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 ...
Maybe Donald Trump will try but is there any evidence that he has any competence whatsoever? Just because he calls our trade negotiators "stupid" does not mean he is smart. Let us accept that he will try but will his hamhandedness push us into another great depression which came in the wake of Smoot-Hawley?
This is a lie. The Smoot-Hawley had nothing to do with the Great Depression. The Great Depression was a fiscal calamity leading to a stock market crash. Look at all the contemporaneity histories of the Great Depression, trade is hardly mentioned at all. Barley an afterthought.
Smoot-Hawley is Neo Con lie started to on the 1960's to give tariffs and protectionism a bad name.
China is the most trade restricted markets in the world. Nothing goes into China duty free. Nice BS you are spreading pal.
Recently I took a look at my 1960's and 1970's US history text books. Trade is hardly mentioned as having anything to do with Great Depression. Every text book blames the GD on fiscal crises and the following stock market crash. Trade is not even an after thought. Smoot-Hawley is a laughable attempt at rewriting history and only a fool would try to spread that crapola. I never knew you would spread Free Traitor™ BS. Scummy.
If you can't refute the facts, lie. Sounds like a certain presidential candidate I've heard.
Are you actually spouting the ramblings of “ivory tower” educators here? In FR? You are an idiot aren’t you. The 2 professional theorists you reference here have neve had an actual job in their lives. Just so you know most people here hold economists with the same esteem as lawyers.
Theorist should only be allowed to teach physics. For some professor to sit in a class room and point out mistakes made while someone else was actually doing something, risking their own wealth is ridiculous at its best.
The crap about Trump having ties made in china is a little ridiculous. He partnered with a manufacturer that contracted the work out. He didn’t actively say “my business could make more money if I move my factory over seas”, proceed to have one built, and layoff an entire town of people.
You can try and paint it that way. But that’s not what happened in Trumps case.
So now we know that you are in fact a lib. You went right to the ivory tower theorist, instead of looking at the real world.
I certainly hope you slip up a bit more so others here see you as the fraud you are.
So long troll!!!
You’re a funny guy.
So far, you’ve called me a fascist, a free “traitor” and suggested that I should be “put in either insane asylums or concentration camps.”
That’s some really fine ad hominem stuff. You should be proud of your inability to argue anything effectively.
I understand that you have a problem getting out of the 1800s and with anyone who points out that your “arguments” hold no water.
Just for instance, what I actually said was that most of the jobs that have left over MANY DECADES were union, it’s got nothing to do with what’s left.
All you did was make my point. Unionization has gone from 50% or so in the late ‘40s to 6-7% today. And still declining.
Why? Their over-paid jobs are exported or automated, had to happen. What can’t go on won’t go on. Any way you slice it, the result is the same — no over-paid job. Competition won’t allow it, much as you might want central planning.
Oops, you were wrong again. Which maintains your record of being 0% correct.
Sink your teeth into this. Extorting above-market wages is not a viable business plan in the long-term.
Nonetheless, rant on, dude. As I’m sure you will. Too bad nobody with active synapses really cares what you say.
It appears the only person you hold in any “esteem” is the crony capitalist, Donald Trump. I’d love to know when crony capitalism became cause for celebration on FR.
I understand his supporters do not hold him responsible for anything he has done or continues to do but you’re not pulling the wool over our eyes.
The only trolls around here is you people.
President Trump. Get used to the idea.
Idiot! US am for free trade, but China, Japan, Mexico et al are not! Catch a clue boobus!
The way I see it Trump has succeeded in the system POLITICIANS have created. POLITICIANS set up the system whereby private citizens need to pay-to-play. So who's at fault? The private citizen who has had no power to make the rules but lives by them or the lawyers and politicians who have created that system?
And before you tell me that Cruz is not a politician, look at his resume.
I AM DONE WITH POLITICIANS!
Free trade may be causing chaos in the employment arena, but let’s be realistic. Do we really think we can control global markets with American laws? You can’t buck human behavior and as long as people would rather pay less for more, protectionism will only make matters worse. It may suck, but that’s reality.
I didn't say a word about Chinese import duties. I talked only of our sales in China. My data are completely accurate.
I've striven throughout a long career to always tell the truth and the whole truth. I've thus rarely been called a liar. The few times I've been called a liar was not because I was caught in a lie, it was because the accuser was projecting his own failings on me. I will not waste any further discussions on you.
What proof do you have that the Chinese would raise their already onerous tariffs if we start to tariff their imports? This BS. You spreading crap. I apologize, sometimes stupidity is disgusted as a lie.
>> I guess you’ll have to read the piece to understand the piece <<
Is one allowed to read the articles?
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Our exports have hit a barrier that can't be beat - low wages. Everything else you wrote was moot.
We can control what is imported with American laws.
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