General Discussion

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)

1. "In order for free trade to even exist, one populace has to be impoverished."

Wed May 2, 2012, 05:04 AM

May 2012

Free trade is all about the arbitrage.

It made sense when you had to move goods on camels and junks, when it took months, when there were unknown worlds and unknown technologies.

It no longer does. Now it's all about arbitraging labor. Build one locale up, tear another down, make a profit on the difference (since the traders know where the production is moving and where it's leaving before the population does.)

Edit history

Please sign in to view edit histories.

79 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Free traders do NOT want to discuss WHY manufacturing is coming back to the USA [View all] Zalatix May 2012 OP

"In order for free trade to even exist, one populace has to be impoverished." HiPointDem May 2012 #1

Yes yes yes. It's the labor arbitrage Populist_Prole May 2012 #18

"Free trade is all about the (labor) arbitrage." Including US trade with Canada or Australia? pampango May 2012 #33

You're mixing the idea of trade with "free trade". girl gone mad May 2012 #66

Prison labor will solve the repukes problem with increasing global wage increases. Elwood P Dowd May 2012 #2

Prison and the under sixteen year population. Repukes nirvana - free slaves. geckosfeet May 2012 #3

Try Googling "Top 10 Corporate Tax Loopholes" and you learn "The Rest of the Story" FreakinDJ May 2012 #4

true. labor & tax arbitrage. HiPointDem May 2012 #55

H. Ross Perot was right James48 May 2012 #5

i always hear how we have to be competitive. ejpoeta May 2012 #8

+1 uponit7771 May 2012 #10

Ross Perot was a free-trade monopolist. n/t Uncle Joe May 2012 #58

China Is Already Losing DallasNE May 2012 #6

Africa has horrible infrastructure and some very spotty governments, I guess. Systematic Chaos May 2012 #7

Not for the Southern Countries but of course they'll run out of head room too in prices uponit7771 May 2012 #11

Good point. Mexico is much closer. treestar May 2012 #9

Apple Does Some Stuff In Mexico DallasNE May 2012 #23

They want us to be more like Mexico treestar May 2012 #24

I worked for a company that made phones. CrispyQ May 2012 #14

Mexico has actual labor laws nadinbrzezinski May 2012 #17

to your last question shanti May 2012 #63

Mexico wasn't passed up-- they just became 'too expensive' early in the process. Marr May 2012 #69

You've never dealt with the issue treestar May 2012 #12

Why do you think that is? jp11 May 2012 #20

Why didn't their wages go up? treestar May 2012 #25

As I predicted, you're not even dealing with the topic at hand. Zalatix May 2012 #26

Why is it that cheaper labor is used? treestar May 2012 #30

With tariffs, I can move to the midwest, or pass living wage laws to help the midwest Zalatix May 2012 #39

Get what? treestar May 2012 #44

I run a business, I don't fanatically try to save. Zalatix May 2012 #51

An economist like Paul Krugman would answer: this is great! eallen May 2012 #13

Paul Krugman has allegedly repented his Neoliberal ways. You're massively out-of-date. nt Romulox May 2012 #15

Got a link to show Paul Krugman now opposes free trade? Nye Bevan May 2012 #21

"...there is a short-run case for protectionism" Paul Krugman, February 1, 2009. Romulox May 2012 #27

"Everything I’ve just said applies only when the world is stuck in a liquidity trap..." Nye Bevan May 2012 #40

"...a lot of 'yes, but!' type nonsense," Romulox May 2012 #45

From a Paul Krugman "expert" who isn't up to speed with the man's work from 2009, no less. Romulox May 2012 #46

Here ya go, a few examples Zalatix May 2012 #28

Not nearly to the extent you think. eallen May 2012 #62

It's a far cry from what Krugman used to say. Zalatix May 2012 #68

Offshoring was not about comparative advantage. Zalatix May 2012 #32

Excellent post, Zalatix. Bookmarked. Love your excerpts and (quite liberal) scenario: pampango May 2012 #16

The problem for your theory is that jobs will LEAVE the third world and come back here. Zalatix May 2012 #29

True, but they will have built up a domestic market that they did not have before. pampango May 2012 #36

Correction: They couldn't have done this without sucking us dry. Zalatix May 2012 #37

China is an export-oriented economy as is Germany (which is much more export-oriented pampango May 2012 #49

It'll be a long, long time before they stop becoming export-dependent. Zalatix May 2012 #57

Utopian capitalism is a tough sell, these days. nt Romulox May 2012 #31

Just responding to the "utopian" scenario in the OP, my good Romulox. n/t pampango May 2012 #34

Right, but the so-called "utopian" scenario in the OP was MOCKING your ideology-- Romulox May 2012 #35

It did. Zalatix May 2012 #38

I don't see "mocking" in the OP nor did many others, but thanks for coming to Zalatix' rescue. pampango May 2012 #54

Right above your post Zalatix confirms my interpretation. Is this feigned confusion, or real? nt Romulox May 2012 #56

"What happens when you run out of sources of cheap labor" mathematic May 2012 #19

Good news. This shows that free trade works. Nye Bevan May 2012 #22

What... Marr May 2012 #70

A group of energy analysts did a study that predicted that because of Obama's energy policies, bluestate10 May 2012 #41

What happens is, labor world wide gains power against corporate supremacy. Uncle Joe May 2012 #42

A one world Government? How many did you knock back to come to THAT conclusion? Zalatix May 2012 #43

When global labor; become equalized as per your OP and it gains power, Uncle Joe May 2012 #48

A global government would incite a global civil war instead. Or global fascism. Zalatix May 2012 #59

1. A global government would be larger than any national government. Uncle Joe May 2012 #60

Nice pipe dream. You won't even get that far. We've been trying and it has failed repeatedly. Zalatix May 2012 #61

It took World War I to bring about the League of Nations, it took World War II to create Uncle Joe May 2012 #65

The so-called global powers do not have the influence to force Asia to join. Zalatix May 2012 #67

No nation needs to be forced. Uncle Joe May 2012 #71

And if China and the Middle East reject said government, which they will Zalatix May 2012 #72

Then it's almost global in which case humanity will need to learn to walk before it can run. Uncle Joe May 2012 #73

You fool nobody. Not a single person is persuaded by this type of schlock. nt Romulox May 2012 #76

Please come back when you actually have a legitimate rebuttal to my argument. nt Uncle Joe May 2012 #78

First you need to have an argument. Zalatix May 2012 #79

Um, in *reality* that happens, or was it some sort of fever-dream? Romulox May 2012 #47

Reality is the "Law of diminishing returns." Uncle Joe May 2012 #50

So hard to produce a quippy response to gibberish! nt Romulox May 2012 #52

He's been watching too much Star Trek lately. Zalatix May 2012 #75

He's gone too far now. It's obviously a put-on. Not subtle, *at all*. nt Romulox May 2012 #77

Grover Norquist had a really scary response to that question Taverner May 2012 #53

Years ago I said jobs would come back when we were impoverished enough lunatica May 2012 #64

Piracy is another reason jmowreader May 2012 #74