Before I bore you, let me assure you that trade policy is a BIG deal. It is the number one problem with the US economy in my opinon. Not kidding, the USA is being sucked dry, and if you are lucky you can sell your houehold gold to 'cash for gold' before you head on down to the soup kitchen for a meal. This is what it's come to.
There are a lot of lies in economics, mostly they are propagated by those who stand to benefit from these lies and distortions. It's easy to say things like:
"Cheap consumer goods benefit the US consumer"
"Low value US jobs will be replaced with high value jobs in the US."
"Capital will be free to invest in more productive industries"
"We need a more educated work force to compete in the future"
"The US became a great economic power because of Free trade"
These are all lies or distortions or miss essential points.... read on...
Bad trade policy is the root cause of all our financial problems today. How can that be? Maybe you thought the housing & mortgage mess and a corrupt wall Street were the biggest problems? Well, let me tell you, they are the biggest SYMPTOMS of a bad US trade policy which has existed since WWII.
The main reason for the housing crisis is that trade surplus money from overseas had to come back to the US, and there was nothing worth investing in, other than mortgage bonds. The Wall street banks had nothing to sell to overseas investors. (Yes they are corrupt and despicable, but that's not the point.) Damn near EVERYTHING can be done cheaper overseas. The only reason we have any industry left is because you can't snap your fingers and move another 20 million jobs overseas in the blink of an eye. But jobs continue to move overseas as we sit here. Neither Obama or the Democrats, and certainly not the Republicans (who favor it) have done anything to stop it at this point.
The article is short and gives a good simple explanation of why our current free trade' system is not working. It is very readable. Please take a look and talk to your candidates, Congress member or Senator about a fair trade deal for US workers.
Six Reasons for U.S. to Drop Free-Trade Myth: Ian Fletcher
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http://www.bloomberg.com/...
The article goes through 6 dubious assumptions which I have pasted below, Give it a read. You don't see a lot of truth about trade in the press, so it's important:
-- The first dubious assumption is that trade is sustainable.
-- The second dubious assumption is that the productive assets used to generate goods and services can easily be shifted from declining to rising industries.
-- The third dubious assumption is that free trade doesn’t worsen income inequality.
-- The fourth dubious assumption is that capital isn’t internationally mobile.
-- The fifth dubious assumption is that free trade won’t turn benign trading partners into dangerous trading rivals.
-- The sixth dubious assumption is that short-term efficiency leads to long-term growth.