[Jim W N]

So you’ve just protected an inferior company and failed to deal with the undying causes of what is making that company inferior, which is government-forced higher costs of that domestic company doing business. You’ve also forced a lower standard of living for the American consumer. Open competition free from government interference has always worked and will always work. Protectionism never works and it hides the underlying problems. Around and around we go.

As far as what other countries do, you and others are too worried about that. Countries that defy the simple laws of supply and demand economics by doing things like wage and price controls (”artificially cheap”) will fail sooner or later.

All of this government economic manipulation like currency manipulation, amounts to changing the measurements on a scale and thinking that changes the actual weight of the thing being weighed. Sooner or later, economic realities crush such futility. The strongest countries are those that allow open competition and voluntary market exchanges without government interference. And again, if other countries play these self-defeating games playing economic Russian roulette, it doesn’t mean we have to.

Again, as I’ve outlined, the federal government’s minimum wage and price (tariffs) controls, among other things, are the root causes of our GDP being lower than it should be and the migration of certain industry. The answer isn’t to shut up but to scream vociferously for an end to unconstitutional, wasteful, cost-raising, dead-end government economic interference.

[kabar]

So you’ve just protected an inferior company and failed to deal with the undying causes of what is making that company inferior, which is government-forced higher costs of that domestic company doing business. You’ve also forced a lower standard of living for the American consumer. Open competition free from government interference has always worked and will always work. Protectionism never works and it hides the underlying problems. Around and around we go.

We are not talking about an individual company, but entire industries. When one side is cheating on trade agreements, it is unfair competition. It is not a level playing field.

FYI: For most of our existence as a country, we have had protectionist policies.

As far as what other countries do, you and others are too worried about that. Countries that defy the simple laws of supply and demand economics by doing things like wage and price controls (”artificially cheap”) will fail sooner or later.

We are worried because our industrial base is disappearing and so are our jobs. We have the lowest labor participation rates in 38 years. There are 94 million Americans of working age without jobs and we bring in almost two million foreign workers a year who depress wages and take jobs from Americans.

All of this government economic manipulation like currency manipulation, amounts to changing the measurements on a scale and thinking that changes the actual weight of the thing being weighed. Sooner or later, economic realities crush such futility. The strongest countries are those that allow open competition and voluntary market exchanges without government interference. And again, if other countries play these self-defeating games playing economic Russian roulette, it doesn’t mean we have to.

Then why sign trade agreements if the other side is not abiding by them? Why do we have to play by the rules and they don't? We suffer a trade deficit with almost every country on earth. And we are the world's biggest debtor nation. The rest of the world is helping to fund our profligate spending. We are the ones playing Russian roulette with a !9 trillion national debt and over $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities, i.e., our entitlement programs.

Again, as I’ve outlined, the federal government’s minimum wage and price (tariffs) controls, among other things, are the root causes of our GDP being lower than it should be and the migration of certain industry. The answer isn’t to shut up but to scream vociferously for an end to unconstitutional, wasteful, cost-raising, dead-end government economic interference.

It is our crony capitalists working with government that negotiate these bad trade deals. We can't keep flooding this country with foreign workers and expect our economy to grow. We have a huge surplus of labor and we are importing poverty.