Posted on 03/17/2016 1:15:58 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Donald Trump and his fellow liberals Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are lambasting free trade as the scourge of the American working man. How odd it is that an economic activity so beneficial to almost every American, indeed to the vast majority of the human race, suffers such attacks with only half-hearted defenses raised by politicians who should know better and economists who do know better.
I stipulate: in trade, as in any economic endeavor, there are losers in the short run. Capitalism is, after all, fundamentally a system of creative destruction. But if there is any area of agreement among economists of all political stripes — a group among whom finding agreement is exceptionally difficult given their unique decision-making anatomy — it is that free trade provides large net benefits to the societies that engage in it, even if other nations do not lower trade barriers to the same degree.
Furthermore, the benefits of trade accrue in large measure to the lower economic echelons of society in an extension of Schumpeter’s profound observation that “the capitalist achievement does not typically consist in providing more silk stockings for queens but in bringing them within the reach of factory girls in return for steadily decreasing amounts of effort.”
Allow me to offer a few quotes (emphasis added) from one prominent economist, at the time a professor at an elite university, who was lamenting the poor understanding of international trade in the United States:
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
>> it actually makes sense to buy a product that is considered “inferior” by most objective measures <<
Correct. I’m old enough to remember how electrical engineers in the TV industry kept telling us consumers that Beta was better than VHS. I bought VHS and am still using it!
You're correct on that point, as well as every other point in your comment.
But here's an additional factor, one that is almost never discussed even by fervent advocates of an open international trading system:
Assume we have an omnipotent Emperor Trump. Could he ever force all Americans buy their textiles, clothing, shoes, toys, small appliances and consumer electronics exclusively from American factories? No, of course not. We simply don't have the labor force to do all such labor-intensive manufacturing.
What would it take to reach the Trumpian Utopia of an import-free American economy? One hundred million new workers? Two hundred million? We'd need massive immigration from third-world countries to do all that work. Moreover, we'd have to force native workers out of jobs in high-value manufacturing and services. No more aircraft factories. No more automobile assembly. No more technicians to repair computers and run fiber-optic cabling. Everybody put to work spinning textiles, sewing clothes, making toys and shoes.
But will the typical member of the Trump Brigades stop even for a few moments to ponder the contradictions inherent in their hero's disjointed ramblings on economic matters? Not a chance, my FRiend, not a chance.
The cheap labor agreements like Nafta and TPP are NOT free trade. Milton Friedman even said that. ‘FREE TRADE’ does NOT take thousands of pages to implement.
Stop buying the lie.
I think that you have veered into the real issue!
We need fewer or zero regulations and genuine free enterprise. But I do not think that we can ever get there!
Cruz PUSHED TPA with Paul Ryan. What part of that can’t you comprehend?? He gave fast track authority to Obama when ONLY the Senate should have the authority to make TREATIES.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/putting-congress-in-charge-on-trade-1429659409
>> WWII was not caused by tariffs <<
“Caused” might be too strong a word. But tariffs certainly exacerbated the Great Depression, thereby contributing to unemployment and political unrest in Germany as well as many other countries.
So I think it’s unquestionable that tariffs had a causal relationship with Hitler’s rise, even though they were simply one among several other identifiable factors — like the runaway inflation of the Weimar years, the after-effects of the Versailles Treaty, and German nationalists’ longstanding anti-Slavic and anti-Jewish sentiments.
I agree completely. My answer was far too cryptic, and your point is exactly the same as I should have made. This is what started this post.
No evidence yet, for sure.
On the other hand, he could hire some good advisors. But the evidence is so far lacking on that front as well.
Moreover, it's hard for me to imagine that he could attract a great many of the true experts on the myriad intricacies of international affairs -- politics, economics, military affairs and technology. His current staff of top advisors appears limited to Cory Lewandowski and the mysterious Ms. Hope Hicks. If they are harbingers of the "staff to come," then the USA's outlook is bleak indeed.
I think you're overestimating the impact of tariffs in this case. The most rapid periods of economic growth occurred during the 19th century when this country was settling its frontier and adding new states at the rate of one every 43-44 months.
This is a good point, but I really find myself at a loss over how to figure this out. Whose interests are served when a foreign country -- whose citizens have a much lower standard of living than ours -- taxes those citizens to subsidize major industries ... that sell manufactured products that the workers who make them cannot afford ... to American consumers at a steep discount?
What am I missing here?
You are correct, we can control it with various laws, taxes and tariffs. And who do you think ultimately pays teriffs, etc? You think the manufacturers and importers just take that out of the profits out of concern for the consumer ? Yea... that'll work.
Your statement confirms my concern that you do not understand metanoia.
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Worked for the founding fathers. The costs of so called free trade has hit your bank account as well. All those social services that arise because people don't have decent jobs anymore has a cost, too.
How is Trump a croney capitalist? Because he was attempting to conduct business in a hostile environment towards capitalists? NY is a very anti-business state. What was He supposed to do? Fail but be proud He held onto an ideal that couldn’t be reckoned with in a place like NYC.
He isn’t the reason that millions of jobs were shipped away. He had nothing to do with it.
The way I see it is Cruz had more to do with our current problems than Trump could ever be blamed for. Cruz was on W’s campaign. Like it or not he is an insider, and more than likely has been compromised and can’t be trusted.
Trump is a citizen, he has had nothing to do with policy, decisions, or legislation coming from the DC toilet.
Oh and one more thing, jam it!! I’ve been active here since 2004. I’ve seen politician after politician reneg on every promise they made. Trump is not a greasy politician!
Or when a nation allows a manufacturer to dump product onto another company below cost, then said nation reimburses said manufacturer to compensate for the loss.
China pulls that crap all the time.
let’s see, Smoot Hawley had nothing to do with the severity of the Great Depression but recent trade deals have hollowed out the American economy
Trade as a percent of GDP was < 5% in the early 1930’s. Now it is $3.5 Trillion out of $17 Trillion = 21%. Big difference.
The ONLY thing we can do is make manufacturing on US soil more attractive than doing it abroad.
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Slave labor wages for the American public?
Good question. Our newly-crowned emperor of really, really good, no, make that huge deals, no doubt in consultation with central_va and other assorted geniuses would make all of the necessary economic allocations, perfectly. After all, they know everything or can hire those Top Men who do.
They wouldn't need a mere 5-year plan, probably more like a 50-year plan.
So we could achieve "Juche," as the Norks call it, total self-reliance, an "original, brilliant and revolutionary contribution to national and international thought."
Or something like that. NO IMPORTS, baby! Imports are evil!
The Norks have annual GDP somewhere around 2K per capita. Nobody knows, that's just a guess, there being no published government figures. And who cares if half of them are starving and eat tree bark?
In the free-trading US, GDP per capita is about 55K. But, why stop there?
I'm sure we can drive that number down towards 2K if we exert enough protectionist effort. We, too, can eat tree bark if only we strive for Juche.
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