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Post by blueneck on Dec 27, 2006 10:16:09 GMT -6
One of the predominant arguments put forth by the globalists and their shills on these boards is that thanks to free trade folks can save money on cheep imported products from places like walmart, thus increasing their buying power. On the surface that has an air of "truthiness" because yes we can now buy 20 lb bags of socks for 3.99 at walmart.
The flip side of that coin, and one the proponents never discuss is that the US standard of living grew just fine before this new "buying power" of free trade came into being. The evidence of stagnant wages for the middle class today vs the growing standards pre free trade, the growing numbers now in poverty, when pre free trade the numbers were going down and so forth.
The US economy grew on its strength in technology and inventiveness- remember the old phrase of "Yankee ingenuity? what happened to that, it used to really mean something. The standard of living was improved by increased productivity that was rewarded with better wages and therefore increased living standards for all.
Basically the free traders are "fixing" a system that wasn't broken.
And look out if you call a free trader on it, he will hurl insults, and pull out one sided "sources" from partisan ideologues.
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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Dec 28, 2006 16:37:00 GMT -6
The flip side of that coin, and one the proponents never discuss is that the US standard of living grew just fine before this new "buying power" of free trade came into being. The evidence of stagnant wages for the middle class today vs the growing standards pre free trade, the growing numbers now in poverty, when pre free trade the numbers were going down and so forth. I'd go one step farther, and say that the U.S. standard of living grew much faster before today's "free" trade policies took full effect, and that our standard of living is actually declining at present. The price reductions do not compensate for the stagnant wages, or for the higher percentage of Americans who are not working. (Due to twice the number of Americans dropping out of the labor force in the last 6 years, as opposed to the previous 6 years, the alleged unemployment rate does not accurately reflect the decrease in American employment.) The "Comparative Advantage" argument is being heard less and less as time goes on, probably because it is inapplicable as a defense of today's free trade policies. The free-trade defense arguments have devolved to "everyone knows free trade is good," and nothing more. That's really all that the free-trade propagandists have left, since no logical arguments remain. Exactly. And they'll come up with such clever responses as "you just don't understand economics." Again, that's all they have left when no logical arguments remain.
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Post by LibSlayer on Jan 7, 2007 1:04:08 GMT -6
One of the predominant arguments put forth by the globalists and their shills on these boards is that thanks to free trade folks can save money on cheep imported products from places like walmart, thus increasing their buying power. On the surface that has an air of "truthiness" because yes we can now buy 20 lb bags of socks for 3.99 at walmart. Or we can now buy $3,000 computers for $500, leaving us with an additional $2500.00 to spend. Imagine if we could buy that $3000 living room set for $500. One The flip side of that coin, and one the proponents never discuss is that the US standard of living grew just fine before this new "buying power" of free trade came into being. It hasn’t “come into being” it has been like that for decades, and we see that it works, so we work to establish it with other countries. The evidence of stagnant wages for the middle class today Wages aren’t stagnant they are steadily growing. The US economy grew on its strength in technology and inventiveness- remember the old phrase of "Yankee ingenuity? . Yes and outsourcing labor frees up capital that can be used to further that inventiveness, bringing even greater progress and growth. Basically the free traders are "fixing" a system that wasn't broken. . Nobody is “fixing” anything, only removing barriers to greater progress.
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