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You didn't read the article, did you?

If we mandate a $5/hr minimum wage in the US, and the Chinese, who have no mandate, pay their skilled labor $1/hr, then how - without using a tariff, can a US company compete?

If OSHA demands fire extinguishers be made available every 40 feet of wall space, and the Chinese do not, then how do you reconcile the cost of the regulation per produced unit?

Are you impervious to math? The government, at the point of a lawyers pen, is forcing me to pay people above minimum wage, and forcing me to supply fire extinguishers, so I can't extract that expense from the cost of producing my widget.

Free trade was always a stupid idea. Always. Perot wasn't the best messenger, but he was right.

Fair trade puts either one of two types of responsibilities on government regulation:

1. Either you adopt the same regulations as the country you are trading with

OR

2. Erect a tariff on the imports of that country equal to AT LEAST the cost of mandated regulation at the city, county, state, national, and EU level.

Otherwise, the Chinese win every time. So do the Indians.

It really isn't that hard to grasp.

First, being rude is no way to introduce yourself as if I have not spent some time thinking about this. Let alone revealing on your first post that you are not a subscriber to the American Conservative, that would be Pat Buchanan's magazine, which took up the 'weak dollar' and monetary policy issuse two months ago, you don't come across as particularly serious.

Me: What if $5 American dollars worth of labor equaled $6 Chinese dollars worth of labor?

You: ????

Precisely.

An American company cannot dump untreated waste into the nearest stream the way a Chinese factory can. An American factory cannot create the kind of emphysema air quality Chinese factories do. An American factory has to actually have health and fire safety codes, not like a Chinese factory. And in the litigation free environment of a Chinese factory, the manager is free to nail any of the very easily replaced girls who work for him.

Unless we want to restore the conditions of 1900 we will lose any "free trade" competition. I don't want to go back to company towns, coal police, child labor, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, and such.

If we mandate a $5/hr minimum wage in the US, and the Chinese, who have no mandate, pay their skilled labor $1/hr, then how - without using a tariff, can a US company compete?

Also the wage competitive with China is not enough to pay the cost of living in America. It is not possible to pay workers LESS than they need for subsistence. Even Ricardo knew it. Before this point is reached, something will happen.