> My lesson in free trade is the wireless keyboard I'm typing on. > > It was made in China and that enabled me to buy it relatively cheaply. ... > The socialist always knows best. ... > If that sounds dictatorial, it's because it is. Dictators always know > best.
Harry, if you can't stand socialism and dictatorships, why do you buy products from a socialist dictatorship? And having spent so many years on a list about the future of work, why do you insist on increasing unemployment in your country? > You may not want to buy keyboards from China and that's all right. I > wouldn't want to force you to buy one. That's the difference between > the free trader and the Protectionist - or perhaps in this case the > socialist - perhaps the same thing. > > I believe that people should have freedom of choice Do you think the Chinese slaves who made your keyboard in the sweatshops have freedom of choice? Do you think the American workers who lost their job because you buy abroad have freedom of choice? (Yeah, to eat dog food.) > That's because I'm a free trader (which > is normal trade) and I don't want to impose my will on others. Actually, "Free" Trade is very much about telling people what to do: - "Free"Traders telling Third World farmers to sell food to the obese West, instead of feeding their starving countries. Whereas the farmers in the West are being driven out of business by these cheap imports, so they are told to specialize in some fancy food for a few super-rich yuppies in a distant country, instead of simply feeding the locals. Guess what it means to the environment to ship all that food around the planet, just so everyone will starve in the end, when transports are blocked and most of the Western agriculture has dissolved? Is that freedom of choice?? - The ultimate "Free" Trade is the black market -- ruled by mafia bullies telling everyone else what to do -- usually at gunpoint. - Maggie Thatcher's motto: "There Is No Alternative"! That's the very _contrary_ of freedom of choice! - The British imperial Opium Wars in China were also a way of enforcing "Free" Trade. > One of the interesting consequences of this left-wing meddling is that > certain large companies get a free ride, free from competition. (The > US has some 9,000 tariffs, quotas, and dumping duties which are > designed to extract from the poor man's wages increased profits for > the fortunate companies.) "Free" Trade is about crushing local small enterprises and letting large transnational corporations dominate the market especially in small countries. To enable this takeover, the Free Traitors remove tariffs, in order to give the TNC predators free entry to the small countries. Imagine there are 2 ponds: One small pond with small fish and one big pond with big fish (the small fish in the big pond have already been eaten by the big fish). Now you open the gate between the 2 ponds, letting the big fish enter the small pond. What will happen to the small fish in the small pond? They will be eaten by the big fish who entered from the big pond. "Protectionists" want to maintain the gate between the ponds, in order to protect the small fish. "Free" Traitors want to open the gate. > So, I would regard Protection as an evil conspiracy between > monopolistic corporations and left-wing dictatorial types to screw the > citizens.\\ Actually, the "left-wing dictatorial types" here are in favor of -- and promoting -- "Free" Trade and EU accession. I agree that this is an evil conspiracy and left-wing dictatorial types to screw the citizens. The left-wing dictatorial types get rewarded with high positions in Brussels. > It's interesting you are with them. Indeed, Harry! Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
