"I replied to the "we don't make nothing here anymore" with the fact (proof even) that we were the largest exporter."
"Can't refute the facts, so they make stuff up"
-----
Statistics are very scary to the mathematically challenged.
At this point on these threads, we have usually heard from some protectionist quoting Mark Twain on there being "lies, damned lies and statistics."
It's as good a defense as any other they make up.
My other favorite is when they say they personally didn't see American made goods at WalMart. Or, I know a guy who said. Or 3 of my friends got laid off, there are no jobs out there. I saw a great line on an old thread, "The plural of anecdote is not data"
This defense is known as "insulation". The fact that what Twain said is true is irrelevant to Mase and 1rudeboy, just dismiss it and claim victory.
I have requested time and time again for these yapping dogs of free-trade to show us how the quality of life in the US has gotten better under free-trade and they haven't. Where is the economic utopia that the proponent of free-trade said would be here? The quality of life, excluding the progress of technology which is always up irrespective of economic policies, is going down in the US, not up. The standard of living in the US was better in the 1980's then it is today, yet we didn't have all these agreements in place until the early to mid 90's. Go figure.