JoeB131
Diamond Member
- Jul 11, 2011
- 171,865
- 32,933
We did have free trade in the 1950s. There was a concerted effort after WWII to avoid the isolationist policies of the first half of the century, which led to all sorts of international agreements to open borders to commerce, including creating GATT. Tariffs in 1960 were lower than they were in 1950, and were lower still in 1970, and even lower in 1980. The Eisenhower administration was a big proponent of free trade and spearheaded these arrangements.
and we got terrible results. The Japanese stole our TV business, they and the Germans stole a lot of our car business.
Then the multi-national corporations said, Hey, let's move our factories to countries where they have no rights or environmental laws and TOTALLY gut the middle class.
So we have pretty much 60 years of evidence of Free Trade being a terrible idea.
Wow. Fucking seriously?