The Economics of Outsourcing: Americans need to understand and adapt to such developments.

National Review ^ | 08/02/2012 | W. Michael Cox & Richard Alm

[DannyTN]

Look at the chart on this page. Clearly we have abandoned our founding father's model of protective tariffs in favor of so called free trade and it is killing our economy.

Tarrif History in U.S. History

[DannyTN]

"I have heard this aptly referred to as 'selling your seed corn'. "

Exactly. And then bragging that it's not a problem because sales are up.

[InterceptPoint]

Free Trade is killing our economy? Did I get that right? You want to stop free trade and you think we will be better off for it?

Milton Friedman and I disagree with you.

[DannyTN]

I've actually thought a lot about automation and it's effects on society.

One of the things I'd like to see done is build a low cost general purpose open source robot that can use tools designed for man and can be trained to do a variety of tasks. Such a robot could be trained to become grocery and retail store stockers, run a register, even tend an entire store, or do domestic help.

The problem of course is that such a robot would cause truly massive labor dislocations. It could quickly take over most low level service jobs. What do you do then?

You'd probably have to tax the robot usage on a monthly basis to be able provide the safety nets for the dislocated until the economy could adjust. But that wouldn't work if you traded with countries that employed the robot and didn't provide safety nets.

Free trade with like minded partners provides the benefits of specialization and a higher standard of living for all. But free trade if done improperly with the wrong partners is a race to the bottom to see who can implement slave labor first.

[khelus]

"I have heard this aptly referred to as 'selling your seed corn'. "

Exactly. And then bragging that it's not a problem because sales are up.

ROFL

[DannyTN]

Yes we would be better off for it.

When I took graduate level economics back in the 80’s, there were some assumptions made in the case for free trade and there were exceptions where free trade didn’t make sense.

One of those was if the trading partner doesn’t bring anything to the table except low cost labor.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Love those fake “calculations”.

[Toddsterpatriot]

The reason: they will never reach the level of productivity of the American worker. At least not in our lifetimes.

There is a Freeper on this very thread who thinks the Chinese GDP is ten times ours.

[Toddsterpatriot]

We are able to produce more goods with less workers.

The key part of your argument.

We produce more agricultural products with fewer farmers. The horror.

[moonshot925]

The US economy was built on the principles of a free markets, private enterprise, and competition.

Free trade gives incentives to innovate. Goods and services flowing across borders foster new ideas and allow US producers to learn about the market through the failure and success of traded products. As they learn more, they are able to innovate to remain competitive.

Protectionist policies have the opposite effect. They give advantages to a very small group of producers that do not want to compete. Tens of millions of consumers, as well as smaller producers buying goods and services from the protected few, bear the cost of such protection by paying higher prices for lower-quality products.

Adam Smith and Milton Friedman both understood that free trade is beneficial to everyone.

[khelus]

The US economy was built on the principles of a free markets, private enterprise, and competition. ... Adam Smith ... understood that free trade is beneficial to everyone.

You are busy justifying the misnonered 'Free Trade' as it is practiced today, regulated by unelected bureaucrats in the UN and WTO who enforce hundreds, if not thousands, of pages of regulations.

Reread Adam Smith. He was all for tariffs under several circumstances. In fact Smith was not overly fond of large global corporations who are the beneficiaries of so called 'Free Trade'. Additional beneficiaries are countries that have engaged in economic war on us, prime example being Red China.

[Toddsterpatriot]

He was all for tariffs under several circumstances.

Don't be so vague.