I know it’s almost useless to rail and rant against a system that has ingrained itself into society so much that its word is taken as defacto fact, and its statistics are taken as infallible, so I have stopped trying to counter the comments that run along the lines of: “they took our jobs!!!” I honestly see no point in it anymore.
I used to openly and honestly question people’s beliefs, thinking that maybe enlightenment would come through the dialogue both in person and through the internet. I was wrong.
I’ll say it now: I believe that we have tipped into the realm of social entropy. The system has failed completely and miserably, and we are watching the steady degradation of society as a whole, not just America. Society is being to led to believe by those with power that without government there would be chaos. When I see the news media synonomously use “anarchy” and “chaos”, I cringe. Meanwhile, the average citizen is led to believe that without government everything would fall apart, and they put every fiber of their being into maintaining the system… a failing system.
I say a failing system because I governent has grown beyond a sustainable size. (Note: I am not a minarchist, I am merely stating that the government has outgrown in expenditure what can be supported by its population.) I liken this to Clauswitz’ friction in warfare, and view it as a non-military corollary: government, or any bureaucratic institution, will grow to such an extent that its own internal workings will create friction and reduce its efficiency, and eventually lead to failure.
The problem isn’t free trade, it’s managed trade agreements, and the high corporate tax we have here. if we got rid of managed trade and repealed the corporate tax, then we’d have manufacturing jobs here.
Another reason as to why we don’t have more manufacturing here is because of American management. American executives, in general, aren’t ethical like japanese executives are. If we got rid of managed trade agreements, the corporate tax, the WTO, and if Congress quit pandering to the labor unions, then free trade really wouldn’t be a problem for anyone.
The UAW is a lot worse than collective bargaining. If we had collective bargaining rather than laws giving the labor unions so much, then the CEOs would be forced to compete and we’d have more manufacturing jobs here.
Very simple way of making them appreciate free trade once again: have, say, Nike shoes manufactured in Georgia or iPhones in California. Then let’s see their faces when the credit card bill arrives.
It’s ironic to think that people want low prices no matter what, something only capitalism and the free market can ensure and then cheerlead wildly for anything that will hamper capitalism and the free market. Manufacturing companies have been moving to Asia at a record pace because they have to “find ways around” to offer goods at prices people have grown accustomed to pay. But of course this is all blamed on “greed”: very few seem to understand how difficult and expensive is to manufacture something, anything, in a so called “Western” country. And while, say, BMW can afford to charge as much they need to make ends a toothbrush manufacturer just cannot. Imagine what would happen if toothbrushes prices went through the roof… manufacturers would have a hard time explaining they had to increase prices just to keep their plants open, nevermind making a profit. They would be teared to pieces by populist press while the bamboozled crowds cheer and politicians “step in” to ensure everybody can have a toothbrush at low prices while “protecting workers”.
And it will get worse. There are two + 1 issues that make selling trade between individuals inside and outside of the country a hard sell:
Unknown beneficiaries and known or supposedly known payers. This is opposite what politicians want. They want known beneficaries and unknown payers. Look at the trade restrictions on Sugar, they get gazillions from ADM, Monsanto and other big sugar at the expense of the whole USA.
Scale, this is what people have the most difficult getting their hands around. There is a vast amount of production done in the USA, that amount is far far greater than the USA could possibly consume. So suppliers in the USA scour the planet looking for customers. That process has the USA and most Western Countries selling technology to the Third World. The other part of scale is that people really do not realize how many people come into and out of the USA. The numbers are staggering. People can understand the scale of an auto plant that has 3000 people working at it, but can not handle the scale of the Atlanta airport that has tens of thousands of people coming and going each day with the mass majority doing business around the world.
+1. The WSJ is guilty of this as well. There is nothing “free” about a “Free Trade Agreement”. These agreements have thousands of pages covering in painful detail what can be done in one sentence. USA dude is free to buy or sell anything to some dude in some other country and vice versa.