Free Trade
All well educated people know that free trade is good. In fact one time I met the head of the WTO and talked with him for about 20 minutes. Free Trade is why Americans are so prosperous. Just like up until recently we knew that deregulation was a good thing. It made sure that money trickled down to middle class people.
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At the height of deregulation fever we did not eliminate those regulations which assure that it is safe to ride an elevator. Nor did we deregulate those rules which ensure that our buildings don’t blow down every time that there is a large gust of wind; or that bridges don’t fall down very often. We kept those regulations which demand adequate brakes, safety glass, and seat belts in cars.
We did not intend to deregulate food safety in America or to allow children’s toys to be imported which contained high amounts of lead. And we didn’t mean to allow unsafe prescription drugs to be sold in America.
The same concepts apply to Free Trade.
In the 21st century America and Europe no longer allow free trade in black African slaves. Nor do we accept free trade when it comes to 15 year old white girls from Russia who are enslaved into being prostitutes. We don’t allow free trade of those things which can help make nuclear weapons, and we do not follow the ideas of free trade when it comes to importing crack cocaine, heroin, or crystal meth.
Great Britain fought a war with China over the concept of free trade. The insanely wealthy drug lords controlled the government in England, and they wanted to continue selling heroin to addict and enslave more of the Chinese people. The government of China tried to regulate this. The Chinese felt that free trade of opiates was unwise, so they passed a law prohibiting the British from exporting heroin into China. Since the British drug lords controlled the government in England, the English government fought a war with the Chinese government over the right of free trade. The British won the war, so they continued prospering through the enslavement of the addicted Chinese.
The words deregulation and free trade are not inherently positive concepts. In actual fact they are horribly negative in many (if not most) situations. The world liberal is not an inherently negative concept. But since the administration of the American Republican president Ronald Reagan, the rich and powerful have made it seem this way.
Totally free trade would be very negative for society and its people. Indeed free trade needs to be regulated more closely, just like the Wall Street traders have to be better regulated.
The importation of goods which were made with child labor should be prohibited outright. Period. Just like the importation of cars which don’t have safe tires and brakes, turn signals, seat belts, or catalytic converters is prohibited outright.
If an item is produced abroad in a factory which is causing terrible air or water pollution, then an import duty should be imposed upon it which would bring the price up to the same of an item produced in America where environmental laws are followed. The same concept would apply to the importation of goods where reasonable workplace safety or minimum wage regulations were not enforced.
These laws regulating free trade are no more unwise than the laws which currently regulate the free trade of slaves, illegal drugs, nuclear weapons, or food which is unsafe to eat.
So there is no reason to pass “Made in America” laws.
The news laws simply need to demand that the items were not made through child labor, or in factories which polluted the environment, or where workplace safety and minimum wage regulations were not enforced.
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