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The world isn’t quite that rosy which is why Trump won elections. Free trade will often boost the most affluent at the expense of the working class. With free
by socialdemocrat 6y ago
The world isn’t quite that rosy which is why Trump won elections. Free trade will often boost the most affluent at the expense of the working class.
With free trade you put more workers in competition with each other pushing down salaries while capitalists can move their investment to a wider variety of places to get increased return.
Even for poor countries it is not always a good thing. China before WWII got screwed over by western capitalists owning all the industry. That is why they have the required local partners now.
I am not saying free trade is inherently bad. Just that you can have too much of a good thing. I think we are way past that in the current world and should be scaling back, not ramping up.
- edge17 6y agoYep, generally agree. Might disagree on what's too much and what not, but your point that free trade (and almost anything in life) taken to the limit will have dire consequences in other places is important. Free trade is a framework. I find a lot of people in the US are quick to point out the problems with free trade, but tend not to look at examples of places that took strong protectionist positions and how that played out over the span of decades. Point being, there are examples to be made for either argument being taken towards a limit.
- __turbobrew__ 6y agoI recommend taking a look at this book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1032019.Bad_Samaritans https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1032019.Bad_Samaritans