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To: Willie Green
As Ricardo predicts, there's no doubt that our own standard of living will be diminished to the standardized global subsistance level established by this region

Ricardo never predicted that. on the contrary, he made strong arguments for international free trade as a way of improving living standards due to the law of comparative advantage.

2 posted on 12/05/2003 11:02:05 AM PST by gawd
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To: gawd
Ricardo never predicted that. on the contrary, he made strong arguments for international free trade as a way of improving living standards due to the law of comparative advantage.

Deny it all you want.
People can read Ricardo what Ricardo says for themselves: On The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation

Here are a few excerpted paragraphs:

In the natural advance of society, the wages of labour will have a tendency to fall, as far as they are regulated by supply and demand; for the supply of labourers will continue to increase at the same rate, whilst the demand for them will increase at a slower rate...

 'Gold and silver, like all other commodities,' says Adam Smith, 'naturally seek the market where the best price is given for them; and the best price is commonly given for every thing in the country which can best afford it. Labour, it must be remembered, is the ultimate price which is paid for every thing; and in countries where labour is equally well rewarded, the money price of labour will be in proportion to that of the subsistence of the labourer....

Diminish the cost of subsistence of men, by diminishing the natural price of the food and clothing, by which life is sustained, and wages will ultimately fall, notwithstanding that the demand for labourers may very greatly increase....


3 posted on 12/05/2003 11:38:12 AM PST by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: gawd
he made strong arguments for international free trade as a way of improving living standards

BTW, Ricardo had absolutely no highfalutin' moral goal of improving living standards.
His economic analysis is very cold and objective, void of any emotional conscience or ethical influences. His theories are advanced by equally disinterested Third Parties: transnational corporations seeking to profit from the exchange between nations, pitting the resources of one against the other in a race to a global subsistence level standard of living.

4 posted on 12/05/2003 12:03:49 PM PST by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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