Well I agree on the welfare state…that actually works to my argument, not yours….because my argument is that if we would stop liberalism in this country, our economy would be so damned strong that nothing else owuld matter, including China.
But I simply disagree that free trade suppresses wages….oh, it does in some instances, but other opportunities are opened up. In a way, high tariffs is like trying to force the buggy whip business to stay profitable in a world where it simply cannot.
There is a world wide economy. It helps those who recognize it, but it hurts those who cling to something that is obsolete. Change is dyamic, but liberty is always the best way to handle it…...
And if pigs had wings, they could fly. We are not getting rid of the welfare state anytime soon. In fact, we have been adding to it with the Prescription Drug Program (Bush) and Obamacare. We are heading in the wrong direction with unfunded liabilities from entitlements totaling over $90 trillion. Does the GOP advocate eliminating Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, the biggest drivers of our debt? We can't even make simple reforms.
But I simply disagree that free trade suppresses wages….oh, it does in some instances, but other opportunities are opened up. In a way, high tariffs is like trying to force the buggy whip business to stay profitable in a world where it simply cannot.
We have more free trade than before, but US wages have been declining in real terms since 1969. We have the lowest labor participation rates in more than four decades. We are creating a permanent underclass populated mostly by blacks and Hispanics. Education is the passport to success in this society, which is why these groups will largely be at the bottom of the economic ladder. This is a festering problem that will only get worse since those two groups are growing in numbers. By 2019 half of the children 18 and under will be minorities as classified by the USG.
Our solution to a less educated workforce is to bring in more immigrants who will take more jobs and depress wages. Why aren't we doing more to educate our own people to fill the jobs we need? Business could care less about the long term consequences of the social and political impact of changing the demographics of this country in a very short period of time. And immigrants and minorities vote more than two to one for the Dems who are the party of Big Government and the welfare state.
There is a world wide economy. It helps those who recognize it, but it hurts those who cling to something that is obsolete. Change is dyamic, but liberty is always the best way to handle it…...
America is one of the top countries in the world when it comes to free trade. Here is Heritage's 2013 world rankings of countries in terms of their index of economic freedom. The US is #10 and China is #136. I would note that Hong Kong is #1 and Macau #26.