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In the 1970s, General Motors and all other domestic automakers were able to get away with making shoddy cars because there were no alternatives.

In the 1980s, General Motors and the other domestic automakers quite rightly got their behinds smacked thanks to foreign companies that made better products cheaper.

To me, going back to protectionism is going back to the nasty 1970s, when manufacturered products were shoddy and poor.

There are no easy answers to all this. There's no question that you can manufacturer things cheaper in China, take customer service calls cheaper in the Phillipines, and write software cheaper in India.

I went to Rio last month, and you can imagine my surprise to find out that I could live in a major tourist destination for much cheaper than I could in the US. Restaurants, bus fares and so on were about 1/3 what they cost in the US, and food was of equal or better quality. (Bus service was much better). In general, the quality of life per dollar in Brazil beats the US by a mile -- and I was in a major tourist area where prices are high!

So how can we combat this? I'm not sure. Personally, I'm thinking of leaving the country, but I know that's not a solution for the less adventurous of us. There's definitely something wrong when the cheapest house in my middle class neighborhood costs $400,000, and my greatest aspiration after the end of a successful life would be to own a tract house that used to sell for $24,000.

If we retreated to protectionism, employment and wages in the US would go up. But the prices of goods would go up even faster, and I'm convinced that on the whole we would be a lot worse off than we are now.

So in conclusion, I agree our country has problems with competitiveness, but I'm not convinced that protectionism would give us a better life in the end. I think we'd have less good stuff, and it would be a lot more expensive than it is today.

D

Prices will go up anyway as people begin to lose their jobs. Companies will have to get more dollar per widget to make up for the lack of demand. Taxes will also have to be raised to support new welfare programs and tax short-falls from high income earners becoming low income earners, further increasing prices. As long as foreign countries apply tariffs to our exports prices will go up.

That's if we just keep on "Free Trading".

Personally, I'm thinking of leaving the country, but I know that's not a solution for the less adventurous of us. There's definitely something wrong when the cheapest house in my middle class neighborhood costs $400,000, and my greatest aspiration after the end of a successful life would be to own a tract house that used to sell for $24,000.

I had to check and make sure I wasn't logged on as "daviddennis" as I could of written the same thing. I'm I logged on now? I just got out of the shower.

You're right on that people are going to start to look to moving or importing foreign government grants here. What you saw in Rio was just scratching the surface. I'm sure if you move there you'll be taxed up the ying yang, have to hire your own private security force, etc.

What concerns me is that people are going to stay here and start asking to import more socialism as people in other countries have it easy. Free healthcare, who can argue with that?

The only thing good I can see coming out of this is that we'll have healthier small businesses from it as all the big ones shed off people, mainly as big businesses don't make the best business decisions (ie "let's ship all our IP to China, I'm sure they'll respect it").

I went to Rio last month, and you can imagine my surprise to find out that I could live in a major tourist destination for much cheaper than I could in the US. Restaurants, bus fares and so on were about 1/3 what they cost in the US, and food was of equal or better quality. (Bus service was much better). In general, the quality of life per dollar in Brazil beats the US by a mile -- and I was in a major tourist area where prices are high!

Sure a cheap labor country is great if you come from a rich country. Except for the people who live there. Didn't you notice the rich people living behind fortified walls and everyone else scratching in the garbage heaps and shantytowns outside ? Don't you know how Argentines and Brazilians actually live ?

To me, going back to protectionism is going back to the nasty 1970s, when manufacturered products were shoddy and poor.

There are very few people who propose no trade whatsoever.

All we're saying is there is something incredibly wrong with a system where a communist dictator, backed by corrupt American politicians, can utilize slave labor to make products and sell them in the US with NO tariff; while products produced by Americans are doubled or even tripled in price due to taxation by corrupt American politicians.

It's the moral equivalent of robbing Americans, then using that money to buy rope to tie one arm behind their backs.

If manufacturing in foriegn countries is against national intertests, should Toyota shut down their plants in the US? And BMW?

Apples and Oranges. GM and others had direct competition with other companies, not other Countries! They didnt fight against comunist governments that prop up their industries, like we have to face now with China.

Competing with Japan is TOTALLY different from competing with China or India. Their society is much more comparable-- making the issue about quality. Businesses are just taking advantage of slave labor wages. That is not a contest of quality. We have no desire to win a war with China or India concerning who can pay their workers the closest to nil.