Posted on 10/31/2015 9:18:31 AM PDT by BlackFemaleArmyColonel
To hear Donald Trump tell it, blue-collar workers here are suffering as much as ever, their livelihoods endangered by the familiar combination of foreign competition and U.S. companies eager to hold down labor costs. It's Trump's mantra. He repeats it again and again at campaign stops like the one he made here last week. A leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, Trump has made the health of the U.S. manufacturing a cornerstone of his insurgent campaign.
In doing so, Trump is targeting a big pool of potential voters among disaffected blue-collar workers, even if it means alienating the business community and conservative free-market advocates and brings accusations of demagoguery. He vows to slap penalties on goods produced by U.S. companies outside the country, make it harder for China and others to export their goods, and tear up trade deals that he says hurt the U.S. industry. “I wonder how many Chevrolets are in the middle of Tokyo?’ he told the Anderson crowd to applause. “I would say none.â€
And at the economy-themed Republican debate held Wednesday in Boulder, Colorado., Trump pledged to “bring jobs back†from China and Mexico. There are signs that Trump’s strategy is working. Polls show that the bulk of Trump’s support comes from men who lack a college degree and make less than $40,000 a year, the kind of workers who once formed the backbone of the U.S. manufacturing economy. They have helped propel Trump to the top of popularity rankings in South Carolina, a key early primary state, where he is outpacing rival Ben Carson.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Other than the source and maybe the headline I really don’t see what your problem with the article is.
Send ‘em a box of tissue paper.
Protectionism is destructionism: free, open, & fair trade
One of the greatest contributions the US can make to the world is to promote freedom as the key to economic growth. A creative, competitive America is the answer to a changing world, not trade wars that would close doors, create greater barriers, and destroy millions of jobs. We should always remember: Protectionism is destructionism. America’s jobs, America’s growth, America’s future depend on trade—trade that is free, open, and fair.
This year, we have it within our power to take a major step toward a growing global economy and an expanding cycle of prosperity: the historic free trade agreement negotiated between our country and Canada. And I can also tell you that we’re determined to expand this concept, south as well as north. Our goal must be a day when the free flow of trade, from the tip of Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic Circle, unites the people of the Western Hemisphere in a bond of mutually beneficial exchange.
Source: Pres. Reagan’s 1988 State of the Union message to Congress , Jan 25, 1988
We have been pushed to accept the “free trade is fair trade†ruse since Bush41.
>>>>
Wrong
see my post above
Free Trade is not fair trade. You cannot call it fair when a country (China, Japan, etc.) can devalue their currency making America unable to produce a product on an equal basis. Free trade works when all elements are equal. Currently we are being raped both by foreign countries and our own government that has so many rules and regulations on our businesses that they cannot function.
You are totally missing the point. The government can place tariffs which force law breaking countries to toe the line or stop doing what they are doing UNFAIRLY. If they devalue their currency to undersell us, we put a surcharge on them forcing them to pay the price or stop devaluing their currency to undersell us. It is a form of pressure which yields results. The country complies fairly, or we do not buy from them. Watch the balance of payments start to swing back to normal. It must do so to enable our economy to grow.
Reagan’s dream of free, fair, and mutually beneficial did not come to fruition.
I firmly believe the program, like many, got bastardized along the way. This treaty was the first most people had ever heard of that needed ‘side deals’. (Hmmm, why does that phrase sound familiar?)
From the Heritage Foundation in 1993.
“Moreover, it will create an estimated 200,000 new jobs for Americans, reduce illegal immigration from Mexico, help tackle drug trafficking, strengthen Mexican democracy and human rights, and serve as a model for the rest of the world.”
The dream of NAFTA has failed in execution.
Where did those jobs go? How’s illegal immigration and drug trafficking coming along? Mexico is now, of course, regarded as a stalwart of human rights.
I say Bush 41 because his administration actually started the negotiations, which were of course completed under Clinton.
I am against all trade deals where we end up with larger trade deficits. And every single trade deal in the last 30 years has been this way. Its idiotic!!! Sure some mega-corporations and trans-national corporations and some other parties here benefit from these shitty trade deals. They are the ones who pay off the hacks in DC to vote them into law.
I am against all traitorous trade deals.
The US Camber of Commerce is in favor of traitorous trade deals and open borders amnesties. Funny how they go together like that
The protectionist Chinese Government needs to get out of the way.
As I said, "government needs to get out of the way".
That would include the Chinese government, the US government...etc.
Protectionism is fantastic. Just go ask China or Japan. We need to do the same as other nations that do it. Open borders and retarded trade deals go hand in hand.
The only trade deals I favor are ones that lower our annual trade deficits not raise them
Last year’s trade deficit was about 500 billion dollars due to the traitorous trade deals of the last 30 years
It's should be up to the individual American consumer if they want to boycott Chinese products. That shouldn't be a function of our federal government. Why do we need Big Government telling us what products we can't buy or taxing certain import products? We shouldn't want that.
Adding to that, there is a down side to a country like China when it devalues its currency. Inflation goes up, wages go down, the worker's standard of living decreases, workers become dissatisfied and finally the products they produce become inferior. The free market then stops buying those inferior products.
Investment capital also leaves a country that devalues its currency.
The point is a country that devalues its currency will eventually fail. The Big Government Chinese don't understand this. They are communists after all. But we are not communists. We, who believe in liberty and free markets should understand all of this. We should want simply for the cost of doing business in this country to go down and for Big Government to get out of our way. That is what will correct our problems
Your post should be read by every one! That is exactly what is happening.
Someof yoyr points are defective. People today DO buy inferior products because they are cheaper. Look at the success of Walmart. Anything and everything Chinese is inferior but it is ALL cheaper, so our trade imbalance is ENORMOUS, and our goods do not have free access to the markets in China. That is what Trump is fighting! AND HE is CORRECT! We are being BLED DRY. Talk about a BLEED OUT, America is the chump!
That's like saying the Nazis weren't bad because they made the trains run on time. Clinton restaffed the CIA with liberals. Every judge appointed by him is a Mao worshiper just like Obama's. Think of all the women and children that have been killed, raped, or molested by all the criminals that get a free ride from his judges. Clinton also built the walls that kept information from getting into the right hands to prevent 9-11, of course by that time the CIA was nothing more than a Democrat Party Dirty-Deeds-Doing organization, thanks to his restaffing. And the 90 children burned and gassed by Bill and Hillary at Waco may have something to say about how good a president he was. His first major deed upon becoming president, show the Christians who's boss, just like ISIS. Pure lying evil, there is no good in him.
American consumers are the ones who will pay, in the form of higher prices on foreign made goods. And the government will waste the money on all the extra-constitutional spending it does. No thanks.
Are you on the right site?
People have a right to purchase whatever products they want. Big Government shouldn't tell us that we can't buy certain products and they shouldn't be putting additional tax on some products.
And eventually the protectionist communist Chinese economy will implode. Or do you believe in the "defective" point of view that communism and Big Government beats liberty and free markets?
We can trade with anyone freely if our books are balanced. Over-taxation, over-regulation, and people living off the government are affecting our trade balance more than anything else. Fix that and see where our trade balance goes.
What you mention will help 50%. We need tariffs to accomplish the other 50% if you really want up to have no trade deficits. Our trade should be in balance or we should run a trade surplus. We have racked up annual trade deficits for at least 30 straight years. Enough is enough!
Thanks! Our trade should at minimum be in balance, same as responsible families run their household budgets. If our annual trade is in surplus then great! This is the same as a family that makes more money than it spends so it puts some in the bank or otherwise invests it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.