Posted on 01/28/2006 9:28:18 AM PST by Willie Green
Sounds exactly like Bill and Hill.
Why do I have this vision of a conservative that owes everything they have to "mom and dad".
It's not about being against trade, it's just the type we're seeing with third world countries that allows them unfettered access to our markets while they protect theirs. It's recent policy begun in the nineties. No wonder corporations are packing up and moving to them.
I hope more than that. I own Walmart stock...
Traitor. [smirk]
The proportion of Americans who're employed is greater than it was in the '90's. Real family wealth is greater now than before NAFTA. Real income is higher. Industrial production and exports are up. Ordinarily I try to avoid messing with someone's weird belief system. My concern on a forum like this however, is that someone else might actually swallow this nonsense and do something really stupid --like vote to raise my taxes.
What person in their right mind will go into tech anymore just to see their career outsourced to India, Malaysia, Costa Rica, or etc.?
So anyone who doesn't agree with you has a "weird belief system"? Well I happen to think that the policy of exporting jobs while importing people is not only weird but one of the dumbest any nation could pursue, especially for the long term health of its middle class. And if you notice we're only ones doing it except for maybe Canada so that must tell you something.
No problemo. George W. and Vincente have it covered. Another 30 million illiterate Mexicans + Free Viagra will fill the void in no time ;-)
Sure, if you count people who work one hour a month as employed.
do the tech jobs that require a clearance. When those start getting outsourced, you know the fit has hit the shan.
Ouch!
Instead, they face a shortage of workers willing to accept the paltry wages they have been offered. How paltry? The latest figures from the U.S. Department of Labor show that after peaking in1978 – yes, 28 years ago, inflation-adjusted wages for manufacturing workers have fallen back to levels they first hit in 1972.
bump
So let them eat cake. That's exactly the type of attitude that's going to take the Republicans out and give us another 40 years of democratic/socialist rule.
So you want to pander to the liberals who want to eat their cake every day and not work for meat and potatoes like everyone else?
Forget it!
No way I'm supporting constricting the economy so certain sectors can have the cushy positions they think they're entitled to.
Even though our history is marked by many different phases of free trade and protectionism, I think it would be more honest to say that our country has prospered in spite of trade restrictions. Mainly because we have been laissez faire within our own borders.
Since WWII, we've been, for the most part, a free trade economy (thanks in part to Smoot-Hawley). Adjusted for inflation, our household assets have increased from just $6 trillion in 1945 to more than $60 trillion today. There is no doubt that freer trade has contributed greatly to this incredible building of wealth.
If you also look at our history you'll find that a lot of third world countries of the past have now become valued trading partners. Why would you would want to keep third world countries impoverished and unable to ever buy any of our value added goods and services?
Not only do we still have the greatest economy in the world but we in the U.S. also have the highest standard of living in the history of the civilized world and it continues to improve year after year.
Even the so-called "poor" in our country have big-screen TVs and microwave ovens in their homes. They have so much food to cram down their throats that if they had any more money, they'd probably have to hand it over to Jenny Craig anyhow. We in this country tend to have no idea just how good we have it compared to the rest of the world.
I've been listening to the doom-and-gloomers for the past thirty years now and they are proven wrong year after year after year after year. Each year, our standard of living increases and now it seems to be accelerating now that we are outsourcing all our jobs (if you are to believe the doom-and-gloomers).
Somehow, despite all the outsourcing of jobs and the illegal aliens coming over to take our jobs and all the factories closing down and yadda, yadda, yadda, our unemployment rate continues to maintain itself at historically low levels. Which is a far cry from the days of double-digit unemployment rates when we didn't trade so much with other countries and all the factory jobs were over here.
Personally, I think the doom-and-gloomers need to come up out of their basements and out into the sunshine. They might find that their chronic depression is lifted.
Nope I want the Republican party to go back to its core principles of looking out for the interests of all working Americans. Protectionism was consistently in their party platform and actually practiced through the eighties.
Free Trade as we know it today was repudiated by traditional Republicans for exactly the reasons we are seeing, it would drive down wages and force people to compete with those willing or driven to work for far far less and under harsher conditions. I want the free market to work on our terms, not those of third world countries.
What you're saying is tough we're in a global economy now thanks to our own government's policies so if anyone isn't willing to work for minimum wage then they're lazy bums who don't want to support their family. It's the perfect recipe for the democrats to come back into power using their well worn class warfare tactics.
When plants begin to close up left and right and move to cheap labor countries because of our own government-sanctioned policies encouraging them to do so then it's obvious that unless we change or modify those policies they'll keep doing it until there's little left of a strong, vibrant middle class.
Bear in mind that's coupled with a policy of massively importing people. California may be a beautiful state but look at it economically and politically, is that what you want for the rest of the country? Just because you are doing good today don't think it's going to last forever.
In reality, the only form of fair trade is free trade. How do you define fair trade? In the name of fairness, different groups advocate different protections for their specific industries and call the comparative advantage of other countries "unfair."
So called "fair trade" is really nothing more than protectionism that requires government intervention to determine what industries will be protected, what tariff will be applied and for how long.
It amazes me that so many conservatives here can, out of one side of their mouth, bash Bush for causing bigger government while, out of the other side, demand government do something about their perceived inequities in trade as if, when it comes to these things, government is instantly transformed into a responsible, capable and reliable entity. I see a lot of inconsistency with that argument.
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