Free Republic

The British government’s sole assessment of the shadowy Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal indicates there are “lots of risks and no benefit,” according to documents seen by Global Justice Now. In February a freedom of information (FoI) request was made to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) to find out whether risk assessments had been carried out in relation to the secretive deal, which is currently in its 13th round of negotiations. The BIS reported that the only assessment had been carried out by the London School of Economics (LSE), which found “little reason” to believe...

Hey Hillary! You really need to do a better job of faking sincerity. That is the advice of Dave Johnson at the Huffington Post. Johnson is worried that in the general election Donald Trump, if he is the nominee, would be a lot more credible in his opposition to trade deals than Hillary Clinton who is merely faking it. What she needs to do to is put on a credible game face to get away with faking her opposition to trade deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership in order to fool enough people to win the general election. So far Trump is much...

Hanover (Germany) (AFP) - Tens of thousands of opponents of a proposed transatlantic trade deal poured onto German streets Saturday on the eve of a visit by US President Barack Obama. A loose coalition of trade unions, environmentalists and consumer protection groups in the northern city of Hanover said they drew a crowd of 90,000 to a march and rally outside the city's opera house. Police mobilised a large force to keep the peace and put attendance at 35,000. Obama's trip -- to open an industrial technology fair and hold talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders --...

[... On a visit to London on Saturday, Obama sought to address sceptics' fears head-on, admitting that some past trade agreements had "served the interests of large corporations and not necessarily of workers in the countries that participate in them". ...]

Previous thread pulled over "Title," so here it is again with exact title from You Tube. Summary: Trump asked about transexual-bathroom controversy starting at 8:35 mark. Basically says there are more important issues. Also states should be a local and state issue. Not something the federal government should be worrying about. Trump also asked, at 10 minute mark, about "taxing wealthy." Says would like to go after the wallstreet guys. Discusses closing loopholes, carried interests, etc. Hannity asks him directly about the "wealthy in general." Trump cites wallstreet guys, basically saying taxes might go up, but says in general taxes...

A blogger recently complained that I (along with my fellow bloggers from George Mason University's Department of Economics) "seem to be shills for industry." This lazy accusation is as familiar as it is mistaken, for if I were truly a shill for industry ... • I'd be wealthy, raking in many more dollars than I now take in from my job as a professor at a state university. • I would not have come by my strong preference for freedom and free markets when I was still an undergraduate at Nicholls State University in south Louisiana. Corporations are not known...

The stupidest, lamest, and couldn’t-be-more-mistaken charge often leveled at those who find great merits in free markets (such as me and my colleagues at GMU Economics and the Mercatus Center, and my dear friends at institutions such as the Cato Institute and the Hoover Institution) is that we’re “bought off by” or are “paid shills for” rich business people. Such a charge or belief reflects an utter misunderstanding of economics and of how economies operate. Currently successful business people have a material interest in stifling at least some market competition and in themselves receiving handouts and special privileges from the...

I was told yesterday that Trump is a liberal Democrat. My reply: Build the wall. Enforce the law. Deport them all. End sanctuary cities. End anchor babies. Slap a moratorium on muslim immigration. Cut the taxes. Cut the spending. Cut the regulations. Cut the government. Cut the debt. Cut the EPA. Repeal ObamaCare. Get the feds out and allow health insurance to be sold over state lines. Send education back to states. Get a handle on trade. Make trade deals in our own best interests. Bring back capital. Bring back manufacturing. Bring back jobs. Strengthen the economy. Defend the second...

The Boston Globe is reporting that U.S.-based shoe manufacturer New Balance has come out hard against the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal. The odd thing, though, is that "the Boston company had gone quiet [on TPP] last year." Now, apparently, we know why: New Balance officials say one big reason is that they were told the Department of Defense would give them serious consideration for a contract to outfit recruits with athletic shoes. But no order has been placed, and New Balance officials say the Pentagon is intentionally delaying any purchase. New Balance is reviving its fight against the trade...

Economists since Adam Smith have insisted that the ultimate goal of economic activity is consumption, not production. Production is a means to consumption. Consumption is the goal. Identifying something as a means rather than as an ultimate goal is not to diminish the importance of that something. The ultimate goal of the mother of starving children is to feed her family. Her hunting for food is the means of fulfilling that goal. But this fact does not imply that her efforts to secure food are unimportant. Yet when we ask “Why did this woman hunt for food?” the answer is...

Donald Trump played up his plans to tax companies that move jobs out of the United States as he tried to appeal to blue collar workers in a New York rally Sunday. Speaking for about an hour Sunday in Rochester, N.Y., Trump recited statistics about the area's loss of manufacturing jobs and economic hardship in recent years. He reiterated his desire to tax goods sold by companies once based in the United States that moved away to find cheaper labor. The plan has been widely panned by economic experts. But the Rochester crowd ate it up. "I'm the only one...

Since the end of World War II, a broad consensus in support of global economic integration as a force for peace and prosperity has been a pillar of the international order. From global trade agreements to the European Union project; from the work of the Bretton Woods institutions to the removal of pervasive capital controls; from the vast expansion in foreign direct investment to major increases in the flow of people across borders, the overall direction has been ... ...more successful than could reasonably have been hoped. We have not had a war between major powers. Global standards of living...

Many Trump enthusiasts cite Heidi Cruz’s stint with the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where she advocated for the private sector, as an indication that presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz is a “globalist.” If Heidi Cruz’s connection to the CFR makes Ted Cruz a globalist (despite Cruz’s extensive record of aggressively defending U.S. sovereignty), any thinking Trump supporter would also want to take into account presidential candidate Donald Trump’s repeated and vocal admiration for CFR President Richard Haass. During the GOP debate in Detroit on March 3, Fox News anchor Bret Baier asked Donald Trump for “two or three names”...

A pro-trade group that wants Congress to approve the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership released a study Tuesday forecasting large income gains — but also acknowledging hundreds of thousands of job losses in some sectors. The study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics euphemistically refers to job losses as “churn.” The study pegs the annual number at 53,700 per year during the 15-year implementation period, which means more than 800,000 total. And that’s the optimistic forecast by a group that supports TPP. Curtis Ellis, executive director of the American Jobs Alliance, said Tuesday on “The Laura Ingraham Show” that he does...

"Trade" has become a dirty word in this year's presidential race, with candidates of both parties bemoaning the American jobs supposedly lost to foreign competition because of our trade policies. Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened a trade war with our most important trading partners, who, he claims, are "killing us." But Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton all fret about the issue and vow to take a harder stance, as well, if elected. Obviously, the message is resonating with the electorate, which makes it more dangerous still. Is there anything that can be done to reverse this sudden anti-free...

Foreign companies -- already with marginal access in industries -- are now up against mercantilist moves including a "Made in China" initiative. China Tells Foreign Firms: Brace for Bigger Competitors Table of Contents: Scouring China’s annual gathering of leaders for clues about business prospects, foreign companies got a clear message: Brace for bigger, stronger local competitors. Reform of the nation’s $18 trillion state sector will focus on making companies "bigger and better" with mergers and acquisitions pivotal, said the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission over the weekend. That plan to create national champions is undermining the confidence of...

Washington ~ The federal government announced that the US trade deficit worsened yet again in February 2016. Modern trade deals continue to cause failures in US trade performance and loss of dynamic, diverse manufacturing and agricultural supply chains. Here are the relevant points from the report, released today. Trade deficit worsened: “The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce, announced today that the goods and services deficit was $47.1 billion in February, up $1.1 billion from $45.9 billion in January, revised. ” Exports down on a three month average: “Average exports of...

Video Link

The Shanghai Chinese Tower... ...an American firm designed that tower... ...a symbol of the country’s rise to... ...position Shanghai as one of the world’s leading financial center continues... ...one wonders why both the U.S. government and American businesses are actively working towards helping China... ... and undermine Washington’s own global influence... ,,,look at China’s fast and furious acquisition of American companies, an alarming development that has been met with deafening silence from the White House... ...China’s aggressive stance on acquisitions, with $100 billion on the table so far this year. Those deals include... ...facilities in the U.S. that are dangerously...

hina now has accumulated approximately $3.2 TRILLION in convertible currency reserves, of which nearly $1.2 trillion are held in U.S. treasury bonds. This has happened through their escalating balance of trade surpluses with America – they sell to us much more than we sell to them every year. In the process, China has been instrumental in putting many of our American companies out of business. This is only possible because of our failed “free trade” policies. They are using their new found wealth to buy us out! Shuanghui International of China has agreed to buy the American meat processor Smithfield...