First off the trade isn’t free or fair. Our trade policies are killing vital industries, thousands of American workers are losing their jobs, their homes their savings and their families. What’s “free” about that?
How is it remotely fair to force the American work force to compete with the work force of the low wage third world? How is an American family supposed to survive on a third world pay check?
Is it not the duty of the federal government to protect and defend the interests of the American people? How is standing by, and in many case facilitating the elimination of basic industries and the jobs that go with them beneficial to the nation or it’s people?
The present day policy of “Free Trade” is not the policy of our past. The industrial might of the United States was build behind tariff walls. Tariffs funded the federal government and protected American industry. Anti-trust laws were passed to prevent monopolies, encourage competition and innovation. The system worked, labor organized and the American Dream became possible for millions of hard working citizen of the USA.
We have a history and we know from examining that history what trade and tax policies bring the greatest benefit to the nation and it’s people. Our current policy of high taxation with a progressive income tax, importation of goods from cheap labor sources, and out sourcing office jobs to cheap labor countries does not benefit the nation or it people.
The solution is to scrape the progressive income tax and replace it with a combination of a flat across the board tariff and a flat nation sales tax. This change in tax and trade policy might mean that the federal government would be forced to abandon some of the responsibilities that it has taken upon itself. Could be that a federal government might have to tighten it’s belt and forgo dumping 15 billion dollar in Africa, or maybe even some of socialistic programs here a home. I can live with that.
I think there's definitely room for budget cutbacks and even though Bush promised Africa dough for Aids, Clinton was always giving our money away and illegally taking money from foreign agents and inviting China into our defense labs and giving them our defense software. Clinton was sloppy and careless. How soon we all forget the country was run by thugs for 8 long years.