenly express so much sympathy for them.  You could have helped fight to avoid that eventuality.  Instead you make sick jokes and laugh.

The thing that rankles me the most is that there "are people here on this forum" [snort] who would excuse Tiananmen Square, the EP-3 incident, ongoing cyberattacks, etc., if only we raised the price of ping-pong balls by ten cents. You might know some of them, they call themselves patriots.  It is amazing to me that you think with-holding trade with China would be forgiveness for these things, but granting unbridled trade to China is what, a penalty?

1RudeBoy, you aptly named yourself.  I think you could do better though.  1BlitheringIdiotBoy would be a more accurate alternative.

[DoughtyOne]

Gets my vote Rurgan. About all it will get you around here is a headache though.

[1rudeboy]

These people who disagreed with Churchill, are they posting here on the forum right now? Just another way of illustrating your strawman—don’t take it personally.

[3Fingas]

What you said....

Many have unwittingly embraced this very self-destructive philosophy.

What proof do you need? We used to have tariffs, sound money, and an America first trade policy. We used to make everything. Our economy was the envy of the world. Now, we are considered suckers by countries hungry for our markets using the same tactics we used in the past. We truly are nation which has forgotten our history.

[DoughtyOne]

I’m for free trade. What these folks are pushing is not free trade. There is a very high cost to what these folks are advocating. They are destroying our nation in this process.

We need workers. We need their tax income stream. Local communities need their commerce. Yes, why are our cities in such ruin? Gee, I wonder... /s

We have taken trillions of dollars out of our economy. We were running a trade deficit with China at about 800 billion a year before this downturn.

That amount spent here, would result in upwards of $4 trillion dollars in commerce, when the multiplier effect was taken into consideration.

I earn a dollar. I spend that dollar. The person I give that dollar to, spends it again. And the person he spends it with, spends it again. On it goes...

Taking trillions out of our economy year after year, and putting it in China’s pocket, has accomplished what? It has made China prosper, and our nation die off.

We have towns you and I have heard of all our lives, that are now being erased from the map. Homes are empty. The rest are in disrepair.

What we have is a modern day Potter’s town, only now it’s turning into Potter’s nation.

If we don’t get someone in the Oval Office who can turn this around, we’re done as a world power. More than that, we’re done as a culture, a people, an ideology.

China will become the new hegemon. Just wonderful!

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks Virgil I appreciate it.

[1rudeboy]

One more thing, if you call people who disagree with you on policy traitors, and “not infrequently,” then quit your bitching that you are being insulted in turn.

[bert]

Isolationist protectionist drivel......

The business of America is business.

[DoughtyOne]

Very good...

[central_va]

Washington, Madison, Monroe, Jefferson -- protectionists all.

Marx, Engals, bert -- Free Traders all.

[1rudeboy]

I just spent $1.79 for a 24oz. can of Foster’s (brewed in the USA, I should add). How much more should I have spent in order to ensure full employment?

[bert]

more drivel

[1rudeboy]

How do you tell a communist? Someone who reads Marx and Lenin. How do you tell an anti-communist? Someone who understands Marx and Lenin. (Paraphrasing Ronald Reagan).

[central_va]

There may be a tariff on beer imports. However if Fosters-Lager is brewed in the USA what would that have to do with the Free Trade argument? Nobody is suggesting a tariff on domestically brewed beer. Tariffs between US states is unconstitutional. Maybe your sniffing glue, not drinking.

[central_va]

your=you are

[DoughtyOne]

To: DoughtyOne

There ya' go again. You start off with a valid point, and finish with an insult. Does that make you feel smarter?

And I'm not "dismissing" anything other than your bone-headed comparison. As for the rest, if telling folks the obvious makes you feel bigger, go right ahead.

117 posted on Sunday, July 29, 2012 5:23:19 PM by 1rudeboy

Who was bitching?  LMAO  I responded by reminding you that you started off with the "STRAW-DOG" insult because you couldn't grasp the relevancy of the concept I introduced.

Let me guess.  Your favorite movie is the Wizard of Oz.  If I only had a brain...

[3Fingas]

Fosters? Your taste in beer undermines your entire argument. LOL....:-D

I don’t really think that imported/foreign owned breweries are the biggest cause of our insane trade deficits.