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?
So . . . someone who argues that "free trade" in the present creates social dysfunction is what, again?
>>I am not an economist. I had one or two econ classes.<<
No you didn’t.
Else you would be able to answer my very simple question.
It is covered on day 1.
Thanks for posting that quote.
>>Economics is not rocket science. It isn’t that hard to understand supply and demand.<<
And yet, you nor the OP have that understanding.
The U.S. government aided and abetted, was complicit and winked and nodded as destructive free trade polices were enacted...The government assigns names to policies which mean just the opposite...Free trade, patriot act, etc...
You shouldn't minimize the affect of the wages that our manufacturing/industrial employees demand in the USA.
We cannot and are not competitive with lower wage Asian counties.
We don’t have free trade.
Between minimum wage, regulations, mandates, tariffs, etc we’re not close to free trade.
So...don’t blame it.
“Free trade is not the cause of our demise. The problem is taxation & regulation - an overbearing government here in the US.”
Both are designed to redistribute American wealth overseas. Free trade alone would not work as companies would keep working here. Add in the regulations and companies are forced to look for alternatives or go out of business.
I could care less about your QS vs DS if you never worked in a factory with your hands and saw those factories get moved overseas to companies that propped up their development with government money instead of free market spending and private funds
we GAVE away our technology in the name of greed or corporate protectionism in lieu of OTHER competitor companies going overseas first, leaving those companies no choice but to go overseas to survive
hey, just ask, over 90% of ALL parts of ALL Pratt & Whitney’s engines are made between China and Polnd now, not made in Connecticut anymore
and all the Mom and Pop machine shops that supported them...where did they go? And who are they suppposed to make parts for once everyone else goes overseas?
Arm chair economists who have no real experience in the manufacturing world are clueless as to what this effect is, and just what our future holds in our ability to make thigns for ourselves in just the next 10 years, let alone in the next generation!
In other words, they saw no marginal utility in taking them, which you would understand if you didn't sleep through your econ classes.
I think you do not understand communist China.
You live in a theoretical bubble. IMHO. Eyes stubbornly closed. Willfully determined not to understand anything, but your own part of the elephant.
You may understand that part of the elephant well.
Yet there is much, you refuse to see.
Free markets deal with such issues. The question is whether we can trust government to know what to do to affect perceived trade imbalances discussed on this thread and even if they know what they are doing, can we trust government not to take advantage of the situation to essentially increase taxes (take the revenues from tariffs if any) or otherwise rip off the American consumer and producers by their intervention.
I think we have all learned that government (God bless em, they might mean well) cannot be trusted.
you miss a huge point:
Did private enterprise set up factories over there or did foreign companies from the US do it?
Or did the Communist Goeverment/Socialist Government of that new host country set up those factories?
Over here, people did it with their own money.
is THAT how they did it over there? With an INDIVIDUAL’S money?
Or with a government loan/grant/ownership?
Free Markets CANNOT compete with that if we are reliant upon personal, private money to cover costs and losses and development and THEY use their own government money to create their manufacturing base!
My point is, I feel the free trade policies were stacked against the U.S. from the beginning, and feel the U.S. Government intentionally used those policies against us, and compounded that betrayal of the American people with ever increasing tax, regulation and control of *everything*.
“In other words, they saw no marginal utility in taking them, which you would understand if you didn’t sleep through your econ classes.”
Are these econ classes the ones taught by socialists in the liberal universities? All pushing their leftwing religion?
yeah everything in those courses is gonna be the gospel.
There's a simple way to teach economics. Go back to the days of cave men. Tell them they are free to do anything they want other than stealing from or hurting/killing each other. And no one can force them to do any thing. They will end up recreating economic theory.. free of liberal bs..
The idea of Mom & Pop machine shops supplying parts to Fortune 100 manufacturing companies died in the 1990’s. Are you just getting around to realizing it?
1) You assume a position I have not taken
2) I merely ask those who opine in a subject have a basic understanding of the subject. Because you have been employed and spend money doesn’t provide understanding of economics, anymore than owning a PC makes you an ERP implementation expert.
We don’t have a common language to discuss the subject.
And that is why we are in such trouble — our lawmakers don’t understand economics either. So they screw it up every time since they lack the tools to project the results of their decisions.
Ignorance is always bad. Willful ignorance is even worse.
Uhh . . . the concept of marginal utility can be taught by any professor, regardless of political inclination.
“domestic goods more affordable (both domestically and internationally). “
Domestic goods made with foreign materials? Domestic goods which are stuck with tariffs when they go overseas?
We don’t have free markets. Both India and China prop their companies up. China plays fast and loose with their currency. Both countries forgot to create the EPA,OSHA or other regulatory agencies which help our companies stay so efficient. (/s)
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