Posted on 02/13/2011 4:06:39 PM PST by Cringing Negativism Network
It is time to face up to the elephant in the living room, which for some reason conservative Americans are desperately determined to ignore.
"Free trade" is destroying America.
A generation ago, America was the world's preeminent power. We led the world in manufacturing. Technology. Space. Innovation. In every way, America was the best.
In a single generation, we have squandered that heritage, and now are deeply in debt to a communist nation which just one generation ago - rode only bicycles.
WTF will it take, to wake Americans (particularly conservative Americans, who should know better) up to the very real danger of stripping America of everything which made her great?
“They refuse to admit that they’re asking for bigger government and higher taxes”
How so?
One problem I have with many who advocate "free trade" is that many places can have factories because American taxpayers have subsidized the infrastructure required to put factories there. At the very least, we should have a tariff on those goods to reimburse the taxpayer for those dollars and the interest on those dollars. Putting that kind of tariff on those goods would bring them back up to a true "free market" price because that price should include the full cost of the infrastructure needed to produce the goods.
We need to change some of the regulation that makes producing goods in the United States so expensive. If we'd reduce the cost of making things here, businesses would love to return. On the other hand, some safety regulations are worthwhile, and we should impose a tariff on goods made with slave labor or goods made in factories that are so unsafe that people are treated as disposable workers. There's no reason that Americans should have to compete with people who are being regularly disfigured in accidents and then thrown out to starve.
He designs parts for airplanes and other such stuff.
Good for him. People should learn about what he did to survive, instead of asking the government to charge themselves more money to keep him in business.
We don’t need tariffs. All we need is for the foreign companies to comply with all the same regulations that American companies have to.
EPA, OSHA, Labor law and so on.
I get it now. Free trade agreements really enact higher taxes on trade, higher prices for consumers and give government greater control over the economy. Your vision of trade reduces taxes (higher tariffs), lowers costs (because tariffs are increased)and reduces the strangling government regulation of business - which is why most businesses support less freedom to trade.
You live in a strange world. In your world, the Soviets buried us and Japan dominates us economically.
Good night to you as well! As you prepare to log off for the evening:
Let’s see now (consulting notes). Our trade deficit is currently around 50 billion / month. 30 days in an average month. Let’s presume perhaps 12-14 hours until you wake up, have breakfast and log back into FR...
Another billion dollars will be gone from America, just by then.
Billion. With a “B”.
The Indian govt helped the major IT companies get set up. Infosys had major support.
A couple years ago JPMOrgan gave a $400 million loan to a very small IT company in India. Meanwhile they would laugh at a small business in the US asking for a loan.
No, I figure you have a vision problem.
My questions could not be clearer and you continue to avoid them — since it is clear to all you cannot answer them.
You are just a dilettante child with no knowledge of Economics. You also are a, let us say, exaggerator who states positions not supported by any facts and uses that tactic to create straw men.
I ask a simple question about economics. You do not answer but instead ramble on about Communists and the like. Because you do not know the answer (this belies your assertion you took economic courses in I assume trade school since there is no way a college turned someone of your limited knowledge out).
I ask where I support any particular position. You do not answer because you were so busy defending a position I did not attack you made yourself look like an ass and now cannot point to a single post where I suggested Communism (or any other approach) to the issue at hand.
I invite you to answer the 2 questions before you. Directly. You can even use Google for the first one (but I have looked at Google and it isn’t much help if you don’t understand the subject matter).
Just answer.
Model is what I meant to say, not theory. The theory will evolve as some of the smarter cavemen try to explain what's going on and how they can benefit from the evolving model. In the process they will discover arithmetic, over time arithmetic will lead to algebra, algebra to calculus..
Protectionists are eager to be generous with what's in my wallet. I have a problem with that and so should you.
Tariffs are a tax on consumers...who do you think pays for them and where do you think the revenues go.
Is that your problem? The idea that people are spending their own money without your approval? I need to fill up my gastank tomorrow . . . and I will add to the trade deficit by doing so, is it ok with you?
Really, I could not be more clear about my position.
I’m not interested in your interrogation. I am interested in America. I am interested in what we as a nation should do, to change the downward spiral we are clearly in.
We won’t change that, debating academic theories. We will change that by changing the way we deal with trade issues.
That is my position. You can continue to (attempt) to complicate what I believe is a very simple position I am taking.
We need to look out for America. Here and now, in February of 2011.
Not pretend we are in an Ayn Rand novel. As much as I like that book. We are clinging (bitterly) to that old railway fable, and the fictional character named John Galt.
There is no John Galt. There is no Galt’s gulch.
There is however, a communist nation with 4 times our population, methodically taking our place in the world, while we argue theory.
It doesn’t matter how it happened. The point is it did happen. Now we must compete or perish. Period.
1. I haven’t proposed tariffs. I’ve condemned free trade. Free trade as we have it equates to pushing jobs overseas.
2. In the end the consumer pays for all costs.
3. If the consumer doesn’t have a job they aren’t buying squat.
A level playing field would be nice. I talk to Canadian businesses and their govt actually helps them get business instead of making it harder.
I have a problem with our govt making it easier and economically rewarding for companies to ship jobs overseas.
Yeah, let’s join the labor unions and stop this “free trade” nonsense. I don’t mind paying higher prices for everything if America’s labor unions are happy.
So why do you want to punish ME?
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