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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: ????

No, before I answer your question, I'd like an answer to mine.

Just to show you I'm not a hard hearted guy, I'll give a preview of what my reply to your question will be:

A: I'm not dealing in conjecture here, but in regulatory reality.

But let's play pretend for a moment - what would be your economic measurement criteria for determining what $5 of US labor would be in China? Give me that answer and I'll give you mine. For example, what kind of labor do you want to discuss? Brain surgeon, welder, weaver of cloth?

Would you rather be in a Chinese jet fighter or a US F-15?

Or, how about we take a real world example: Rare earth magnets. There was a single place in the US that produced those magnets until a Chinese company bought them out. Those jobs are headed to China. Why does this matter?

Because rare earth magnets help the fins on a cruise missile adjust to the terrain changes mandated by its guidance system. We now source these magnets from China.

So there are strategic implications to free trade to that aren't even being considered here.

I'm not being rude, I'm being frustrated. It comes down to simple subtraction in terms of understanding why the playing field isn't level, and to realize that it isn't the company that is tilting it, but the government. It's just math, not ideology.

If the government wants my company to carry insurance, do diversity training, sexual harrassment training, have fire extinguishers, foot the bill for unemployment insurance, offer benefits, carry special insurance against litigation, and provide a safe work environment, then they can make trade policies with countries that feel the same way, or slap tariffs on those countries that don't.

Else, they can take all of those obligations away from me.

It's not my choice, it's GWB's, very literally.