When Did The GOP Become The Anti-Free Trade Party?

Investor's Business Daily ^ | 03/23/2016 | Staff

[IBD editorial writer]

Protectionism: Officially, the Republican Party is pro-free trade. But it has done a remarkably bad job of explaining the benefits of trade to its rank and file, as exit polls of primary voters depressingly show.

[InterceptPoint]

Sad to say your understanding of theory is top notch, your understand of current trade policy, unfortunately, is nonexistent. We don’t have Free Trade, we have Managed Trade

Did I say we have Free Trade? Shame on me if I did. There will never be Free Trade. Our Trading Partners and Congress would not allow it.

My position and Milton Friedman's is that Free Trade is the right policy and is always going to benefit the country that practices it.

It is a goal. It would be nice if it could be achieved but the comments on this very thread clearly demonstrate the general ignorance of the actual effects of adding a tax on imports and sending that money to Washington D.C. That is (amazingly) considered a good thing by at least a vocal majority here in on FR. Not me. When you see the Freepers agreeing with Union Bosses and the Dems I recommend running in the opposite direction as fast as you can.

[stockpirate]

The unions leaders are in agreement with moving companies out of the US.

[stockpirate]

No, it is several factors.

By moving out of the US they lower their tax rate and lower their wage expense.

Unions are a huge cause of wage inflation along with a minimum wage.

[InterceptPoint]

The USA was once the greatest manufacturing country in the world. American isolationism and protectionism made it as such.

And who replaced us? The Chinese. Are you kidding me. China has 4 times our population and they produce a bit more manufactured goods than the U.S. Their per worker productivity is perhaps 15% of an American worker. No other country is even close to the U.S. and China.

What is going on in this country is that manufacturing output continues to climb while manufacturing employment continues to fall. That's just due to the continuing improvement in manufacturing automation and productivity.

[InterceptPoint]

Nice video. Friedman says the dollars we spend on imports ‘will come back to the US’.How are they coming back?

They come back as investments in the U.S. That can mean bonds, stocks, real estate, whatever.

The thing that is seemingly always overlooked by the Tariff Lovers is the difference in the savings rates for Americans vs the Asians. In the U.S. the percent of our income that goes to savings is very low. In the Asians cultures it can run as high as 25%. That in itself is going to cause what we call Trade Imbalances. We buy Japanese cars and the Japanese buy U.S. Savings Bonds.

[VitacoreVision]

How the Free Trade Agenda Is Knocking Down America
-- The New American (PDF) Special Report
http://www.thenewamerican.com/files/TNA2917.pdf

The Special Report includes the following articles:

- The "Free Trade" Agenda Threatens Our Rights
- Global Merger: Piece by Piece
- The EU: Regionalization Trumps Sovereignty
- Trade Promises... and Trade Reality
- North American Union: From NAFTA to the NAU
- Fast-track: Enabler of the "Free Trade" Agenda
- Regional Scheme for the Pacific Rim
- EU/U.S. -- Transatlantic Convergence

[InterceptPoint]

Since that video was recorded we have done exactly that? Where has it gotten us? 95.000,000 able minded/bodied Americans not even looking for jobs. $21 TRILLION in debt. Hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars in trade deficits. What's the definition of insanity?

All of this has resulted because we failed to add (using a Trump example) a 47% tax on imported goods and sent that money to Washington D.C.? Really? That is supposed to help the American people and avoid trade deficits? No new HDTV for you this year. Put off that new car for a year or two and (according to Trump) don't expect to buy as many new cars over your lifetime as you thought you would.

Watch the video again. Friedman is right. Adding taxes on the American people just sends more of our money to the big spenders in Washington D.C. and lowers our standard of living.

A lesson from the video: There are NO TRADE DEFICITS. We import goods. We export goods. Any imbalance is solved by the foreign countries either burning those $Dollars or investing them in the U.S. It turns out they do the latter.

[JPJones]

“They come back as investments in the U.S. That can mean bonds, stocks, real estate, whatever. “

None of that is happening en masse, as you correctly point out here:

“We buy Japanese cars and the Japanese buy U.S. Savings Bonds. “

So the dollars DO come back but go to the US fedgov.

Very good.

Do you see the problem now?

[Robert DeLong]

My standard of living is enhanced by low priced imports.

Not really because the additional taxes and the eroding of the value of the dollar due to money printing to pay for those hit hardest and unable to find work, make that savings disappear.

[Ohioan]

The mistake that you are making, is treating "free trade," as an issue in a vacuum. When it is coupled with calculated attacks on a people's sense of identity; with the respect for strong & independent minded local communities; it can be anything but the promised panacea that you suggest.

As a Jeffersonian--and admirer of the Conservative position of John C. Calhoun--my inclination has long been to support lowering tariff barriers. But the combination with the anti-American concepts of those seeking New World Orders, and One World lunacy, has altered the context of the issue, and changed American needs.

Your other major error is approaching issues based upon macro economic analysis. Macro analysis is merely an aggregation of the effects of the economy on an almost infinite number of micro economic situations; as such, it masks some really tragic effects, destructive to the continuity of whole communities--even States & cities, and the cultural values of their inhabitants.

I believe that Donald Trump understands this, and can be trusted to arrest the headlong flight to social self-destruction in America.

William Flax

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Here is a big cue to the editorial staff of the IBD.

Your job on the editorial staff, despite all your years education, and loyal and productive work, is over. You are fired. And if you want severance pay, you must train your replacement, who is here on a work visa, to do your job.

And you can forget about getting a similar job elsewhere, because you are an American. Foreigners are considered more desirable as employees.

So now, Mr. Unemployed man, please tell us again about how much you have personally benefited from “free trade”. You have now joined the ranks of *millions* of previously employed Americans who now have to scrape to get by.

[InterceptPoint]

“They come back as investments in the U.S. That can mean bonds, stocks, real estate, whatever. “ None of that is happening en masse, as you correctly point out here: “We buy Japanese cars and the Japanese buy U.S. Savings Bonds. “ So the dollars DO come back but go to the US fedgov.Very good.

Do you see the problem now?

Of course I do. Our government spends like a drunken sailor so there is always a big supply of U.S. bonds that can be purchased by foreigners. If there wasn't then they would buy corporate bonds and stocks. You are trying to blame trade for all our problems. Big mistake. But it is yours not mine. And not Milton Friedman's.

And you are mistaken about the Balance of Trade. As long as the Chinese and Japanese and the rest are doing anything with those $Dollars they are holding that will balance the books. Of course they could burn them but I don't anticipate that.

[Ohioan]

Guys,

Check out my reply # 50, above. It is an approach that I have used before--in an academic situation--for which no one had an answer. Let us see if the IBD writer can do any better.

[Sheapdog]

“free-trade” is merely a catch all euphemism that poisons the well of thoughtful discussion. Only “free trade” is good and anything else is backwards dreaded “isolationism”. Only the US is held to certain double standards. Just remove the word free and then a healthy discussion on trade can take place. The same stupid labeling takes place for example in Christian theology where “free grace” is a position held in opposition to “Lordship salvation”. But who could be against free Grace? Is not grace free? The argument and discussion never really happens as the label itself seeks to impose it’s righteous logic to win the day.

[PJBankard]

You are so right, no American Businesses were sunk because of “free-trade”. Manufacturing and Industrial jobs were replaced with automation. Oh wait, that’s right take a look at the US Steel Industry. I guess all those steel jobs near Pittsburg and other locations were just replaced with automation. I guess companies such as Bethlehem Steel didn’t close up shop due to foreign steel being cheaper and unable to compete in the industry anymore due to free-trade, and really just replaced all the jobs that were lost with automation.

What are you smoking? American industry and manufacturing is dismal and is growing smaller and smaller. And how much do we import compared to what we “manufacture”. And how much of that import used to be made here in the US.

The US didn’t use to depend on foreign manufacturing for goods. We do now. So to say that we are still a manufacturing giant is a load of sh!t. Asia (China specifically) unlike the US, doesn’t rely on imports. Asia needs the US to buys its crap, but does not need to buy US products. American industry is dying. Our advisaries are extemely smart, as they know they cannot defeat us while American industry is still on it’s feet, but once it is completely crippled, do you think they won’t just roll over us.

[InterceptPoint]

You really need to do a little research before you post. Manufacturing employment in this country has been declining for decades and will continue to do so due to automation and other productivity improvements,

Taxing the American people (The Trump Solution) in order to force us to buy less expensive foreign steel isn’t going to fix that. It might make marginal improvements in steel industry employment but the economy will hurt elsewhere due to the transfer of wealth via taxes from you and me to Uncle Sam.

Trump is wrong about tariffs. You are wrong about tariffs.

[PJBankard]

Were the Founding Fathers wrong about Tariffs?

[LS]

Not to mention stagnant wages.

[Robert DeLong]

Not to mention stagnant wages.

That actually makes it necessary to seek out lower priced goods. Because inflation, devaluation of the dollar, and risings taxes are eroding our buying powers. That coupled with stagnant wages means we are constantly losing ground on what was an affordable debt load, but is now becoming a debt load that is requiring us to make cuts elsewhere to keep up with our personal debt load.

So a good and valid point you bring forth.

[Pelham]

well said