FREE TRADE IS THE ONLY WAY FORWARD!

Let me talk about more Democratic populist drivel that really ticks me off even though I may eventually vote Democratic in this coming election.

Let’s talk FREE TRADE - TARIFFS – NAFTA – The Great Sucking Sound and related ignorant nonsense promulgated by the Democrats.

NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) was pushed into law by Bill Clinton (Democrat). The Agreement is between us and Mexico and Canada. Obama wants to make the unions happy and so he is proposing to revisit it or renegotiate it while the unions want to repeal it altogether.

All this aversion to trade treaties is based on misinformation (lies) that people want to believe and the Democrats are willing to inflame those false beliefs just to get elected even though they know better – that’s populism for you – tell them what they want to hear and not what is good for them and the country.

Globalization is a fact of life. Trade between countries is also a fact of life. Trade creates prosperity especially in countries that have something others really want, even if it’s cheap labor which seems to be the crux of what the Democrats and unions object to.

The unions and their political lackeys, the Democrats, want to keep good paying jobs in this country and prevent manufacturing jobs from going to other countries; they are against free trade which they feel causes American job loss. They also feel that Trade Agreements are not always fair and that we are getting out-negotiated.

The opposite of free trade is protectionism where we levy high tariffs on imports and thus protect our manufacturers / jobs. If we levy high tariffs on imports, so will all the rest of the countries and in so doing, halt trade between countries. Protectionism was one of the factors that kept the Great Depression going on for so long.

Yes, protectionism still goes on and we also practice it selectively like protecting cotton farmers or farmers in general by giving them generous subsidies. We also levy a 25% tariff on pickup trucks. Its all about who has the influence in Washington.

Most economists continue to maintain that free trade is the best policy for all concerned, even if some industries suffer because of it; they are looking at the big picture and not just auto makers in Michigan.

The facts are that current union wages, at least here in Michigan, are unsupportable. Companies cannot compete in the global marketplace with unrealistic costs dragging them down – wages and benefits need to come down.

It was interesting to read that in Mexico wages went from $4/hour to $2.50/hour just to compete with the Chinese; Mexican workers actually voted for the decrease, just to keep their jobs.

My point is that unions represent an ever shrinking part of our working population and should not carry all the political weight that the media gives them.

American industry CAN compete with the world through our ingenuity and creativity. My company does very well overseas because American medical science is prized over any other country’s medical science. If we listen to the unions and start a policy of protectionist trade, many companies like mine will be wiped out.

Americans can compete on the world market but companies that are heavily unionized like the auto companies cannot and here is the rub. Those companies need to change and I feel they are doing just that BUT the Democrats have to be prevented from keeping those terminally sick unions artificially alive through protectionist trade policies and allowing the unions to unionize companies through heavy handed intimidation of workers.

I feel Democrats like Obama do not need union endorsements to gain the White House since most union members do not listen to their leaders when they cast their vote BUT do we take a chance? Will Obama give the unions what they want in spite of what the country needs? That is the $64,000 question!