Posted on 11/05/2007 8:22:29 AM PST by cradle of freedom
What do you think of free trade? Is it good for the nation as a whole?
Then, IMHO, we should snapped 'em up and run with them, i.e.
The caveat is that in a world with technology and enemies, trade must be restricted in the area of arms and military technology. A freetrading USA that freetrades its secrets to China may benefit economically in the short term but that soon becomes irrelevant as China turns that against the USA. That is a snide reference to Clinton's super cheap sale of American missile and nuclear secrets to China. His wife owes the same sort of debts to China.
Yes.
This Globalized siphoning off of our productive capacity via one-sides trade agreements is not so good however...
Free trade, like FREEDOM, is never free. There is always a cost.
There is a human condition known as politics, defined as....the authoritative allocation of value. In other words, who has something of value and how is it to be disbursed. Whether it be a gov’t, a dictator, or plain old human need, things of value (food, clothing, & shelter are #1), there is going to be “unfair competition”.
The real question is, IHMO, who do we want as the “deciders”?
Interesting that your immediate response is to reach for the absurd - without the slightest consideration of why it’s absurd, or what can reasonably be done about it.
If that’s your strongest argument...
Now give us a cute story about off-shoring, instead of widgets use, say printed circuit boards or microprocessors.
Since when is life fair? All trade is unfair. It costs us more to produce oil than it does Saudi Arabia. Should I be forced to pay $6.00 a gallon to make it fair?
If I have a patent on something isn't it unfair to stop other people from making that item? Fair is for children.
I think we all agree that subsidies are out of the question but what about other issues such as protecting American workers and our sovereignty? If enough American workers are out of work our economy would be hollowed out and we would fall into a depression again. Sovereignty and national security are also concerns. What if we lose those parts of production that are necessary to defend ourselves? Could we have won World War II with the kind of economy that we have today?
No, and we can't today either. A huge portion of our heavy industry has gone overseas thanks to unions and others......
Another thing that is troubling is the influence of powerful foreign businesses and nations. It is bad enough that powerful American business interests can have an undue influence over our legislators and presidents but what about foreign interests and nations? I think we have already seen the behind the scenes power of Mexico in several cases involving the Border Patrol and even in this latest case of Mexico interferring in our judicial process when a Mexican national raped and killed two girls in Texas. Mexico is trying to go over our heads taking it to the World Court. What does President Bush do —nothing. It is like there are too many business partnerships with Mexico and the rights of Americans are being sacrificed to keep the money flowing to those insiders who are politically connected.
As per the Mexican illegals it’s all about votes. The Latino population is now our largest minority. They vote in numbers that would put the African-American minority to shame. Neither party wants to anger the “Hispanic” voters in any way. The Congress, whether (D) or (R) will delay, ignore, or whatever they can come up with to sweep it under the rug. Doing nothing is better than doing anything, in their book. Just look at how H! squirmed her way thru that DMV question. She and the others are walking a razor thin edge and want to get away from any talk at all about immigration. There is no political will in this country inside of DC, to do anything at all.............
Have you noticed that more and more of our foods are being imported from China and other nations. Dole pineapple doesn’t come from Hawaii anymore, it comes from Thailand. Fish is coming from China as well. This really concerns me. I do not trust the Chinese standards of safety and not only that, but what about our freedom of choice? These Chinese food products are being forced on us the same way as other consumer goods. It only took a short time for retailers to flip from American made products to Chinese and then everything in the stores said made in China. We have little leverage as consumers because 90% of what we buy comes from big national chain stores like Walmart. They determine which manufacturers will survive.
It’s your original statement which is absurd. So absurd in its extremism, in fact, that I suspected it might be a piece of sarcasm not labeled as such. Apparently you actually meant it seriously. What you said actually allows for the kind of abuse I cited, so don’t blame me for the logical consequences of your adolescent, simplistic thinking.
Did you hear about the big explosion at the Chinese pasta factory?
Total wonton destruction!..........:^)
Try attacking the argument instead of the messenger.
Does it bother you to see just about everything being made in China now also including food?
extremely so......
“Free trade” has been a disaster. We have a massive trade deficit and a falling dollar. The insanity continues (The U.S. House just voted to ship more jobs to Peru) and I am sure that we will continue to lose manufacturing jobs and industrial capacity until we become a 15th rate nation. Of course, that is exactly what elitists like Bush and Pelosi want to accomplish.
Way too many free-floating terms here, and maxims that aren't.
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