Clarifications on the Case for Free Trade

Ludwig von Mises Institute ^ | 4/12/04 | Paul Craig Roberts

[underbyte]

""""Easy. Let all these foreign countries develop technologies with their own money, not the money of American companies.""""

How about taxpayer funded research? Darpa, Universities, companies, Andy Grove did not invent the micro chip after all.

U.S. Taxpayer funded most of the Knowhow.

[adam_az]

Have Intel, AMD etc. close all foreign plants and bring the factories back home.

Nice, and have foreign companies do the same in a trade war... and the some 6 million US workers who work for foreign companies will be thrown out of work.

[greenwolf]

I hope the people running the republican party have seen this. This is the one thing which could sink W. in November.

[underbyte]

I do not know about that, %5OO bill deficit? you got to draw a line somewhere.

And hey, all they have to do is buy some our goods to open up the gates.

[ninenot]

Seems they didn't want to speak to the ex-AOSmith Steelworkers, nor the ex-Evinrude IAMAW members, either.

Gutless, pasty-faced, and not too bright, either.

[RaceBannon]

Why waive them? China steals them anyways.

[fooman]

Good insight. Our universities ( and England and PRussia before us) have paid enormous dividends in manufacturing and abosolute advantage in trade.

[RaceBannon]

Taxpayer profits are what made that research payout, not govt funds that HELPED research.

Also, any govt funds spent on research is usually done for a strategic advantage, not normal trade or commerce like China or India or Malaysia or Indonesia or European consortiums...

[underbyte]

They can go to work for Intel or AMD Rather than Macdonalds's

No Pain , no gain

[licenz2ill]

PCR is right. I'm finishing my degree in Econ this May and I can tell you that no econ prof can tell you with a straight face that doors open free trade is the best strategy. It's an optimization problem like most things in econ. Based on what your criteria are, there are optimal city sizes, optimal tax rates, optimal interest rates, etc, and using horribly simplistic mathmatical models, and some programming, you can figure them out. Rarely, ie never, do such values come out to be zero. However that is what the current free traders argue our barriers to trade should be.

America has had a surplus of capital and scarcity of labor. Therefore returns to capital have been low and returns to labor high.

Free trade changes this. There is now a worldwide market, and capital is scare and labor cheap. Good if you have money to invest, bad if you make a wage.

[fooman]

That is why this problem is tough...

We do NOT want to start a trade war with compatible countries. Many people would be worse off...

[ninenot]

I've spent a lot of good time with "union thugs." We disagree on almost everything--but they're good guys to quaff beer with, and there are SOME things on which we agree strongly....like the fact that, yes, those jerks ARE Traitors.

[underbyte]

Sure it recycles. Microelectronics had it genesis in the space program along with hundreds of other products.

What about the billions funneled into biotechnology from the feds? think WE WOULD BE # 1 WITHOUT IT (caps OFF)

[ninenot]

Sorry.

SAMNow (www.samnow.org) finance guru already came up with the concept.

We shaped it as "coupons." Country X gets a dollar coupon for every US manufactured good they import (dollar value.) THEY can ship goods here in the amount of coupons they have.

In addition, we will have a flexible tariff arrangement which accounts for cost-of-living/cost-of-doing-business--i.e., tax/reg/legal costs of US operations are hypothecated into tariffs on goods from China (e.g.)

Such a tariff would not affect Western European firms at all. Only 3-rd world sewers with no labor standards, no safety/enviro standards, etc.

[ninenot]

Sinky, it's not just PJBuchanan. It's ALL those damn Reagan Administration types!!

Get with the program, Sink.

[sinkspur]

Paul Craig Roberts lost his mind five years ago.

[underbyte]

Hardest thing is to have a truly original Idea, I guess a Nobel only goes to the Jimmy Carter's of the world, I am not sure I want to hang with that crowd anyway.

Point is there are solutions, not perfect but reasoble enough to work

[ninenot]

I wonder where all the Free Traitors are tonight?

They have a problem.

Both PJBuchanan AND Paul Craig Roberts worked for Ron Reagan, remember him?

So what are they going to say? That Reagan's advisers are crazy? Neanderthals? Buggy-whip, protectionist, isolationists?

Or Americans who just happen to be concerned about America?

[fooman]

Right now GM gives away the patent for a car design thinking that *only* china will benefit domestically.

But if they give up thier worldwide patent then Ford Chrysler, honda etc will also benefit.

In other words, if a company values its intellectual property at zero in China then the company loses property EVERYWHERE

[ninenot]

Is that your Pastoral Response? Or your most intelligent one?