Straight Talk on Protectionism (Sounds right, what am I missing?)

[Political Heretic]

Run time: 04:34 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCp16gGex7Q   Posted on YouTube: February 10, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: February 26, 2009 By DU Member: Political Heretic Views on DU: 272

 
Thoughts?

I don't know or understand these issues well enough to have confidence in my opinion. But I have read a lot from this site (which I got from Thom Hartmann's show) and I keep finding that the rationales seem like they make more sense to me than arguments for free trade....

What am I missing?

[PDJane]

1. Not as much as you might think.

Free trade supports the US standard of living, but that's because it's akin to outright thievery the way it is now.

Free trade works when standards are uniform for labour and for the finished product; otherwise, it is very much akin to slavery.

[Hello_Kitty]

2. "Free trade" REQUIRES the American standard of living

But doesn't want to PAY the Americans so they can afford it. So the Americans go into debt to sustain it. Eventually that runs out and the whole thing collapses.

[Doremus]

3. Free trade on an uneven platform is a downward spiral.

The last 10 years proves it. Wealthy oligarchs are richer than they've ever been and wages have fallen. US productivity is off the charts, yet labor hasn't benefited one iota.

It's not free trade, it's free fall for everyone except the guys pulling the strings.