The problem with bernz is that he favors trade restrictions that hurt the global economy, under the guise of protecting American workers. That is how people think before hey read their economics 101 textbook.
But it is Americans that want to purchase the foreign labor! Only by preventing Americans from this freedom are you hurting them! It's not like we are sending China welfare checks, we are hiring them to build Things for us. Shouldn't I be allowed to hire anyone I want, regardless of how you hate chinks? I like the dog eating commies! I want them to work for me. Mind your own business.
It depends on what you're calling free trade. You are talking about free enterprise. Sanders is talking about Corporations moving factories overseas and impoverishing American workers while parking their money in tax havens overseas. That's not what trade agreements are trying to prevent. They are trying to prevent countries from selling bike frames below cost to drive out American companies from the business while they slap tariffs on American food, high-tech products, and media. Look around, the trade imbalance is staggering because China protects its core strategic industries and we have not. We cannot make trade so free that it hurts the nation. It would be exceedingly foolish to do so. I am for the Pacific free trade agreement. If we don't make trade arrangements with these countries, China will. But it is ridiculous for a nation to say we will trade freely with anybody and buy all their cheap goods but they can all be protectionist about buying our products. It does not and its not that simple. Free trade must be balanced with national strategic interests. No one wants to stop you from making a yuppie bike shop with chinese parts. But we cannot allow our steel, auto, ship-building and heavy manufacturing capability disappear in the name of corporate profits. We won WWII precisely because we could out-manufacture our enemies. We do not need to be playing into our enemies hands. Who gives a fuck? More irrelevance. Not our problem. We need to fix our problems and let the Chinese fix theirs.
You should read it yourself and read Geopolitics 101, as well. The best economies are never 100% internal or 100% external. It takes a mix and smart countries find the right mix instead of just allowing every individual or corporation to make their own arrangements that ignore the best interests of the nation. We can have free trade and protect our strategic interests. They are not mutually exclusive, stop acting like they are.
Again, I don't see why nationalism is so celebrated, when it's not different than racism. Tribalism is tribalism. how is it better to be pro American than it is to be pro white.
Bullshit. Americans need jobs here. We don't have to deal with unemployed Chinamen, we do have to deal with unemployed Americans. I'm not talking about jobs that Americans don;t want to do anymore. Export them. I'm talking about jobs that Americans do want to do and can do but can't because corporate profits are more important than making America prosperous for all. Take your business to China. I'm minding Americas's best interests. Fuck you and your bicycle company that loves chinks and hates Americans. Why won't they allow their people to buy nice American bicycles? Why do they steal $billions from us in copyright infringements on the things we do best, like movies, music, entertainment and media?
Again you ignore geopolitical reality with your blind ideology. You are just being an iconoclast again.
