Posted on 09/19/2006 7:43:43 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
What most people don't understand is trade in goods and services is driven by investment flows. When foreigners invest massive amounts in the U.S., we have to run a trade deficit because of the way our global accounts are kept.The U.S. has run current account surpluses only twice in the last 26 years. In both instances, the economy was in recession.
--might be something to do with an election and farm votes, methinks--
Also could be trying to peel off the moron faction of the Republican Party - based on a lot of the protectionist posts here, it's a sizeable number of people and I think they're gullible enough.
/sarc
Most Americans know imported goods and imported labor NEVER help the vast majority of the citizens. It helps the corporate owners. Any promise of cheaper prices is only realized through inferior quality.
Didn't we fight a war against slavery and the use of slavery as a workforce? Are we against it or not?
I'll wager that a decent number of those "malcontents" have it in for the Republican Party in general, whether as Dems or third-party True Believers.
Good Point 1rudeboy!
It's all about investment flows.
Recessions are great for balancing trade deficits...but not for the American economy.
Perhaps, but there are nutjobs everywhere. A basic tenet of convervatism is a general abhorrence of price controls and trade inhibitors via tariffs and such.
There are certain tariffs that are a fact of life because the competition refuses to play on a flat field. We have instituted some of our own, to our detriment, but that is the downside of applied economics which the application of economic theories in a political environment.
I prefer to think that any "conservative" examining a proposal by that POS Feingold would have enough sense to realize it isn't in our best interests to entertain it.
Too funny. Name calling, the mark of a truly weak postion.
Exports are good. But a country where the average yearly salary is $1000 isn't going to bring you much in the way of sales.
It's safe to say that we are all against slavery. Some of us simply wonder if making foreign products more expensive is an effective method of dealing with it.
yea, those nasty tariffs of the 80s that congress put on the import car industry only saved Michigan. Without them, the American auto maker would have gone under. With them, they forced foreign automakers to move their production into the US, employing Americans. It's not everything, but it's better then free trade by a long short. If they pushed tariffs on imported parts, then there would be a level field for auto makers.
Middle class? We don't need no steenkin' middle class!
Are we? Did you know that the average salary in the Philippines is under $300/month? And that is a 60/hr week. Same in India, Indonesia, China, and the vast majority of the asian countries. Hell, only Mexico is above $2,000/yr... currently at $8,000 (that why we needed to expand NAFTA into CAFTA, in order to take advantage of the other central American countries where the average salary is under $2,000/yr).
If we were against slavery and were really about helping those local foriegn economies grow, then we would NOT be placing American businesses in those countries, but would be partnering with foriegn local businesses, 'embedding' management and QA, and making deals for their products. But the profits would remain with the foreign companies, and not in the hands of the American investors.
We might as well call it slavery when the people working in those factories have no other employment choice and the wages they receive are barely enough to buy food. Hell, in China, there are 'dorms' set up so that the local people, so poor they barely have a place to live, are paid with food and lodging.
But shhh.. don't tell anyone. Don't let those pesky facts get out. Besides, Americans and especially American republicans are too stupid to understand the real issues. /sarc
You did see my qualifying statement about those "nasty tariffs", right? There are times when tariffs are appropriate. I am not an ABSOLUTE free trade advocate. That doesn't work in the real world.
Besides...and I hate to say this, the American auto maker is probably going to go under anyway. The unions are killing them.
What is it protectionists and self-limiting behavior?
In the face of competition from auto factories just 10 miles over the border in Mexico, with no union concerns or environmental concerns, those American factories are facing tougher times. They also have a problem with their retirement package, which most American fields got rid of years ago. (How dare those dirty little employees get something for 20 years of labor and no equity stake)
U.S. companies are being out-competed by their own plants in Mexico? LOL
When it come to the Economy and free markets, Democrats are
Dumber
than
Dirt
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