Free Trade
Not much is fair about free trade
Tax consequences are far less for foreign countries
There is a big difference between "Fair Trade" and "Free Trade". Free Trade means that China and others pay substantially less in taxes to do business in the U.S. than American companies.
It means they are free to use the strength of the dollar to close our manufacturing facilities and put millions of workers out of work. It means they are free to ignore patent and trademark laws and protections. Free trade means that China and others are free to ignore the environment and dump toxins into the water and air which soon will affect our air and weather and eventually our coasts. And free trade means foreign competitors are free to disregard trade agreements by closing their countries to U.S. products.
"Fair trade", on the other hand, would equalize the tax burdens of our domestic producers and competing imports. It would price the dollar at its fair trade value. It would enforce trademark, patent, and environmental laws and enforce trade agreements.
Fair trade would reward those companies that innovate, cut costs and invest in productivity. Fair Trade would achieve all the goals that Free Trade advocates espouse.
Until we ensure Free Trade is also Fair Trade, we are putting our economic future in peril.
Change needed soon
Structural changes are happening to our economy that will be impossible to reverse unless something is done soon. Our manufacturing is fleeing this country and relocating overseas. In the last two years, 2,000,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in this country leading to 6 million lost jobs in the service sector.
Most startling is how fast this erosion accelerating. The world wide web, our open borders, and transportation advances around the world have made it very easy for U.S. manufacturers to outsource overseas. It is cheaper to cut costs by importing rather than investing in manufacturing...
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