Is this the future of America?, page 2

reply to post by Bleeeeep

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This isn't necessarily true. Free Trade isn't on it's own a bad thing, but your trading partners have to have a standard of living and cost structure comparable to our own. A large component of the problems on our border is Mexico feeling the effects of us trading with countries that are state subsidized, and manipulating their currency. Once flourishing Mexican border towns on their way up are nothing more than large ghetto's because the factories left.

I find it funny most of the problems with our economy are self-inflicted. We have allowed corporate interests to manufacture in places that are polar opposite what of what we believe to be right. The captains of industry like to say free market this free market that, We pay too much in taxes and every reason they can possibly find to justify moving manufacturing offshore. But look where they are moving to, countries where the State owns the means of production. Countries that heavily subsidize the cost of expanding manufacturing facilities. Countries that do not allow their businesses to fail. Countries where the common man has no real power, if they go on strike to better their conditions they will end up in prison or worse.

We should be appalled at these conditions, and were not. We should resent the fact that we have given favored trade status to a country that pisses on the very founding documents that many on this site profess to love. The ideas of The Declaration of Independence don't just apply to Americans, they apply to our vision for all mankind. And that should reflect in our trade and business dealings. To take any other road is hypocritical, and going to breed international resentment.

reply to post by KeliOnyx

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You can't remove any nations from the equation and still call it free trade can you?

Anyways, if you do exclude a nation from your "free trade" agreements because of their standard of living then anyone who is included will also have to exclude the same as you until you're left with very few nations.

reply to post by Bleeeeep

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You can remove any Nation you want and still call it Free Trade. It is not a unilateral term if it were we wouldn't have NAFTA or any of the other individual free trade pacts we do have. It is within our sole discretion on who we do and do not trade with.To do it we would have to leave the WTO which would be a good thing since belonging to it is against our own national interests but there would be nothing to keep us from pursuing trade compacts with other nations.

reply to post by Bleeeeep

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People forget that there are other costs of business besides the workers. A big part of it, especially when we're talking about China or India, is going to have to do with transportation costs to get those products across the Pacific Ocean.

Specific to China, consider that China has much higher tariff and duty costs for U.S. imports than the U.S. does for Chinese imports. I think that upping our tariffs to match Chinese tariffs would go a long way. This is what I was talking about in terms of those unbalanced free-trade agreements.

Between tax incentives, taking away incentives to outsource, and actually having fair trading agreements, I do believe that a more balanced approach within manufacturing is possible.

Frankly, I realize that there is no guarantee that this would be extremely effective, but I do believe that governmental policy should dictate that the U.S. gives it's own workers the best advantages that can be had. Right now, I see U.S. policy handing advantages left and right to other countries' workers rather than our own.

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