[hedgetrimmer]

You're so very wrong.

I didn't say this, USTR Rob Portman did.
The long-held notion of a world divided by rich countries and poor countries, or North and South, is beginning to be replaced by a system in which countries of diverse make-ups work together in pursuit of common objectives.

What system is he talking about pray tell?

[MadIvan]

The long-held notion of a world divided by rich countries and poor countries, or North and South, is beginning to be replaced by a system in which countries of diverse make-ups work together in pursuit of common objectives.

He's talking about the global trading system. We're all supposed to get rich. I said this before. To conclude, I'm not responsible for your reading comprehension problems. Nor am I responsible for your insipid paranoia.

Ivan

[Paul Ross]

Which system is he talking about?

Well for sure it wasn't the system of our Founders, and which made America a SuperPower, as noted even in Time magazine:

[T]he faces on Mount Rushmore are those of... protectionists...

George Washington was a Buy American booster who boasted that he drank only U.S.-brewed ale, and even agrarian free trader Thomas Jefferson came over to that side as President.

Both Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt assailed free trade. T.R.'s view: "Pernicious indulgence in the doctrine of free trade seems inevitably to produce fatty degeneration of the moral fiber."

Reviewing this background, historian Alfred E. Eckes Jr. in his 1995 book, Opening America's Market, concludes that the protectionist U.S. grew much faster than free-trade Britain between 1871 and 1913, and that the post-World War II competitive position of the American economy weakened greatly after the 1968-72 period, when a U.S.-led round of sharp tariff cuts went into effect.

Eckes also served as Ronald Reagan's ITC Commissioner in the 80's*, and as unimpeachable witness provides a clear picture of Reagan's views. The Traitors absolutely hate him and his inarguable evidentiary conclusions, hence, it's a must-read for anyone serious about trade:

*About the author
Alfred E. Eckes, Jr., a former chairman and commissioner of the U.S. International Trade Commission, is Ohio Eminent Research Professor in Contemporary History at Ohio University. His books include The United States and the Global Struggle for Minerals.