Today's Free Trade is not about the Free Market

JEFFHEAD.COM ^ | 08/01/2003 | Jeff Head

[GOP_1900AD]

I propose the following credo "free and fair trade with the free world, and woe to the rest." ;)

[Cacophonous]

Any tariff has to be accompanied or...eased (or lack of a better word)...by a lessening of the burden of corporate taxes, federal regs, and unions.

[Texas_Dawg]

Oh, yes, I do. Japan was going to conquer the world.

But now we learn that Japan was not in fact the threat they once claimed because... Ronald Reagan supported a weak dollar? Classic. I guess that's why Japan has been in the tank for over a decade. Good work, Ronnie!

[JNB]

My opinion is many of the dogmatic free traders are either quite young, or just are immature in general, and do not have a grasp of the real world.

[Texas_Dawg]

Any tariff has to be accompanied or...eased (or lack of a better word)...by a lessening of the burden of corporate taxes, federal regs, and unions.

So you would not support these tariffs unless an economically equivalent amount of the latter is enacted as well?

[Cacophonous]

I hope that's it. Probably getting their heads filled with this crap at one of our nation's "institutes of higher learning".

[GOP_1900AD]

He was a strong advocate of free markets and national strength. You know, "The Wealth of NATIONS." He did not write some idiotic rubbish such as "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" which I would rename "The Wealth of Traitors Running Global Corporations and Those in the UNFree Parts of the World Whose Boots They Lick."

[Texas_Dawg]

My opinion is many of the dogmatic free traders are either quite young, or just are immature in general, and do not have a grasp of the real world.

Wait a second... I thought they were all greedy CEOs of multi-nationals.

[JNB]

The valuation of the Yen per dollar went from 240 per dollar in 84 to 120 to a dollar by 87, with most of that fall coing after the 85 agreemnets the US made with Japan and other industrial nations to weaken the dollar. The currency accords were drafted by James Bakker himself. The yen eventually ris eto 80 per dollar by 95, when the weak dollar policy was ended.

[Cacophonous]

I would still support them, but their effectiveness would be drastically reduced. I would like to see us do away with income taxes completely, and fund ourselves with tariffs alone.

[HighRoadToChina]

Thanks for your vote of confidence. If God was not in control, we'd all better give up right now.

[GOP_1900AD]

Were the Japanese building WMDs and saying that war with the US is inevitable? Geopolitical attitude matters, fool!

[Poohbah]

But now we learn that Japan was not in fact the threat they once claimed because... Ronald Reagan supported a weak dollar? Classic. I guess that's why Japan has been in the tank for over a decade. Good work, Ronnie!

What's interesting is that these folks were the ones claiming that Reagan was giving away the entire store to the Japanese, and now they hail him as a savior because he supported a weak dollar...

And you find that Bush's policies, when you examine carefully, are aimed at weakening the dollar.

[Cacophonous]

Smith also wrote, about 25 years before "A Wealth of Nations" a marvelous book called "A Theory of Moral Sentiments". Outlines man's moral obligations. Outstanding book.

[GOP_1900AD]

Naturally, their plan is to always know whose boots to lick and whose nether regions to kiss.

[Poohbah]

Were the Japanese building WMDs and saying that war with the US is inevitable? Geopolitical attitude matters, fool!

China is going to fight a very nasty war with itself LONG before they will be in any shape to fight a war with anyone else.

[JNB]

Note I said many. The CEOs for the most part only gave a damn about the bootom line for the next quarter, and yes, they support unfair trade parctices because its a cheap and easy way to raise profits short term. The CEOs are under no illusion Free Trade is a positive force for all of society, unlike many dogmatic free traders on FR like you.

[Cacophonous]

You think CEOs of multi-nationals spend their time posting to FR?

[GOP_1900AD]

Many were saying the same thing about Germany ~ 1925.

[Cacophonous]

The CEOs are also, for the most part, no longer CEOs of American corporations. They now head multi-national, globalist nations that owe no allegiance to any flag. Hence they can, with a clear conscience, screw the US in the interest of their bottom lines.