Free Trade FAQ's

The Center for Trade Policy Studies ^ | Unknown | Unknown

[MonroeDNA]

Let the whining start.

[MonroeDNA]

Bump!

[Rodney King]

OK. The first FAQ question is disengenuous. Very few Americans are worried about the "race to the bottom" affecting the wages of foregin workers, rather, we are worried about the "race to the bottom" affecting our wages.

[Rodney King]

Does free trade force countries to make economic gains at the expense of their cultures?

The whole concept of "preserving culture" is premised on the notion that it is both valuable and endangered.

I would say that it is very valuable, if culture includes respect for property, not giving little girls clitorectomies, not hacking peoples limbs off, not stinking like crap, etc.

[Rodney King]

Free trade is a boon to the US manufacturing base, which is alive and thriving according to statistical evidence

Which evidence is that?

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[Willie Green]

But, in general, the protective system of our day is conservative, while the free trade system is destructive. It breaks up old nationalities and pushes the antagonism of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie to the extreme point. In a word, the free trade system hastens the social revolution. It is in this revolutionary sense alone, gentlemen, that I vote in favor of free trade.

~Karl Marx, "On the Question of Free Trade" - January 9, 1848

If there is anything clearly exposed in political economy, it is the fate attending the working classes under the reign of Free Trade. All those laws developed in the classical works on political economy, are strictly true under the supposition only, that trade be delivered from all fetters, that competition be perfectly free, not only within a single country, but upon the whole face of the earth. These laws, which A. Smith, Say, and Ricardo have developed, the laws under which wealth is produced and distributed — these laws grow more true, more exact, then cease to be mere abstractions, in the same measure in which Free Trade is carried out. And the master of the science, when treating of any economical subject, tells us every moment that all their reasonings are founded upon the supposition that all fetters, yet existing, are to be removed from trade. They are quite right in following this method....

Thus it can justly be said, that the economists — Ricardo and others — know more about society as it will be, than about society as it is. They know more about the future than about the present. If you wish to read in the book of the future, open Smith, Say, Ricardo. There you will find described, as clearly as possible, the condition which awaits the working man under the reign of perfect Free Trade. Take, for instance, the authority of Ricardo, authority than which there is no better. What is the natural normal price of the labour of, economically speaking, a working man? Ricardo replies, “Wages reduced to their minimum — their lowest level.”...

Either you must disavow the whole of political economy as it exists at present, or you must allow that under the freedom of trade the whole severity of the laws of political economy will be applied to the working classes. Is that to say that we are against Free Trade? No, we are for Free Trade, because by Free Trade all economical laws, with their most astounding contradictions, will act upon a larger scale, upon a greater extent of territory, upon the territory of the whole earth; and because from the uniting of all these contradictions into a single group, where they stand face to face, will result the struggle which will itself eventuate in the emancipation of the proletarians....

~Frederick Engels, The Free Trade Congress at Brussels, October 9, 1847

[rdb3]

Using other peoples' quotes is sophomoric. Care to state your own thoughts?

[HiTech RedNeck]

By contrast, national sovereignty is threatened in the absence of WTO rules, where market barriers or sanctions by one country against another are more likely.

Say what?

[stainlessbanner]

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[Lazamataz]

Imports do not cause a net loss of jobs in a nation’s economy. Imports may displace some workers in less competitive industries, but the overall level of employment is determined by monetary policy, labor market flexibility and other non-trade factors.

This is all I need to read to know that this is pure agit-prop.

You mean, our less competitive enterprizes such as computer software development, medical image analysis and financial analysis?

[Lazamataz]

Here is a treasure-trove of indexable Unfair-Trader arguments.

[txhurl]

OK, please posit me on de 'free' trade ping list, Suh?

[fortaydoos]

Of course, we need to focus where our natural advantage is: walmart greeters.

[txhurl]

No, focus on our absolute advantage: double-wide MH repo movers.

[MonroeDNA]

Laz, buddy, you drank the Koolaid too?

Say it ain't so! lol!

You are strong, and you have faith in your own abilities. At least, I have faith in your abilities!

Geeze, dude, don't let the darkside get ya.

[Lazamataz]

Laz, buddy, you drank the Koolaid too?

Well, I won't agree about koolaid, but ... heck man, how can we have free trade that is FAIR trade, if they are using prison labor, artificially manipulating their currency to undercut us, not following even the most BASIC environmental and labor safety rules, and so on?

Free trade should mean fair trade, too. And it doesn't. We are exporting our last category of jobs to India and Asia -- white collar jobs. What will we do for work? We're busy destroying the American middle class as quickly as possible! That's not a sensible thing to do. We'll head the way of Argentina.

I've actually had some diehard Unfair Traders tell me that when all the white collar jobs are gone, we'll all just be CEO's. Now, how much sense does that make???

[FITZ]

The proof is in the pudding ---- we don't need "theories". We have the cold hard facts of the free trade economy staring us in the face: giant trade deficits, double digit unemployment in many parts of the country, large welfare rolls and the "NAFTA displaced worker" programs, massive immigration of indigent people from those countries expected to benefit most with NAFTA, state budget deficits never before imagined, unstable stock market and a social security system about to see some big cuts.

[FITZ]

And I left out this one Personal bankruptcies at record pace as well as rising home foreclosure numbers.

[MonroeDNA]

Let's not do business with communist countries. I am a die hard there.

Labor safety and environment are a different subject. It sounds good, except it will cut off all trade. We have evolved much more than other cultures. If we cut them off, rather than encourage them to evolve, it's lose-lose.

They won't change, and we'll pay $200 for a beer cooler.

It took us a hundred years to make the workplace safe. That is 100 years after we went capitalist. Give them 20 years.