Replies

The cost (to the taxpayer) for the 'advantages' of 'free trade' include:

Bills to Reauthorize TAA and ATAA in the Senate S. 1848. Senator Max Baucus introduced the Trade and Globalization Adjustment Assistance Act of 2007 on July 23, 2007. Among other provisions, this bill would extend benefits to workers in service industries and the public sector, eliminate the requirement that shifts in production be to countries with which the United States has a free-trade agreement, expand eligibility to include workers within an entire industry or occupation, allow training funds to be used for higher education expenses, waive the training requirement for post-graduate degree holders, extend the deadline to enroll in training from the later of 8 weeks after the petition was certified or 16 weeks after the layoff to the later of 26 weeks after certification or layoff, increase the HCTC from 65% to 85% of workers’ health care premiums, increase the cap on training funds from $220 million to $440 million with a provision to increase funding by 10% if at least 90% of the prior year’s authorized funds are obligated, eliminate separate ATAA applications, lower the age requirement for ATAA from age 50 to age 40, raise the maximum ATAA benefit to $12,000 over two years, raise the limit on wages in remployment for the purposes of qualifying for ATAA from $50,000 to $60,000, and reauthorize the programs through FY2012.

Now remind me, arrogantsob, what's free about 'free trade'? Why does the American citizen have to suffer bureaucracy and cost of another expansion of the federal government to accommodate 'free trade'? Why does the American taxpayer have to pay for it, since the transnational globalist trash corporations are reaping the benefit?

9YearLurker, the same government that forces you to buy health insurance (at the behest of the insurance companies who have figured out a way to have a stable income stream and payment for illegal alien healthcare costs via forced healthcare plans), forces the taxpayer to subsidize the unemployment and training of people laid off when the transnational globalist trash companies move their operations offshoure. How is that 'free' as in 'free trade'? The transnational globalist trash corporations get profits, and the taxpayer subsidizes the losses. Its a win win for free traitors.

You and I probably both know the theory—free trade enriches economies in the aggregate, but at a cost to specific employees who lost their jobs in the adjustment, so the aggregate economy can mitigate those isolated costs by subsidizing retraining, etc..

You’re right that the kind of free trade we’ve been pursuing hasn’t been free at all—and it has been subverting our sovereignty as well.