Financial Information
why do people around the world protest against free trade?
Question : why do people around the world protest against free trade?
why do people around the world protest against free trade? they say it will increase their trade deficits, and make their companies and industries less competitive. I don’t quite understand this because while America has some good products, generally America products are terrible. Our food is bad, our cars are bad, we hardly make clothes or cosmetics (compared to europe), do we even export agricultural products? even with a weak dollar our exports are low and our economic growth is slowing. it seems like our main export is financial services, although with so many financial consultants, America is still in so much debt. I think the free trade is bad only for America, I don’t see why others are afraid of it.
debt consultants of america
Best answer:
Answer by tumbleweed1954
If it was going to cost you your job you might have a different opinion.
-
-
#2 written by kheserthorpe 1 year ago
There are a few reasons they might:
Free trade is of net benefit to both countries in almost all situations (there are a few exceptions, but its rare, and only include deals between developing nations, basically)
A) They are in a subset of industries that will be negatively affected and don’t relish the thought of moving to a new one. Understandable, although the government should think about how to use some of the net gain to help them through the transition, rather then just caving in to them.
B) While they were incapable of passing or signing up for a high school level economics course, they believe they understand economics well, when clearly they don’t.
C) They are racist. Free trade does, indeed, narrow the gap between low skill wages in both countries. So if china and the US had free trade, it would push down on US wages for low skill workers, while pushing up incomes for low skilled chinese. Free trade helps the average person in both countries. People who say ‘it hurts the poorest’ clearly think unionized american workers are the ‘poorest’ not starving chinese peasants, who should go on starving so unionized workers in the US keep their wages high. This seems moral to me only if you’re racist.
D) they’ve listened to special interest groups too much and like to protest.
E) they are averse to capitalism on an emotional level, so like to whine about it at any opportunity.
F) they’re retarded.
That’s all I could think of.
-
#3 written by Anne Marie 1 year ago
It’s bizarre, isn’t it, HM!
I understand why some people might protest, from self-interest. For instance, if you’re in the shoe industry, you might resent that Brazilian shoes of higher quality than American products are sold for much lower prices. But you don’t have to be an Adam Smith to understand that for America generally, it’s better for us to buy the Brazilian shoes and let them spend the dollars buying American technology products. Both sides benefit, although admittedly some special interests may face short term pain.
What mystifies me is when lefties and those claiming to speak in the name of the overseas poor try to argue that free trade and “globalization” are bad from the point of view of the poor.
Suppose you’re a cocoa farmer in west Africa. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could sell your products in the American market without having to pay the import taxes that we levy to block you from selling here!
So, free trade is introduced, allowing cocoa farmers to sell their products here without these taxes. I can see why an American cocoa farmer might complain. But why in heaven’s name would lefties argue that free trade is bad from the African farmer’s point of view. How is it “imperialism” to give them access to our market? How is it “exploitation”? Why is it better for the African to be denied the chance to sell his products except at cutthroat prices in a tiny domestic market?
I agree with you, and I too am completely mystified at the irrational claims of the left.
-
#4 written by tehabwa 1 year ago
Our standard of living was so much better than a lot of other places in the world because workers organized to get decent pay and necessary benefits from employers.
The standard of living, for most Americans, is going down the toilet due to free trade agreements because it’s cheaper to hire people at starvation wages and no benefits in other countries.
A lot of people have been thrown out of their jobs for this reason, and the only options they have are jobs with crappy wages and no benefits.
Also, we used to have environmental protection laws in this country (before the self-proclaimed “Environmental President” came to power). The free trade agreements do not have provisions for environmentally safe practices.
Thus, a lot of environmentalists protest, too.
Edit after reading Yo, Teach! That’s the old “trickle down” story all right, except that money never does actually trickle down (except in theory). They don’t spend enough in their home countries, or invest in their home countries to make up for the massive job losses of most of the people in their home countries.
When people who hold that theory are in charge, the income disparity grows more rapidly, and more and more Americans are worse and worse off. (Talking about reality here, not theory.)
-
#5 written by Yo, Teach! 1 year ago
Well, as pessimistic as you seem to be, the reality is that free trade ALWAYS benefits the more industrialized country. Now, there are a few people in the US who will be hurt by the new economic reality, but the economy as a whole benefits greatly.
Free trade means that there are no trade barriers (or very limited ones) between countries.
Here’s how it works in South America:
We buy cheap raw materials from South America. One of the reasons that they are cheap is that all of the South American countries are competing with each other to sell them to the us.
We then turn those raw materials into expensive finished products. Often we use cheap labor in these same countries to operate the factories, thus keeping the business expenses low.
We then sell those expensive finished products back to the countries we got the raw materials from (along with other countries as well). The profit from these transactions goes to the corporate headquarters in the United States to pay for executive salaries. Those executives then spend their money in the United States and invest their money in the United States, thus increasing the economy of the United States.Thus the industrialized (or post-industrial) economy reaps the biggest benefit from free trade. They control the capital and they reap the profits.
The only people in the US who are hurt are those who are unskilled and uneducated for the new economy.
The new economy is based on creating and managing (executives, research and development, etc.) and skilled jobs that require physical location (carpenters, electricians, auto mechanics have to be where the house or car is). All other jobs are done by people in less developed countries for very low pay, thus increasing the profit for investors and executives
-
#6 written by Reality. 1 year ago
People around the world protest free trade for the same reasons that middle-class Americans do. It is ultimately a raw deal for anyone other than the untouchable puppeteers who are pulling for it. Those who are already dirt-poor have nothing to lose except once-clean resources or maybe their lives, which is why they fight the police and governments, and those who are very wealthy have everything to gain since they can simply hire some of their lackies, propagandists and/or thugs to keep the beasts in line. It is those of us in the middle who lose the most. America is a prime example. If we are so wealthy, why is our country practically insolvent and the average household non-mortgage debt now well over $ 10,000?
And America’s products and food are not “bad.” You are clearly either watching too much tv or simply trying to look ignorant on purpose. America CANNOT maintain her freedoms with traitorous fiscal policies INCLUDING importing goods made with near-slave labor, but that doesn’t really matter because America is to be nothing but a nation-state where it was once a sovereign republic. This matters.
-
#7 written by Rhyno 1 year ago
The main reason Americans love and hate free trade (probably close to the same for other advanced nations.)
(These are all made up numbers, but you get the idea)
It costs $ 100 in tariffs to ship Product A from China.
It costs $ 75 to pay an American to produce Product A.
Thus the American companies are better off making their product here in this country.Insert Free Trade:
It costs $ 75 to pay an American to produce Product A.
It costs $ 3 to pay an 8 year old Chinese girl to produce Product A.Typical blue-collar man like myself doesn’t have a job anymore. Which, by the way, I was laid off last week. Due to lack of work.
-
#8 written by Craig L 1 year ago
Well there was a new free trade agreement just announced today with S. Korea, and from what I’ve heard it is a good deal for Korea and not so great for US. I don’t know why we keep doing this — except that our government is all about helping out the CEO class at the expense of the rest of us — that must be it.
- Comment Feed for this Post
Consider the various states within US. Goods produced in one state are also sold in other states. There is free trade within the country. Are there any complaints? Is any one US express any fear in the public? NO. There is really nothing to fear about free trade whether within a country or across country. Rather free trade and free capital movements are the best for the entire World. But that would make the business of politics based on nation-states impossible. This would make the govt.s scope of business very limited. Politicians would be making less money. Poverty will get eradicated, environment pollution will decline, enemity and terrorism will be difficult to survive in a deeply interdependent network of countries. Nationalism. patriotism goes against internationalism and therefore against free trade.