Free trade is yet another tool that is being used to wipe-out the middle class. It is very simple with out any tariffs or restrictions on trade, multinational corporations will simply move production plants, factories and services from one country to another, wherever they can get efficient labor at the cheapest price. Right now China is the manufacturing hot spot, but when the Chinese start to develop a middle class, and start walking around like they are entitled to middle class perks like eating three meals a day with ample snacking in between, the multinationals will pull out of China and find a cheaper place to set up shop, let's say India or Argentina for argument's sake.
Free-trade proponents have made the term "protectionism" into a dirty word. By protectionism, I mean protecting your domestic businesses through tarrifs and balanced trade polices.
In his book "Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism "Cambridge ecomonist, Ha-Joon Chang makes a strong argument for protectionism by illustrating how historicaly the United States and the United Kingdom both became wealthy nations through protectionist policies. And he goes on to show how his home country of South Korea has used protectionist policies within the last forty years to greatly improve its economic condition, making it a powerhouse producer in the world market.
Free-trade will make a world of poor people with a few temporary middle-class citizens wherever the main manufacturing is going on.
The United States has had the rug pulled from under it, and we will be expected to buy Chinese products until we can no longer afford to do so. When we are reduced to a poor nation like China or India once were, then at some point manufacturing and services will move back here, and then the whole cycle starts over again.
Free-trade proponents have made the term "protectionism" into a dirty word. By protectionism, I mean protecting your domestic businesses through tarrifs and balanced trade polices.
In his book "Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism "Cambridge ecomonist, Ha-Joon Chang makes a strong argument for protectionism by illustrating how historicaly the United States and the United Kingdom both became wealthy nations through protectionist policies. And he goes on to show how his home country of South Korea has used protectionist policies within the last forty years to greatly improve its economic condition, making it a powerhouse producer in the world market.
Free-trade will make a world of poor people with a few temporary middle-class citizens wherever the main manufacturing is going on.
The United States has had the rug pulled from under it, and we will be expected to buy Chinese products until we can no longer afford to do so. When we are reduced to a poor nation like China or India once were, then at some point manufacturing and services will move back here, and then the whole cycle starts over again.
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