Obama and free trade: Appease big laborNo image available
Obama and free trade: Appease big labor
Made popular 740 days ago in Business
washingtonpost.com — Because government is inherently dangerous and often mischievous, the Constitution's framers provided, and congressional rules have multiplied, mechanisms for blocking government action. These mechanisms can, however, also be used to force action. One is being so used in a dispute that has two remarkable facets.

President Obama is sacrificing economic growth and job creation in order to placate organized labor. And as the crisis of the welfare state deepens, he is trying to enlarge the entitlement system and exacerbate the entitlement mentality.

Why should someone be entitled to such welfare just because he or she is affected negatively by competition that comes from abroad rather than down the street? Because national trade policy permits foreign competition? But national economic policy permits - indeed encourages, even enforces - domestic competition.

Report This Post
Posted by gobat
Add To Favorites
83 Votes
Similar Issues
1 Comment
ShareThis
Should "free trade" be expanded or curtailed?
Expanded
53%
Curtailed
47%
This is not a scientific survey, click here to learn more. Results may not total 100% due to rounding and voting descrepencies.
User Comments
joy50plus
Posted 740 days ago
0 up votes, 0 down votes
"Free trade" as popularized by the work of Adam Smith several centuries ago and more recently by followers of John Maynard Keynes is the "sacred cow" of many macro economics classes in certain prestigious American universities. But does free trade genuinely exist in a global economy in which not all nations are required to follow the same rules in practice (i.e. on a day to day uniform basis) regarding child labor laws, environmental protection and food inspection? Methinks not!

Where are the mechanisms to enforce level playing fields in 3rd world nations?

It is a fact that in the United States, our well educated and enterprising work force is being driven into poverty even as many U.S. manufacturers are compelled to relocate manufacturing facilities overseas in order to remain competitive in global markets. Plus, it will not be possible to tax corporations to fund government programs as in the past because now companies forum shop for the cheapest business locations and there are many countries which do not tax businesses or which maintain very low tax rates.

Perhaps the first step in global recovery will be recognition by the teachers of macroeconomics classes in mainly liberal U.S. universities that open borders and "global trade" crowd confused a nice academic theory about "free trade" with reality- which does not maintain a level playing field without labor law enforcement mechanisms on the ground.
You will have 2 minutes to edit your comment.

Add your comments