[hedgetrimmer]

Countries can work together to open trade, to get rich.

You didn't even read one word of USTR Rob Portman's statement did you.

But since Rob Portman has stated that a goal of "free trade" is to "eliminate poverty", and redistribution of wealth through aid-with-trade is one of the mechanisms, as a "free trader" you should be denouncing that, not calling me names.

[MadIvan]

But since Rob Portman has stated that a goal of "free trade" is to "eliminate poverty", and redistribution of wealth through aid-with-trade is one of the mechanisms, as a "free trader" you should be denouncing that, not calling me names.

Congratulations, you just repeated a mantra that the liberals believe - that one can only get rich at the expense of another. Wealth is something that grows, it is not a fixed amount that merely gets shifted from one to another. The increases in material wealth in the United States between 1950 and now should be enough to prove it - people drive better cars, live in bigger homes, afford more health care and so on. Wealth is created and multiplies.

Increases in economic activity, e.g., trade, help wealth to grow. You, on the other hand, believe that someone can only get rich by robbing you. Strange, that's what Karl Marx said. You're on the wrong site, Comrade.

And you wonder why I'm not nice to you.

Ivan