Free Republic

<p>The VAT is used as a trade strategy to accomplish the same benefits as currency devaluation. The VAT strategy is called “fiscal devaluation” and I’ll explain it at the bottom. It took me three years to understand the power of the VAT in trade strategy, so I understand why it takes others a while to think through it. But the price differential result (as between domestic and imported products) is substantial. And we need it to neutralize what other countries have done.</p>

Like most academics, professors of economics are not generally stupid people, IQ-wise. But they do have a remarkable ability to lose sight of basic realities. I’ve seen this over and over again. I just had an extended e-mail exchange with one Ron Boudreaux, a professor of economics at George Mason University, about the trade deficit. Now I’m not going to offer any comment on it, and will just let the reader judge for himself who’s right in the back-and-forth below. (Feel free to post a comment or e-mail me if you think I was mistaken.) ************* Dear Mr. Fletcher: I...

The Smoot-Hawley tariff passed in 1931 is the silver bullet of Free Trade advocates. All other arguments do not matter for them because they say the Smoot-Hawley tariffs either were part of the cause of the Great Depression or were responsible for continuing the depression by reducing international trade. This reasoning does not hold up to close inspection. Smoot-Hawley did not cause the Great Depression, nor did it extend the Depression. ... In general, the statistical arguments made by current Free Traders are deceptions. They generally say something like, "the United States economy grew after NAFTA." That may be true,...

When economic patriotism died Pat Buchanan agrees with the pope about ' the dark side of globalism' “This is called slave labor,” said Pope Francis. The Holy Father was referring to the $40 a month paid to apparel workers at that eight-story garment factory in Bangladesh that collapsed on top of them, killing more than 400. “Not paying a just wage … focusing exclusively on the balance books, on financial statements, only looking at personal profit. That goes against God!” The pope is describing the dark side of globalism. Why is Bangladesh, after China, the second-largest producer of apparel in...

For anybody disheartened about years of disappointing economic news, Japan's recent announcement that it intends to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) offers a real reason to celebrate.Free trade agreements (FTAs) historically are some of the most surefire ways to open up new markets to U.S. exporters while enhancing American interests abroad. They create economic growth by fostering innovation and efficiency and, as a bonus, they generally produce invaluable political benefits.As FTAs go, Japan's participation in TPP makes this trade pact the Super Bowl and the World Cup of trade agreements wrapped into one. It's a game changer.It will give American...

A study of the Bitcoin exchange industry has found that 45 percent of exchanges fail, taking their users' money with them. Those that survive are the ones that handle the most traffic -- but they are also the exchanges that suffer the greatest number of cyber attacks. Computer scientists Tyler Moore (from the Southern Methodist University, Dallas) and Nicolas Christin (of Carnegie Mellon University) found 40 exchanges on the web which offered a service of changing bitcoins into other fiat currencies or back again. Of those 40, 18 have gone out of business -- 13 closing without warning, and five...

Stretching from Singapore and the Strait of Malacca chokepoint in the southwest to the Strait of Taiwan in the northeast, the South China Sea is one of the most important energy trade routes in the world. Almost a third of global crude oil and over half of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) passes through the South China Sea each year. The Strait of Malacca is the shortest sea route between African and Persian Gulf suppliers and Asian consumers. The strait is a critical transit chokepoint and has become increasingly important over the last two decades. In 1993, about 7 million...

ustralia is seeking to bypass trading in U.S. dollars with China in an effort to avoid the commercial uncertainties that come with the recent fluctuations in the greenback. For example, just a half a year ago, the dollar traded at about $1.20 to the euro; by February, it had weakened to $1.34 per euro and now it is going for $1.27. Eliminating the dollar in trade will be the focus of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s trip to Beijing next week. Trade with China, Australia’s primary trading partner, totaled $120 billion in the last fiscal year. China buys nearly one-third...

(Reuters) - A long-term U.S. manufacturing rebound is under way, and it will likely endure because the United States is becoming more competitive with China and other emerging economies. According to a recent report by the Boston Consulting Group titled "Made in America, Again," the cost advantage China has over the United States is shrinking fast. "Within five years, rising Chinese wages, higher U.S. productivity, a weaker dollar, and other factors will virtually close the cost gap between the U.S. and China for many goods consumed in North America," the report said.

Washington: The United States and Japan on Friday agreed on language aimed at giving Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe political cover to bring the world’s third-largest economy into negotiations on a US-led free trade agreement in the Asia Pacific region. In a carefully worded statement following Abe’s meeting with President Barack Obama, the two countries reaffirmed that “all goods would subject to negotiation” if Japan joins the talks with the United States and 10 other countries. At the same time, the statement leaves open a possible outcome to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, talks where the Japan could still protect...

China has leapfrogged the US to become the world’s biggest trading nation, bringing an end to the US’s post-war dominance of global commerce. The total value of US exports and imports in 2012 was $3.82 trillion (£2.4 trillion), the US Commerce Department has revealed. China’s customs administration has already announced that the country’s total trade last year was worth $3.87 trillion. “It is remarkable that an economy that is only a fraction of the size of the US economy has a larger trading volume,” Nicholas Lardy, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, told Bloomberg....

The re-election of Barack Obama hasn't done anything to make more jobs available to Americans, and there is no indication that it will. America now has 23 million people who want a full-time job but can't find one. Obama doesn't think American citizens or businessmen create jobs. His Jobs Czar, Jeffrey Immelt, recently said on a television interview referring to China, where he has outsourced General Electric's light bulb plants, "state-run Communism may not be your cup of tea, but their government works." In his first presidential debate last year, Obama claimed that passage of free trade agreements with...

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Bill Enns, a central California real estate agent specializing in farmland, fields dozens of calls every week from potential buyers. Many want almond, pistachio or walnut orchards — or any land suitable for growing nut trees. [...] California's almond industry, which grows about 80 percent of the global almond supply and 100 percent of the domestic supply, saw the most dramatic growth — powered by strong demand from new money-spending middle classes in India and China. The growth has prompted a rush for almond-growing land and pushed almond land values through the roof. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/With-almonds-rising-revenues-land-values-soar-4189081.php#ixzz2Ht4HqjiG...

American leaders bring to mind the last Abbasid Caliph, who made no preparations for the approach of the Mongols in 1258. What, asked al-Musta'sim Billah, could Mongol arrows do to the walls of Baghdad? When the Mongol commander Hulagu Khan arrived on January 29, though, he had with him 1,000 Chinese bombardiers, as well as Persian, Turkish and Georgian auxiliaries. Historians disagree as to whether the Mongols used cannon or counterweighted catapults, but in any case the bombardment breached the city's walls within three weeks, and they proceeded to slaughter between 200,000 and a million of its inhabitants. There are...

The Mississippi River's Water Levels Are Dropping, And Could Shut Down Trade Next Week Jim Salter, Associated PressDecember 28, 2012Wikimedia Commons ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Mississippi River level is dropping again and barge industry trade groups warned Thursday that river commerce could essentially come to a halt as early as next week in an area south of St. Louis. Mike Petersen of the Army Corps of Engineers said ice on the northern Mississippi River is reducing the flow more than expected at the middle part of the river that is already at a low-water point unseen in decades, the...

The U.S. Balance of Trade with China The U.S. Census Bureau announced this week that the cumulative trade deficit with China through October 2012 amounted to $262 billion, $16 billion higher than at the same point last year. Last year's trade deficit with China was a record imbalance and was the largest bilateral U.S. trade deficit in history with any country. At this pace, the bilateral trade deficit with China this year is expected to be the highest on record. Although cumulative annual U.S. exports to China were up 6.4 percent over last year, this was offset by imports, which...

The prospect of hanging, as Samuel Johnson observed, "concentrates the mind wonderfully." We're counting on that kind of concentration to keep us from falling off the infamous fiscal cliff, which doesn't sound like fun. But while the Republicans and Democrats argue about whom to blame if they let the worst happen, we might look outside the box to find something beyond partisan gloom and economic doom. We've given up our role as the manufacturing colossus, which blinds us to the reality that the times, they are a-changing -- again. "For decades," writes James Fallows in The Atlantic magazine, "every trend...

It’s an issue that has plagued states along the Mississippi River for months and has now landed squarely on the desk of President Obama: how to prevent the imminent shutdown of commercial traffic along the nation’s largest waterway. A nationwide drought, the worst to hit the U.S. in decades, has lowered water levels along the river, threatening barge traffic. White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Thursday that the President raised the issue with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, directing his administration to take “every step to mitigate” the situation. Carney added that there are a number...

In a campaign speech, President Obama said: “I know we can outcompete any other nation on earth.” No we can’t. We can’t outcompete Germany, China, France–we can’t compete any other country. In fact, no country can outcompete any other. The very concept “outcompete” makes no sense on a national scale. One business can outcompete another business, but a nation can’t outcompete another nation across the board. Suppose Bangladesh firms have a comparative advantage in sewing garments. Even if Americans are better at it than Bangladeshis, both countries gain if Americans outsource their garment-sewing work to Bangladesh firms and shift American...

... Obama supported Southeast Asian nations' proposed multilateral approach to tackling territorial tension in the South China Sea, pushing back against Beijing as a major international meeting became bogged down in acrimony for the second time in five months..

Romney promised that he would act on China's currency manipulation "on his first day." So Republicans can pretend Romney won, and actually act on China's currency manipulation! If they would actually do what they promised to do we could get a lot a lot of "job creation" going on. Or will they continue to obstruct? China continues to manipulate its currency. It has been getting better but not fast enough. This manipulation keeps the prices of things made in China lower than they should be -- even before taking into account all of the other trade cheating China has been...

Among the Obama campaign’s many accusations this year, one of the more interesting ones has been the claim that Mitt Romney was an “outsourcer” during his days at Bain Capital. When exploring this claim, we must remember the job of a company like Bain Capital: it’s to create value for the investors by building a successful company. The vast majority of companies that Bain shepherded to success during Romney’s tenure were and are, in fact, major employers, major retail, wholesale, or manufacturing firms that employ thousands and thousands of Americans. The net result of Mitt Romney being involved in the...

The picture below shows $15 trillion dollars worth of $100 bills on $10 million dollar pallets stacked on top of each other over an area that is one third larger than a regulation football field. An electronics van is parked between the stack and the Statue of Liberty. A single $100 million dollar pallet rests in front of the truck’s cab. See it?Recently, I reported that the Federal Reserve Bank (FED) secretly gave ten trillion dollars of interest-free loans to over a dozen European banks to shore up the Euro and keep them financially solvent. I later found out that...

Peace talks between the US and the Taliban broke down in March mainly because the Afghan insurgents refused to agree to a deal by which guerrilla commanders released from Guantánamo Bay would remain under Qatari government supervision in Doha, a senior US administration official said. ------------------------------snip------------------------ The collapse has been widely blamed on resistance in the US Congress and the Pentagon to allowing any Taliban prisoners to be released or transferred from Guantánamo. However, a senior administration official insisted the Obama administration had been ready to transfer the five prisoners to Qatar had the Taliban agreed to the conditions in...

Recent Chinese diplomatic maneuvers in Central Asia, both bilateral and multilateral, show that Beijing’s strategy treats the region as a corridor for reaching resource bases in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa. Central Asia is thus part of China’s broader blueprint of securing strategic resources and supplies to feed its developing economy (Z. Saipov, China Oil & Gas Monitor, Week 21, Issue 396, News Base, May 31, p. 3–4). Hu Jintao (L) and Islam Karimov Illustratively, Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu’s two-week official tour of Congo, Tanzania, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan on September 1–13 (English.sina.com, September 6) supports the premise that...

The US has angered vineyard owners across France with a plan to sell some of its wines in the European Union with a "chateau" or "clos" label. "What is at stake is the respect for tradition and quality," Laurent Gapenne of Chateau de Laville and president of the Federation des Grand Vins de Bordeaux told the Associated Press. For American vintners it is a question of selling more wine in their top export market, unshackled by historic language or restrictive terms in the world of 21st century globalization. "People use words in different ways," WineAmerica chief operation officer Cary Greene...

(title continued) Americans held in Egypt Shocking. This would be the nadir of Obama's craven foreign policy of surrender, releasing the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people and injured more than a thousand. Treason. Al-Arabiya: US in talks to swap jihad terror Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman & 49 others for 19 Americans held in Egypt thanks to Robert Spencer

Terrorists aren’t supposed to get visas. But Hani Nour Eldin was apparently invited to D.C. this week to meet with top officials. Did no one Google him? It was supposed to be a routine meeting for Egyptian legislators in Washington, an opportunity for senior Obama administration officials to meet with new members of Egypt’s parliament and exchange ideas on the future of relations between the two countries. Instead, the visit this week looks like it’s turning into a political fiasco. Included in the delegation of Egyptian lawmakers was Hani Nour Eldin, who, in addition to being a newly elected member...

Jobs. That is the issue in the election – at least that is the issue Obama and Romney are focused on – who will create more jobs for a country in desperate need of them. During his convention speech, President Obama mentioned jobs 19 times, Romney did so 16 times. Obama promised a future where the U.S. will "outsource fewer jobs." Of course, Romney is known as someone who made hundreds of millions by outsourcing jobs. Former President Clinton put forth a job scorecard, arguing Obama and the Democrats will create more jobs. Neither candidate is arguing for a New...

Most of my columns are meant to expose the hypocrisy of self-described liberals who have taken over our institutions of higher learning. However, on some occasions, I attempt to address misguided thinking among self-described conservatives. An example is my recent column “Romney and the Rapist,” which was described by many readers as either “weird” or “convoluted” or both. Those descriptions are indeed accurate and reflect the intention behind the controversial essay. It was my intention to write a column that would identify absurd arguments as a means of drawing out the flawed reasoning of those who would support Romney’s...

A 3,300-year-old treasure trove of gold found in northern Germany has stumped German archeologists. One theory suggests that traders transported it thousands of miles from a mine in Central Asia, but other experts are skeptical. Archeologists in Germany have an unlikely new hero: former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. They have nothing but praise for the cigar-smoking veteran Social Democratic politician. Why? Because it was Schröder who, together with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, pushed through a plan to pump Russian natural gas to Western Europe. For that purpose, an embankment 440 kilometers (275 miles) long and up to 30 meters (100 feet)...

The United States had a trade surplus every year from 1894 to 1970. The trade deficits started in 1971. 1975 was the last year the United States had a trade surplus. We have had a trade deficit every year since 1976.

Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement reacting to a leaked version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact with Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam: “These new trade agreements will place domestic U.S. firms that do not do business overseas at a competitive disadvantage. Based on these leaked documents, foreign firms under this trade pact could conceivably appeal federal regulatory and court rulings against them to an international tribunal with the apparent authority to overrule our sovereignty. If foreign companies want to do business in America, they should have to...

WASHINGTON — Senior members of Congress — both Republicans and Democrats — are reacting with shock and awe at the tsunami of national security leaks emanating from the Obama administration. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Greta Van Susteren on Fox News Channel that the unauthorized disclosures of classified information are "the most egregious breach of national security" he ever has seen. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told reporters this week, "The accelerating pace of such disclosures, the sensitivity of the matters in question and...

A document posted online early Wednesday morning reveals the Obama administration intends to give new political powers to multinational corporations, contradicting prior campaign promises. The leaked document was posted on the website of Public Citizen, a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy group that has been critical of the administration’s trade objectives. The most recent leak follows growing controversy surrounding the secrecy of the Trans-Pacific trade talks. Members of Congress, including key Democrats, have complained the secrecy of the trade discussions is insulting. In addition to growing outrage in Congress, public health experts, labour unions and internet freedom advocates have voiced concern...

(Reuters) - The Defense Secretary Leon Panetta promised on Wednesday to let India buy America's best weapons technology and jointly produce and develop equipment in a bid to increase trade with the world's top arms importer. India last year agreed to buy a fleet of C-17 transport planes and P-81 maritime surveillance jets from U.S. company Boeing, as well as Lockheed Martin's Super Hercules. It is at a late stage of talks to buy more than a dozen Boeing Apache helicopters and last month cleared the purchase of 145 M777 Howitzer artillery guns. Panetta made no public mention of these...

BEIJING (CNN) -- China said Friday that the Chinese activist at the center of a diplomatic storm has the right to apply to study abroad... If Chen Guangcheng wants to go overseas to study, "as a Chinese citizen, he may apply like other Chinese citizens"... ....[SNIP].... The Chinese comments came as U.S.diplomats spoke by phone with Chen, who is currently in a Beijing hospital. The officials also met with Chen's wife,Yuan Weijing, in person, according to a senior State Department official who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. The U.S. officials had been scheduled to...

New York's Freedom Tower reaches 100 floorsAFP Relax News – Wed, Apr 4, 2012 **SNIP** The Freedom Tower, scheduled to be opened in 2013, is being built to a height of 1,776 feet (541 meters), which is a symbolic figure reminiscent of the US year of independence. The glass walls have been built to the 70th floor while the concrete floors are poured to the 87th floor, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said on its website. The building is planned to be the tallest in the United States when it is completed.

America is addicted to chocolate. Foreign chocolate. A majority of us consume chocolate each day. Although the U.S. produces only 6% of the world’s cocoa, we consume more than 20%. The threat is obvious. It’s time for government to step in and promote alternatives. Any day now, President Obama will be barnstorming the country to tell us, “If we really want chocolate security and chocolate independence, we've got to start looking at how we use less cocoa and use sources that we can renew and that we can control, so we are not subject to the whims of what's happening...

Tim Tebow traded to the NY Jets for a 4th round draft pick with the Broncos.

WASHINGTON, March 20 (LID) – The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday will make a preliminary administrative decision on whether to impose additional tariffs of as much as 250 percent on Chinese solar imports.

The U.S. government is embarking upon, and partly financing, a series of groundwater remediation initiatives in China -- despite the fact that China already plans to pump (USD) $5.5 billion of its own money into such actions through 2020. According to a Scope of Work (SOW) that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor has located, the U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA) initially will fund what is known as a "definitional mission," or DM, to China (#RFQ-CO201261140). The agency will outsource this preliminary endeavor to a private contractor, who would then travel to Beijing and two other cities that the Chinese...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A long-delayed U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement (FTA) that has stirred controversy in both countries took effect on Thursday, although the opposition in Seoul has vowed to renegotiate it if it wins elections this year. The deal between the world's top economy and Asia's fourth largest will boost trade by billions of dollars and create tens of thousands of jobs, the two sides say, making it one the biggest deals of its kind. [] The pact, which was signed in 2007 and finally approved by both countries in late 2011, immediately eliminates 80 percent of South Korea's...

The state of Michigan set a record for exports in 2011, a sign that the state’s economy is recovering, according to one manufacturing industry advocate. Michigan exported $50.8 billion in exports last year, a $6 billion increase over 2010, according to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The biggest winner was exports of transportation equipment, which increased by $3 billion and was up 13.8 percent from 2010 to 2011. “Exports are a critical part of Michigan’s economy,” said Mike Johnston, vice president of Global Affairs for the Michigan Manufacturers Association. “Our market is not down the street or around...

“It has come to our attention that Arms Trade Treaty proponents are attempting to change the rules mid-stream, prior to the upcoming Treaty negotiations in early July,” researchers Paul Gallant, Alan Chwick, and Joanne D. Eisen wrote in a breaking story published yesterday in AmmoLand Gun News. “Ted R. Bromund, Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, alerted the public to the very real possibility that ATT proponents are changing the meaning of the term ‘consensus’ and to the political ramifications for the US if ATT proponents prevail,” they warn. “Until now, ‘consensus’ has been understood by the US and...

Xi Jinping, likely to be China's next president, visits President Obama in the White House this week. This visit ensures that the ongoing currency war between the United States and China will be on the list of things that Obama and Xi discuss along with the looming war with Iran, the North Korean succession, and other geopolitical issues. Currency wars arise when a country steals growth from trading partners by cheapening its currency to promote exports. The new currency war began in 2010 when President Obama declared in his State of the Union address that it was the policy of...

Trade Secrets Act keeps pepper spray ingredients "secret"Story Created: Feb 06, 2012 at 6:28 PM FORT MYERS, Fla. - Law enforcement officers rave about pepper spray as a way to get compliance without drawing their guns. In recent weeks we've seen it gain scrutiny as law enforcement uses it as a way to control crowds at occupy events. But if you think it's natural and made of peppers, you're only about two-percent right. In fact, some ingredients in pepper spray are a highly guarded trade secret. **SNIP** Mesloh says no one regulates this industry to keep it from happening, not...

“I will go anywhere in the world to open new markets for American products,” President Obama said last week in his State of the Union address. He also indicated that he’s willing to risk a trade war with China, possibly leading to a swift closure of new markets for U.S. goods and services - the exact opposite of his stated goal. Mr. Obama entered the White House three years ago as a protectionist candidate who spoke of withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement. Once in office, he felt the burden of responsible governance and reversed course, promising to...

Is World Trade Falling Like A Lead Balloon Minus Terminal Velocity? Alarming Collapse of Baltic Dry Index Economics / Recession 2012 Jan 30, 2012 - 03:32 AM By: BATR Significance of BDI Is the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) one of the most significant leading economic indicators to follow when the media is telling us the global economy is looking great one week and then predicting a double dip recession the next? We are increasingly concerned about the substantial decline in global shipping’s Baltic Dry Index. Is this a significant canary in the mine shaft in regard to what lies ahead...

Traveled by Native Americans, presidents, generals, gypsies and families seeking a new life in the west, “The Great Road,” known today as Frederick Road or Route 355, provided a path for both the adventurer and the entrepreneur. As the main route northwest from Georgetown, the last port on the Potomac River, it was heavily traveled from the mid 18th century until it was replaced by Interstate 270 in the 1960s. It began as an Indian trail leading from the Piscataway settlement at the mouth of Rock Creek to the great “Conestoga,” a trail that included footpaths and waterways (what we...