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A reply to a single paragraph should result in a reply back of manageable length... right? Legolas Send a noteboard - 18/09/2012 11:30:02 PM
My working theory is it is because Big Business threatened for years that US production and jobs would leave if regulations were not abolished and, when proven wrong, devised "free" trade to make good the threat. Rather than raising Third World living standards to Western levels as promised, "free" trade is only LOWERING Western living standards to Third World levels—which was the idea. The only way to save Western production and living standards OR improve Third World living standards is FAIR trade, not falsely so-called "free" trade. Unless/until all products sold in the West are held to the same standards, regardless of source (i.e. including US GMOs sold in Europe,) Western production and living standards must inevitably continue eroding: It is just economics, but has nothing to do with taxes.

Free trade is doing exactly what it was expected to do: raise Third World wages and income, lower the cost of goods for Western consumers, and put downward pressure on Western manufacturing wages. Complaining about manufacturing job losses in the West is all very well, but do have the honesty to look at the full picture.

And then as for the next bit, I'm not sure how you define "fair trade", but while working conditions in the developing world are indeed awful in many cases (though getting better by leaps and bounds), your demand that all products sold in the West be "held to the same standards, regardless of source" sounds to me like you're more concerned with preserving Western jobs than with economic growth for developing countries. I suppose in a thread about American unemployment that's not so odd, but then you might as well stop pretending you care about the Third World.
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How would you fix unemployment? - 18/09/2012 05:43:17 PM 772 Views
Kill off every third unemployed person; that'll teach the lazy bastards. *NM* - 18/09/2012 06:11:58 PM 214 Views
And encourage population control! Brilliant! *NM* - 18/09/2012 06:28:34 PM 223 Views
What Greg said about corporate tax rates. - 18/09/2012 07:48:39 PM 619 Views
Workhouses. - 18/09/2012 08:24:04 PM 579 Views
Get a job.* Fixed! - 18/09/2012 10:38:48 PM 500 Views
Ban most of the innovations in business from the last 50 + years - 18/09/2012 10:54:51 PM 523 Views
The left does not believe higher corporate taxes create jobs; it believe they reduce federal debt. - 18/09/2012 10:57:53 PM 640 Views
A reply to a single paragraph should result in a reply back of manageable length... right? - 18/09/2012 11:30:02 PM 518 Views
Good luck with that (sorry Joel, but it is true ) - 18/09/2012 11:36:09 PM 546 Views
I do not think the first and fourth paragraphs of my response to him should count as two paragraphs. - 18/09/2012 11:55:08 PM 612 Views
no, - 19/09/2012 12:03:25 AM 582 Views
Caring MORE about Western living standards=/=caring NOTHING about Third World ones. - 18/09/2012 11:48:54 PM 575 Views
That much is true, yes. - 19/09/2012 07:04:05 PM 577 Views
Wait...is there something wrong about not caring about other countries? - 19/09/2012 03:15:00 AM 521 Views
That is, obviously, a rather subjective question. - 19/09/2012 06:33:41 PM 496 Views
Put a bird on it! *NM* - 18/09/2012 11:02:41 PM 314 Views
Good old fashioned relief works. - 19/09/2012 09:45:19 PM 492 Views
Duct tape. *NM* - 19/09/2012 11:01:10 PM 265 Views
I think you named the root problem quite well... - 25/09/2012 01:12:55 PM 497 Views
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil," - 30/09/2012 10:52:05 AM 618 Views
get rid of unemployment extensions so the lazy people go out and find jobs - 25/09/2012 01:44:23 PM 555 Views

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