Posted on 07/28/2003 6:36:40 PM PDT by RaceBannon
There has been a few threads on here where Free Trader enthusiasts have defended their view, and have been responded to by those who feel that Free Trade is not helping the American Economy, in fact, is part of the reason we are NOT going to see a great recovery any time soon.
I am one of the latter. The following is a cut and paste job, taken from my own comments on these threads, which I feel tell my side of the story.
Some of the points are repeatd, 3 and 4 times. That is because I feel they are the forgotten reasons and ideas why we are in what I believe are dire economic straits.
Feel free to comment.
I know that. But a pair of jeans made in Malaysia that costs $29.99 is going to cost a heck of a lot more than that if it is made in upstate New York.
Go back and read what I wrote in Post #45. The major problem we're facing today in this thread is that outsourcing labor will result in a lower standard of living. And if we bring all these jobs back to the U.S., I predict that the major problem we'll be facing tomorrow will be . . . a lower standard of living!
The difference will be that people will work. Without the majority of people working, the only way you can distribute goods and services is through communism.
You know, all that "to each according to his needs" stuff.
And the plant will only be built there as a result of a tax abatement program implemented by the state and local governments, and after a few farmers had their land taken from them under eminent domain proceedings for what is now being called a "public benefit" -- you know, "economic development."
Well, guess what -- even with a tariff in place on imported goods and services, the only way to distribute goods and services is through communism . . .
Apocryphal story from the Great Depression . . .
A high-profile diplomat from the Soviet Union visited New York in the 1930s. He was met at Idlewild Airport (now JFK International Airport) by New York City mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and an entourage of city dignitaries. While leaving the airport in the back of a car with the mayor, he noticed a large group of men shoveling snow on one of the airport runways.
"Why are these men shoveling snow here?" he asked through an interpreter, "I would have thought that here in the U.S. you would do things in a more automated fashion."
LaGuardia told him that the unemployment rate in New York was very high during the Depression, and proudly pointed out that the city had been able to provide 2,000 jobs for men at the airport by having them shovel snow instead of using snow plows.
"That's interesting," the Russian answered, "But if you were to give them all spoons instead of shovels, you could probably hire 100,000 more."
Incorrect. Somewhat incongruous story aside, if no one is working, then no one has purchasing power. If no one has purchasing power, then one must distribute goods and services in the only other model available: Communism.
I'm sure that is the case here as well. Never mind that these "blue collar" jobs can pay better than many "white collar" jobs.
. . .
During the Clinton administration, the employment picture in the U.S. was particularly bright because hi-tech companies were investing a lot of resources to upgrade their technological capabilities and enhance their productivity. Many jobs these days are moving to India and the Philippines precisely because the technological impediments to this job shift have been removed over the last ten years.
I don't know what the answer is when it comes to keeping Americans employed, but in one respect the incessant complaints about outsourcing border on the absurd. For some people, their approach to this issue is the equivalent of a government official who celebrates the dramatic decline in his state's unemployment rate when 10,000 people are hired to build a 12-lane freeway across the land but then expresses alarm over the "devastating environmental conseqeunces" when people actually go out and start driving on it.
I don't think there are too many places in this world where "nobody is working," and in those few places where such a situation exists, the problem has nothing to do with cheap imports and outsourced labor.
Or, how about this angle?
There is an inherent inequality in a "free trade" system where one nation is heavily regulated, and the other is not. The only way to make it "fair", then, is to impose the same regulations worldwide. Hey, presto! World socialism.
Tell me in what "one respect [it] borders on the absurd"?
Does the desire to retain high-paying jobs in America border on the absurd? Or perhaps it is absurd to wish to preserve an American middle class. Is the absurdity contained in the desire to retain our standard of living? Maybe it is absurd to want to avoid embracing the communist model of distribution.
That would require military conquest of all those other nations. Since that is unreasonable, the only option is to apply penalties (tariffs) to uncooperative nations.
A caveat: someone who doesn't work can still have purchasing power if he owns a share of the means of production and earns dividends.
I recognized it, and hopefully defeated it with cogency.
I don't think there are too many places in this world where "nobody is working,"
It is possible in America that this will come to pass. At present, at a minimum, we have vast quantities of eminently qualified individuals who are unemployed and underemployed.
True. It was observed on another thread that ONLY people who have capital will prosper in a country in which labor is meaningless and devalued.
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