Why is the American right so willfully blind, to the dangers of unrestricted one-way "free trade"?

vanity

[Cringing Negativism Network]

This poster doesn't get it.

Conservatives are so consistently, so often, so very right. So clearly.

About so many things!!

Why is it, so many are so blind to what is happening to our nation, as a result of our historically STUPID trade policies?

Is it that conservativism is by definition a resistance to too much change, and that "free trade" was a cherished belief for so long there's simply a resistence to noticing it's become dangerous?

[element92]

c’mon

we buy everything Korea makes,
because we don’t want to piss them off.
ditto Japan, Columbia

[libh8er]

>>Such as, two generations ago America had the largest, most magnificent and innovative manufacturing base in the history of earth.

Not any more. The Asians do a far better job today and they do it cheaply which is what counts.

>>We led the world in science. Technology. Manufacturing. Inventions. Education. Standard of living. Just about by every measure we were the best.

We still do. Even though quality of education in government schools has dropped, that in top research schools and universities continue to remain top notch. Standard of living has sky rocketed. Think of the things you own or can afford that previous generations couldn’t. Don’t buy the liberal worldview of soup line America.

>>What has “free trade” brought us?

Prosperity. Not just to us but to the whole world at large.

>>We have lost our lead in science.

Not true.

>>Our technology is made in China.

So what. The Chinese are only human robots working on shop floors.

>>Our manufacturing base has been destroyed.

Those that didn’t belong here have moved, as they should have. We still manufacture things that aren’t labor intensive and we do a damn good job of it.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

You know back before you (metaphorically speaking) fired all those union guys in all those US manufacturing jobs, in your post #20.

They voted for Ronald Reagan.

Suppose they’ll do that again?...

[libh8er]

We don’t buy from Korea because we don’t want to piss them off. We buy from them because they make good products at great prices. I love my LG electric range, LG washer and dryer, Samsung fridge and Samsung computer moniter. After reading horror stories about American (ie union) made appliances plus my own experiences with them, I wouldn’t touch them with a 10ft pole.

[A.Hun]

You are just wrong.

We are still by far the largest mfg on earth.

http://investing.curiouscatblog.net/2008/09/23/top-manufacturing-countries-in-2007/

We lead the world in patents.

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/cst_all.htm

We have lost jobs because of technology, not outsourcing. In fact, Americans are employed across the globe because of their expertise.

Putting tariffs back in place is a nightmare that only favors unions, big business, and government interference (why do you think the states voted in favor of an income tax?). Prices rise, choices and quality drop, politically connected industries are favored and political enemies are discriminated against.

Thats why free trade (competition) is a conservative hallmark.

[libh8er]

I have nothing against the worker. I am 100% behind the worker and hope they do the best they can for themselves and realize their full potential - which is unlikely to happen as a member of a union. I am against labor UNIONS which are a completely different thing. The interest of the unions and that of the company are exactly at odds. Unions are like cancer. They feed off their host, demand more and more over time, and eventually destroy it.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

“So what. The Chinese are only human robots working on shop floors.”

-

You have got. To. Be. Kidding.

Ladies and gentlemen. That attitude, right there. Is what I’m talking about.

Wake up. With apologies to any Chinese FReepers who might happen upon this particular post, ahead of time:

There was a movie a long time ago. Don’t remember what movie it was, or the exact quote - I believe it was a Vietnam movie, and the scene was somewhere such as Saigon - but the line was one guy pointing out in a moment of clarity to the other something like, “there are no stupid g—ks”.

Think about that for a moment. Do you know any?

Just because Chinese don’t express emotion as obvious as we need, in order to understand the visual ques. Don’t imagine for a moment, the Chinese are stupid.

That’s a very naive, and for America a very dangerous thing to believe.

Seems to this poster, the Chinese are brilliantly taking our national wealth and capabilities, right out from under our noses.

With the help of our very own “conservatives” - loudly cheering on the process.

[meyer]

We haven’t had free markets and free trade since long before I was born. And I’ve been around a long time.

[libh8er]

I was only making a point. Labor is abundantly available in China, plus they don’t have the minimum wage BS we have here, so it’s cheap.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

When labor in China is no longer cheap, are you under the misconception that those jobs will come back to America?

[libh8er]

No. It will then disperse to other countries until we have global equilibrium.. and we are a looong way from that.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

You live in a dream world.

By the time your imaginary “equilibrium” is reached, America will no longer be in a position to make the decisions as to where jobs go.

Those decisions will be made in places like Beijing.

And the last thing those decision makers will decide to do, is to “disperse” those jobs back anywhere. Because they’re playing for keeps.

[freedomfiter2]

My experience is that those who most oppose free trade are labor unions and labor union workers who don’t want to have to actually compete.

True. Most free traders are corporate types that want to import goods that cheaper than can be bought here. They are the same people that want to bring illegals here to push wages down for American workers.

[meyer]

What has “free trade” brought us?

Free trade didn't bring us any of that. You can thank the government for the destruction of a good portion of American industry. Our federal, state, and local governments have far too much control over the people - the EPA, OSHA, EEOC, IRS, and a plethora of other federal agencies have hammered industry for decades, with predictable results. Not to mention laws that favor unions and greedy trial lawyers over productive citizens and entrepreneurs.

Frankly, I cannot see how anybody in their right mind would seek to start a manufacturing operation in this country - we are on the verge of becoming the USSR. And yet, people here feel that we need even more government oversight.

The government isn't the solution, it is the problem.

[railroader]

If American companies cannot manufacture goods in America that Americans will prefer over foreign made goods for whatever reason, then manufacturing doesn’t belong in America. Those out of work from manufacturing jobs will just have to make themselves productive in another line of work.

I think that's a perfect example of what the original poster was getting at. If we want it and buy it, there's no reason it can't be made in America were it not for the high costs of doing business through entitlement-minded unions, excessive regulation and taxation.

If our corporate tax rates were not so high and if those stupid "climate change" laws were abolished, far more goods would be manufactured here in the states. I'm thinking appliances, autos, auto parts, steel, plastics, machinery and machinery parts, etc. So much has left the country due to the rising costs of doing business since at least the 1970s.

[grey_whiskers]

Where are the 1.4 higher paying jobs for each job shipped to India and China?

Oh, that's right. They don't exist HERE.

The 1.4 jobs are actually created overseas as well.

Verminous MBA scum-sucking bean-counter excrementing [censor]ed [censored]-[censor]ing [censored]s. :-)

Cheers!

[libh8er]

America as a country does not make these decisions. These decisions are made by individual companies. Some might want their products made in Vietnam, some in China, others in Malaysia, a few in Indonesia.. and others right here in the good old US of A. Remember the software outsourcing hype of the 90s and early 2000s ? A lot of companies have now brought back their development onshore because for whatever reason it made more economic sense to them that way. And many others never left the shores of the USA to begin with. Point is these companies do what is right for them. Individuals making individual decisions for their own self interest - that's capitalism in a nutshell.

[libh8er]

You are exactly right.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Sigh.

I give up. Someone else please talk some sense into our fellow FR’er.

No offense, but trying to talk common sense with a “free trader” is like trying to talk common sense with an Obama voter...

;)

[Gen-X-Dad]

More importantly, why is it so painful for them to admit we got stomped in global free trade as we were the only idiots to allow the multinational corporations the ability to destroy our industrial base so they could fatten their bottom line even more through labor arbitrage. None of the other countries (China, Japan, Europe, Korea) in this system allowed this to happen. Only us.

We went from the world’s leading industrial base and biggest creditor to bailing out the auto companies and one of the worlds biggest debtors in 50 years. That is a fact. We have econically strip mined our country for short term gains at the expense of long term stability. The only way this happened is because of our “free” trade policies. Protectism is not stupid when everyone else is doing it and cleaning your clock.