Putting the "trade" back in free trade

[The Big Al]

I'm sick of it. I'm tired of free trade = America loses. I'm not talking about being protectionist or isolationist. I'm talking about putting the trade back in free trade.

A trade is the exchange of items/service/ect in which each party gains equally. Yet free trade, thanks to corporate America putting their profits in front of the good of the US economy as a whole, now means other countries basically rape us.

I'm sick of the double standards. Countries can build facilities here in America but all their profits go to their country. Yet, American companies that move their facilities overseas and not one dollar comes back to us. It seems that every part of free trade is designed to fuck the United States.

I want to know why. Why do we allow this to happen?

 

[Mozz]

I'm sick of the double standards. Countries can build facilities here in America but all their profits go to their country. Yet, American companies that move their facilities overseas and not one dollar comes back to us. It seems that every part of free trade is designed to fuck the United States.

Link?

 

[birdboy2000]

I'm fine with free trade, PROVIDED that the country we're trading with has at least the labor standards we mandate federally, and is not Saudi Arabia, China, or a similarly evil regime.

If we wouldn't let one of our states do it, we shouldn't trade with 'em if they're another country.

 

[The Big Al]

Link?

Link? I thought this was common knowledge. You are an economist, right? If this money is coming back to America, then where is it going?

 

[Mozz]

The money is coming back here in the form of shareholder profits and lower prices on goods and services. Ever wonder why your Dell laptop cost less than 1k?

 

[The Big Al]

The money is coming back here in the form of shareholder profits and lower prices on goods and services. Ever wonder why your Dell laptop cost less than 1k?

And I only needed to take a 50% paycut for it.

Frankly, that's sickening. Especially since Bush's tax cuts block many of the profits to be recycled into America.

 

[Mozz]

Is it my fault your job is relatively unskilled?

No.

Tax cuts block profits from being recycled in America? More like high tax rates on corporations help send them overseas.

 

[The Big Al]

Is it my fault your job is relatively unskilled?

No.

No. You just support giving their job away because it fits into your utopian economic picture.

Tax cuts block profits from being recycled in America? More like high tax rates on corporations help send them overseas.

Considering that most countries make their companies who have facilities in other countries pay their tax rates, that's a moot point. However, the fact that companies are given a tax insentive to leave the country really makes my blood boil.

 

[Girafarig_Magcargo]

Trade doesn't have to be by definition fair. Stop making crap up.

 

[The Big Al]

Trade doesn't have to be by definition fair. Stop making crap up.

Believe it or not, unfair trade is a relatively new development. It was one of Regean's many projects. And in case you didn't notice, we're the only ones really practicing free trade.

Try to sell something to Dubai who intend to buy our ports. It's not going to happen. They have an embargo against all countries that support Israel. Try to sell something to China or India. It's easier but marginally because they purposefully devalue their currancy to poison their import markets. Free trade would be a wonderful idea if everyone played nice but they don't. We shouldn't either. We need to level the playing field.

 

[Archaic]

And in case you didn't notice, we're the only ones really practicing free trade.

And since when did having all those nasty tarrif walls count as free trade? Of all nations, only Australia has anything close to true free trade with its "Level playing field" policy, which IIRC was first implimented by the Labor Party (the "left" of our two main parties) back in the early 90's. We still do have some tarrifs and protectionism, but nowhere near what you guys have.

 

[The Big Al]

Tarrifs were originally designed to make to make a domestically produced product and a product made overseas of the same type cost the same to get to the store shelves. The tarrif system was designed to encourage companies in America to remain here. Grant was the first one to use them to try to discourage trade.

I was wondering. How is the Australian economy doing in terms of Domestic labor?

 

[Archaic]

Tarrif's have been used to discourage the purchase of foreign goods for hundreds of years. "Grant", whoever he was (some US president?) would have been doing it a long time after others had already done the same thing.

We currently have a lack of skilled workers and professionals, especially in healthcare. We have far too much unskilled labour, and no interest whatsoever in reducing our minimum wage levels enough that there'd actually be jobs for them, so instead, we offer fairly cheap education at technical collages and through apprenticeships for skilled trades. Sadly however, just like in America, too few people are taking advantage of them, instead choosing to bludge off the social security system. Thankfully, the government is cracking down on those people, and actually forces people to both actively search for a job and to do work for the government (usually council beautification projects, like planting trees or mowing parks, though in some cases, they've attached people to roadwork crews, city council clerks, or other low to medium skill public service jobs, with the intention of hiring them once a position becomes available there) to get those payments.

 

[The Big Al]

You know, Michigan would have faired better if we took Australia's system. Engler cut services and wellfare. However, if the people who received wellfare had to be road workers, school janitors, and other unskilled public service workers, we could have saved money and maintained our infastructure. Thanks for the info.