Free Trade yea or nay?

[ForeverFaithful]

I'm pretty Laissez Faire about the economy, but I'm beginning to wonder if Freetrade is the root of most of the west's economic problems.

Does Trade Protectionism just create a big government?

thoughts?

[Revoltingest]

IMO, our (USA's) fundamental problem is not free trade, but rather our becoming less competitive, & a growing class
of people who are less engaged with production, & more dependent upon gov't largesss. Free trade appears to cause
unemployment because we see goods imported from abroad, & some domestic industries idling. But without free trade,
the same goods would be more expensive, & fewer of them would be manufactured domestically, & with less money
going overseas, there'd be less demand for our products. I recommend addressing regulation, taxation & subsidies to
bring employment back up.

[ForeverFaithful]

Originally Posted by Revoltingest

IMO, our (USA's) fundamental problem is not free trade, but rather our becoming less competitive, & a growing class
of people who are less engaged with production, & more dependent upon gov't largesss. Free trade appears to cause
unemployment because we see goods imported from abroad, & some domestic industries idling. But without free trade,
the same goods would be more expensive, & fewer of them would be manufactured domestically, & with less money
going overseas, there'd be less demand for our products. I recommend addressing regulation, taxation & subsidies to
bring employment back up.

But how would free trade benefit the USA (or Canada) as we have a whinny population that complains about how hard their lives are from their iPhones on twitter. What would prevent companies from going somewhere with an actual work ethic?

[Revoltingest]

Originally Posted by ForeverFaithful

But how would free trade benefit the USA (or Canada) as we have a whinny population that complains about how hard their lives are from their iPhones on twitter. What would prevent companies from going somewhere with an actual work ethic?

We benefit from free trade by having access to cheaper &/or better goods. But to buy from abroad using borrowed or
fiat currency is not a sustainable model. Eventually, our currency will lose value & prices of imported goods will rise.
We can adjust to a lower quality of economic life, or we can reverse our descent into nanny state slackerhood.

[ForeverFaithful]

Originally Posted by Revoltingest

We benefit from free trade by having access to cheaper &/or better goods. But to buy from abroad using borrowed or
fiat currency is not a sustainable model. Eventually, our currency will lose value & prices of imported goods will rise.
We can adjust to a lower quality of economic life, or we can reverse our descent into nanny state slackerhood.

Unrelated I guess, but can't we just stablize the economy with the gold standard?

[Revoltingest]

Originally Posted by ForeverFaithful

Unrelated I guess, but can't we just stablize the economy with the gold standard?

That would address the monetary aspect of inflation, but not the underlying problems.
Oh, if only solutions were so simple.