Thursday, October 04, 2007

Trade Gridlock Would Be A Lot Better

From today's Wall Street Journal, front page article Republicans Grow Skeptical On Free Trade, "By a nearly two-to-one margin, Republican voters believe free trade is bad for the U.S. economy, a shift in opinion that mirrors Democratic views and suggests trade deals could face high hurdles under a new president."

For example, from the actual poll that was given to Republicans:

Statement A: Foreign trade has been good for the U.S. economy, because demand for U.S. products abroad has resulted in economic growth and jobs for Americans here at home and provided more choices for consumers.

Only 32% of Republicans agreed with this statement. Yikes!

Statement B: Foreign trade has been bad for the U.S. economy, because imports from abroad have reduced demand for American-made goods, cost jobs here at home, and produced potentially unsafe products.

59% of Republicans agreed with this statement. Yikes!

In another part of the poll on policy positions that a Republican president might take, 61% of Republicans agreed with the position "Favors tougher regulations to limit imports of foreign goods." Yikes!

In other words, it looks like there will be upcoming bi-partisan consensus on anti-trade, pro-protectionist policy positions. That's pretty scary when you have the Republicans agreeing with the Democrats that free trade is bad and protectionism is good. Legislative gridlock on trade would be a lot better, I agree with P.J. O'Rourke on this one. Here's what he said:

"I like legislative gridlock. What I hate is bipartisan consensus. Bipartisan consensus is like when my doctor and my lawyer agree with my wife that I need help."

3 Comments:

At 10/04/2007 5:57 PM, Blogger Trevre said...

As true as it may be that globalization is inevitable and free trade will improve our economy, convincing the nation of this fact is the challenge. So what should we do to promote free trade? What can you tell a person who has lost their job to free trade that will convince them it isn't something that can be avoided and that it is positive in the long term?

 
At 10/05/2007 3:26 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ask them to buy goods & services that they _don't_ want, at prices they think are too high, of a quality they think is too low. If they won't follow these principles, why should their fellow-workers?

'Free trade' means that workers round the globe can now do what American workers already do: continuously offer better/cheaper/more desirable goods & services, to their fellow-Americans. If 'foreign' workers are forbidden to do this, then this should also apply to American workers.

When American workers buy cheaper/better/more desirable goods & services produced by fellow-Americans, then the American workers who produce more expensive/poorer quality/less desirable goods & services _also_ lose their jobs. Identically the same thing happens when the workers who produce the 'better' goods are 'foreign'.

 
At 10/05/2007 8:31 AM, Blogger juandos said...

To bad the polling can't come from a credible source...

Study: Viewers Say TV News Lacks Credibility

According to the latest study from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, fewer than a quarter of the 3,204 adults surveyed believe all or most of what they see on NBC News (23 percent), ABC News (22 percent) or CBS News (22 percent), continuing a downward trend in credibility that stretches back to the mid-1980s...

 

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