I am curious as to why many people, on all parts of the political spectrum, are against free trade? I've seen people claiming to be conservatives who are against free trade. I've seen people claiming to be liberals who are against free trade. I've seen people claiming to be libertarians who are against free trade. The only people who really should be against free trade are nationalists, unionists, socialists, and racists. Please enlighten me, why are you against free trade?
Purely for economical reasons. It destroyed the middle class, along with the income tax. We should go back to what worked. Tariffs instead of income tax. People say, weak dollar is great. Our exports are up 15%. But 15% of 0 is still 0. We will have services-only economy for as long as free trade is not abolished, which isn't going to happen for as long as Congress takes bribes from corporations
demosfen: So, would you classify yourself as a Libertarian? Can I put you down in the "Libertarians Against Freedom" category? You are fully willing to implement economic tyranny and economic oppression in order to fight a perceived economic foreign enemy? Also, you should know that the quote in your signature is bogus. James Madison didn't say that. See: http://www.guncite.com/gc2ndbog.html
No, I am not a libertarian and not into politics in general. Like I said, purely for economical reasons. It would be good for restoring the middle class
Oh; I'm sorry. I mistook you as a Libertarian. What would you classify yourself as? Why is it that you don't fix the bogus quote in your signature?
I'd classify myself as "unclassified". After Congress passed thought crimes bill, that's the only way a thinking law-abiding citizen can classify himself. I know it's yet to pass Senate, etc., but why break a law before it even passes. If having thoughts about politics is illegal, there is still a lot of other things to think about legally. Because people frequently give me positive rep for it. I'll do anything to raise my rep - bogus quotes, plagiarism, using copy-righted material...
There are plenty of real quotes that you could use! Check my Famous Quote site for equally good quotes which aren't bogus! As you have only one green bar, this strategy doesn't appear to be working for you.
Then why do you bring up managed trade? How do you propose to implement free trade? Purely unilaterally?
Because a lot of people think NAFTA is free trade. Same with CAFTA. It's not free trade. It is managed trade. I believe in citizens making decisions on where they trade, where they source, and where they sell. I believe in economic liberty.
I don't see how raising the price on all goods which leaves less money in the hands of the middle class and lowers the standard of living is good for the middle class?
In Septemeber alone we exported $140.1 billion worth of goods to the rest of the world. http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/current_press_release/ft900.pdf
So, you believe that the United States should unilaterally implement free trade? i.e. drop all incoming and outgoing tariff's -- regardless of the tariff's which other nations impose on our good and services? And you are not concerned what effect this will have on our trade deficit?
I would like Europe to return to mercantilism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercantilism Free trade is virtually impossible to achieve without a world government. It's not in any rich worker nation interest to engage in free trade. Chinese and Japanese have a mercantilist approach to the world economy and thats why they are doing so well while Europeans and Americans have been constantly losing purchasing power for decades. The world population is growing much faster than the already unsustainable production of real goods, we are not going anywhere at this rate of natural resources waste and social dumping to maximize the profits of an elite. I'm a conservative, and i don't know what does it have to do with racism, nationalism, or socialism. It's the US government way to scare the population. When you oppose war, you are a communist, when you oppose international companies then you are labeled racist or socialist. This is the Cold War terror legacy. Ironically, the US government is against both national and world interests. We have seen that in the Middle East and at Global Warming conferences. The US government only serves the private interests of a small elite, and it was not hired to do that. It was mandated to serve the interest of all US citizens.
they use stupid deceptive names like 'free trade' to fool you into dumbness. its quite clever. 'free trade' will exist no matter what anyone says or does, if I want your xbox and you want my donkey, and we trade... bam 'free' trade... because nobody with a gun was watching over us while we initiated the trade...
By bringing jobs back to the US. China is a currency manipulator. Taxing their goods would restore free market and enable US manufacturers to compete