[Jeff Head]

Lot's of talk about this here on FR lately. Here are my thoughts on the matter.

[Jeff Head]

FYI.

[Southack]

"Such notions, such actions are in fact wordsmithing for popularizing and putting forth a policy to drain the United States manufacturing, technological, agricultural, energy and other critical industries in order to weaken us...plain and simple...and it is working."

While I agree with much of your post, I do question whether you are claiming that overall American GDP has declined.

[Cacophonous]

Nicely said. Expect the "Free Trade Uber Alles" crowd to come mindlessly goosestepping in to take their pre-programmed shots at you.

I'm with you, though.

[Fiddlstix]

Thanks for the Ping J

[Sir Gawain]

Meanwhile, the march toward socialism continues:

Bush: "Congress needs to approve reemployment accounts to help citizens who have the toughest time finding work." ... "I think my idea of reemployment accounts makes a lot of sense. In essence, it says that you get $3,000 from the federal government to help you with training, day care, transportation, perhaps moving to another city. And if, within a period of time, you're able to find a job, you keep the balance as a reemployment bonus."

[Texas_Dawg]

Do you support nuking China?

[exnavy]

Good read, thanks for the post.

[hedgetrimmer]

I couldn't agree with you more.

[Badray]

Well said, Jeff.

Better put your American made asbestos suit on, though. I think that you're going to need it.

[evolved_rage]

BTTT!!!

[meadsjn]

Well said. It appears that this train has already left the tracks and won't stop until it hits the bottom of the gorge.

From the Chinese and Indian viewpoints, it is an economic war against the United States. Their own news outlets are pretty blantant about their intentions.

Both of those countries could be developing capitalistic economies internally, but that is just not happening. They are perfectly content to keep their peoples in poverty, and continue bleeding the wealth from the U.S. taxpayers and consumers.

It is far too obvious now for U.S. officials and businesses to claim ignorance about the Indian and Chinese motives.

Those who support this continued economic war against the working Americans need to be hanged, shot, stabbed, poisoned, drowned, and burned -- before the people really get upset at them.

[Travis McGee]

It's economic suicide to have free trade with a slave nation.

Unless your goal is to reduce your own nation to slave status.

[TopDog2]

There are many issues here. Some of them don't make any sense. For example, one of the basic tenets taught in biz school is that you don't outsource your key competencies, but, in fact, many companies are outsourcing their key competencies of manufacuturing, software development, etc.

Second, one of the gospels of "free trade" is comparative advantage. If everything is being sent overseas, what is the comparative advantage of the United States? It used to be productivity and ingenuity, but with factories and intellecual property being sent to foreign countries, it would seem that we don't have much to offer the rest of the world except a rapidly declining customer base.

[Sloth]

You have stated some things that I felt but could not articulate.

For free-market capitalism to exist, there must necessarily be individual liberty to make choices about purchasing products and services with one's own money, selecting between competitors, acceptance of employment for an agreed-upon wage, etc. It makes no sense for us to deal with another country as if they are a free market when they're not, any more than it would make sense to treat North Korea as a democratic republic.

[RockyMtnMan]

Nice summation Jeff.

[Sparta]

Bump for later read and post

[snopercod]

This is going to be "the issue" in the 2004 election, not terrorism.

Philosophically, I have been a "free trader" all along, figuring that things would work themselves out over time like the "Japanese Car Scare" of the 70's. Thanks to the Japanese, Detroit got off it's collective butt and started making some quality cars for a decent price. We'd still be driving 4000# chrome-plated behemoths that lasted for 80,000 miles were it not for the Japanese. That's the way I figured this Chinese thing would go.

So I was willing to wait for...say...ten years for the Americans, Chinese and Mexicans to go through the same readjustment: Earn lots of money selling stuff to America so they could start buying the things that we made. Right now, it seems that is never going to happen. The things that America produces are slapped with prohibitively-expensive tariffs just about everywhere (50% tariff on beef in Japan?)

Now I am getting scared.

American can't "bring up" the rest of the world economically - the cost is just too much, even if that were the goal.

I am starting to see that the goal is to "bring down" America, rather than to "bring up" the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, our current president seems to be part of the problem, not part of the solution.

[Elliott Jackalope]

Thank you for posting this. Well said. Why do so many supporters of free trade refuse to seriously consider the social and political consequences of their position? They base their arguments on theoretical concepts while ignoring the fact that their policy is not happening in a test tube, it is happening in the real world. You know, that messy place with all of the people in it who have emotions and who often vote based upon their emotions.

[SSN558]

Good Piece. Case in point is Mexico. NAFTA and free trade took Americans jobs and gave them to Mexicans. Now the Mexicans jobs are being outsourced to Asia, in search of even greater profits for bilionaire CEO's. The jobs created by U.S. corporations in Mexico did not last long enough for them to derive any benefit. Mexico was polluted, expoloited, then abandoned.

[editor-surveyor]

As America speeds along the 'Road to Serfdom.'

Great Article Jeff.