Free Trade

[Quiettype]

There are more and more, and farther reaching "Free Trade" zones. NAFTA, Mexico, Trans Pacific Rim, EU trade policy between member nations etc.

Anyone think that Free Trade has been oversold and proven false? It always struck me as a race to the bottom. Cheapest producer wins, and everyone else reduced to shipping raw materials as commodities and getting screwed over in the process.

Anyone else think that there will be a return to more Protectionist policies? Trading in ideas and designs and creating a wall of tariffs to develop an internal economy with more emplyment for their own citizens?

Not soon though, although the Sopa Acta pressure might keep Canada out of the trans Pacific Rim agreement. (Canada is refusing to increase the DRM legislation, so Big Content is lobbying to leave Canada out).

Any thoughts on Free Trade?

 

[Big Sleazy]

There are more and more, and farther reaching "Free Trade" zones. NAFTA, Mexico, Trans Pacific Rim, EU trade policy between member nations etc.

Anyone think that Free Trade has been oversold and proven false? It always struck me as a race to the bottom. Cheapest producer wins, and everyone else reduced to shipping raw materials as commodities and getting screwed over in the process.

Anyone else think that there will be a return to more Protectionist policies? Trading in ideas and designs and creating a wall of tariffs to develop an internal economy with more emplyment for their own citizens?

Not soon though, although the Sopa Acta pressure might keep Canada out of the trans Pacific Rim agreement. (Canada is refusing to increase the DRM legislation, so Big Content is lobbying to leave Canada out).

Any thoughts on Free Trade?

Free Trade is a disaster. And throw the useless United Nations out as well. Humanity would be better off without both of these useless tools.

BS

 

[train]

Do either of you even know whether Canada is a net exporter or importer or how our balance of trade has moved since free trade with the US was implemented ?

 

[Quiettype]

Exporter or raw materials (timber to the states etc) , importer of manufactured goods and vehicles (although we are, as a nation, a net exporter or trucks).

So pick your sector. We ship unprocessed raw materials to the States and China, and send our cars south to the States, but for general light manufactured goods we import the finished products a lot of the time.

And yes the Free trade moved a lot of money and created markets, then Mexico was added and the plants moved to the border zone, then the Caribean plants opened, and China opened, and India and the Phillipines. Machinery is easy to move to low labour cost countries. I am looking at the longer term effects that are coming into play now, and will gain strength over the next few years.

Free trade chasing the lowest labour cost results in a growing sector of racing to the bottom underemployment. Rising fuel prices are killing the labour advantage anyway. And when too many industries leave for easier pastures (lower emissions regulations etc), then the high paying industrial jobs leave as well.

 

[onthebottom]

Wow, you could fit all the economic insight in this thread to date in a shot glass with plenty of room left over.....

OTB

 

[johnhenrygalt]

It's amazing that there still are people brain dead enough to think that protectionism works.

 

[oldjones]

It's amazing that there still are people brain dead enough to think that protectionism works.

Doesn't work within the country when the prospect of making money is up against other values (common sense and simple or highly nuanced and inter-related) so why would it work between countries? But that's no reason to give up. Life is a struggle, anyone who told you its rewards come free was lying.

After all, what do we have countries for at all, if not for protection? And we're certainly not ready to declare them all obsolete and dead in favour of a New World Order. Of Rule by Trade perhaps? We do note that no one's currently proposing actual human people be given similar freedom of borders, not even of the mild EU sort. Just money mechanisms we've proven no one can manage, whether it be Greece, GM or Goldman Sachs. Surely we should be keeping a tighter rein on these guys, not letting them go.

Meantime, here at home on Earth in TO, let's remember that NAFTA can result in one country's sensible laws on product or environmental safety being overturned because a business in another country says they hinder their trade and profit. Let's try to be smart enough to realize there's good reason why the brainless profit cart follows the horse that moves all of us onwards. We steer. And it was we who bailed out the bankers and traders.

When we're ready to free people from the stupidity of guarded borders and national restrictions I'll be the first to cheer. Until then, business should always have to make their case for jumping the queue and only be allowed to 'self-regulate' as we'd trust each other to.

Let's have them and their politician suck-ups put the pie they promise on the table first. Surely after 'Sub-prime and Euro Messes' only fools would believe these clowns promises of flying pie. When the benefits start to flow, we can open the taps some more, but we'd be fools to lock them open.