[harpseal]

Preventing free trade may benefit some individuals or groups, but facilitating free trade will bring greater benefits to more people. To compete we will have to actually educate our children -- and ourselves, as adults -- but that is a problem to be solved not by building up trade barriers but by breaking down mental barriers.

First, we are not in a free trade envirornment. free trade would mean that US produced goods and services would be allowed to freely compete in foreign markets as well as foreign goods and services being allowed to compete in american markets. Further, government subsidies for offshore investing would not exist.

As to trade barriers the USA developed as the foremost manufacturing economy with trade barriers in place that is behind protective tarriffs for manufacturing. That is historical fact. Unless and until you can prove your case I would suggest you not comment about that of which you lack knowledge.

[PatrioticAmerican]

Good point. We don't have "free trade", we have "One way trade". Americans are free to buy cheap products from cheap countries but are forbidden from selling to those cheap countries.

[DugwayDuke]

"As to trade barriers the USA developed as the foremost manufacturing economy with trade barriers in place that is behind protective tarriffs for manufacturing."

So are you proposing tarriffs to protect American jobs?