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YOU SAID..."I take it if the 'free trade' uptopia we have discussed existed you would enthhusiastically support it."

It depends on your definition of utopia.

In MY model of Utopian free trade, countries would be more or less symmetric trading partners, and would utilize comparative advantage in a way which maximized production efficiencies in each others country. Wealth would increase for both...and jobs would be secure. Trade functions in your ideal model of individual to individual...or company to company. I certainly support that.

The first question arises...can you have free trade with a country that does not have a free democratic government? How about if they are an enemy of the US?

A second problem arises in the real world. Should comparative advantage lead to job elimination in each country..due to the demands of efficiency. Don't we need, for example, certain classes of jobs...such as technical jobs / engineering in this country to maintain our own technology and standard of living....not to mention our military and defense capabilities. Should engineering be a protected labor category...or subsidized...by virtue of defense programs? But doesn't that defeat the purpose of comparative advantage?

Once again...a paradox.

The issue with REAL free trade always comes down to jobs. I don't equate free trade with the outsourcing of jobs overseas...as that IMO constitutes trade in labor...not goods.

Another example...efficiency demands that certain classes of factory production jobs are to be eliminated...but shouldn't they be replaced by another industry which can utilize people who are trainable for a production skill level. Without jobs at all skill levels..not just the manager level...society eventually degenerates into either anarchy or totalitarian socialism. But we don't want government deciding on winners and losers in industry.

Another paradox.

I also believe that Utopian free trade probably requires a radically different tax and revenue structure to support its existence. IMO, our present tax system, coupled with the legal burden and the many entitlements and loopholes have created a mess in which free trade as we are practicing it now doesn't raise the standard of living for society as a whole...but serves to redistribute wealth. For example...if most major American companies outsourced much of their workforces overseas, and increased profits...it would create wealth for some...but at the expense of others.

Would you support free trade with the provision of removing all income taxes and replacing taxes with tariffs or consumption taxes or a combination of both?

Honestly...I have more questions than answers...and I believe that many classical theories of economics will probably be revised over the next ten or twenty years or so, as people examine how free trade really functions on a global scale.

But...I'm just an engineer....let others weigh in on this.