Posted on 04/14/2006 5:56:46 AM PDT by FerdieMurphy
If you're against any agreements that threaten our sovereignty then I suggest you watch coming developments with FTAA......not sure yet but this could very well be the trojan horse I spoke of earlier. As far as 'fair trade' goes I'd sure examine the countries who we're running the largest deficits with to see if they understand the term "reciprocity".
I thought trade was buyers and sellers freely agreeing on price. That's not reciprocity?
So you're not going to explain "fair trade"?
It might just be a little more complicated than your simplistic response.....why has the fedgov protected some industries like steel more than others with tariffs? In your free trade nirvana there should be no tariffs at all.....correct?
Because certain lobbyists for certain industries have done a good job at bribing Congress. That's why Americans get to pay double the world price for sugar. Something like $5 billion down the drain so a few rich sugar growers can pollute the Everglades and screw the American consumer. Do you favor this practice?
In your free trade nirvana there should be no tariffs at all.....correct?
Tariffs would be okay if they were low, uniform and intended to raise revenue. If they are intended to reward politically connected industry or to protect uncompetitive industry then they should be eliminated.
What do you think tariffs should do?
Sorry, make that $2.5 billion a year.
Based on what you say about what some lobbyists get away with for favored industries then the term "free trade" really is a misnomer and isn't that free after all, is it?
I would suggest that the system we have is "managed trade".....some industries 'manage' to get a better deal and protection from the fedgov based $ and connections.......can't see how that's very fair now is it?
Add to that obscene trade deficits with countries such as China that obviously 'manage' to tariff many of our goods to protect their homeboys without having to worry too much about any pressure from our own fedgov for reciprocity.....that's why I've always believed this (alleged) free trade philosophy adopted by our leaders (?) is an absolute joke.......no-one runs up trade deficits to the tune of hundreds of billions every year by accident.......guess it just 'managed' to happen that way.
As far as tariifs go.....I agree with much of what you say and I would add that heavy tariffs need to be levied against trading partners to somewhat level the playing field in the event of product dumping, etc.
I have never claimed we had free trade. I want lower tariffs and fewer restrictions on trade.
Add to that obscene trade deficits with countries such as China that obviously 'manage' to tariff many of our goods to protect their homeboys without having to worry too much about any pressure from our own fedgov for reciprocity..
Free trade agreements lower tariffs on both sides. That's a good thing.
I agree with much of what you say and I would add that heavy tariffs need to be levied against trading partners to somewhat level the playing field in the event of product dumping, etc.
What's product dumping etc? Do you have any examples? Why would we need heavy tariffs to battle this dumping?
I am reminded that just a week or so ago, President Bush said that if Congress passes an Immigration Law he will sign it and enforce it (the new Law!).
Why cannot Bush uphold his Constitutional Pledge and enforce the Law we have?
Well.......we have several (alleged) free trade agreements in place so why are there still tariffs placed on some goods? According to you we should have lower tariffs and less restrictions but that doesn't seem to be the case especially with all the time and effort spent on setting up these so-called trade agreements.
It may comes as a shock to you but sometimes the reality of the situation is nowhere close to the theoretical arguments used to sell these types of iniatives to the public......kinda like that 'empty rhetoric' term I used earlier and that's why our trade policies seem so disjointed at times. Some industries are favored and protected quite strongly much more than others so we see dumping tariffs levied on Chinese steel, TV's, furniture, paper products, etc. while industries are left hung out to dry.........it just makes no sense.
Because, unfortunately, these agreements aren't for zero tariffs on all goods. I'd be happier if they were. I'll just have to be happy with lower tariffs on more goods and services.
No explanations of dumping? Why it's bad? Examples?
Didn't I mention the US levying tariffs on some Chinese goods over the last few years due to dumping or am I just imagining it?
I hadn't heard that. I remember some steel dumping cases.
We're not party crashers! We're uninvited guests!
Now fork over the clam dip!
It looks like the feds whacked 'em on bedroom furniture, colored TV's and a few other things......the big problem I see is that by the time these knuckleheads in Commerce figure out there's a problem and staert levying tariffs, it's already too late for a lot of American mfrs. trying to compete.
The title says the keyword is "illegal". we have 175 posts to the thread and nobody made a keyword "illegal" until I just did? Slackers!
I know the answer and so do you. It makes us sick, but he is an avowed member of the Poltical Class and we are just the peons who dondated money and voted twice because we had no other choice!
Here's a toast to getting ourselves another choice than what the GOP shoves down the chute!
Let's be up front.
I'm a mixed race (black/white) man. I oppose unfettered immigration, ESPECIALLY from Latin America for a simple reason. It is UNWISE to allow unassimilable masses of culturally different (sure, they have 'family values' but successful capitalistic republican societies must have more than that) people to write a double standard into the law and into social conventions.
THere are as many Asian immigrants in the Seattle area as there are Hispanics. Then why does the glass door at JCPEnney have English and Spanish? It doesn't have Vietnamese or Japanese or Korean--why is that? Why is it I go to a bank and I have Spanish on the back of a deposit slip? Why do we press 1 to hear English and have Spanish as another option?
Is it JUST numbers and recognizing the reality and what IS that reality? Is that they refuse to assimilate? Or is it that there are so many, just as in Miami, that they simply refuse to learn to converse readily in English? And why do they have that sense of entitlement and are certain actors breeding that sense of entitlement to 'different but equal' status in them?
you ARE right, this isn't just about the illegality of it. It's the sheer masses of individuals and the culture, crime and health concerns they bring with them.
No one would be talking about masses of Asian immigrants nowadays--why? Because the general thrust of Asian families is towards education and material enrichment and status. Boys AND girls are taught to wait for marriage, to get their education first, then establish a family.
I had a friend who went into the Latin community to try to teach young girls the value of education in CONTRAVENTION of their accepted cultural instruction. Even for boys, there really is not the same push. There are Chinese gangs but most of us do not lose sleep over what the Triad is doing. But we DO have to wonder if MS-13 is going to kill our police or rape our sisters or shoot our sons.
Remember the Golden Horn with the Chinese illegals? Do you recall the works of extraordinary beauty they made while imprisoned out of simple materials and innate talent? Would that ship were from Guatemala, would we see the same talents?
As was pointed out to me recently, bigot is not necessarily a bad thing. I, of course, understand it to mean something distasteful but in the dictionary, it merely reveals an intolerance or distaste for opinions that differ from your own (or people.) I have an extraordinary distate for Communists, thus am bigoted against them. Not necessarily a bad thing.
I actually for increasing immigration, but opening the flood gates to a culturally different populace that is slower to assimilate, if only for geographical reasons, is not wise. Increasing immigration but importing the RIGHT mix of people would be wonderful. Allowing Americans to compete in a labor force where employers have to follow the same rules for ALL employees, not just for 'documented residents/citizens' would be great too.
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