SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH

 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
To: craig crawford who wrote (252320)5/1/2002 5:17:43 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof  Read Replies (1) of 769670
 
Your sense of history is a little muddled:

By the time GB made a turn towards relatively 'free trade' (much towards the later half of the 20th. century... in fact, not really significantly until Maggie Thacher's '80s), there was no longer an empire.

Their sense of 'free trade' is still compromised by the historical weight of mercantilism... they preferentially favor trade with their former colonial subjects. But that aside, there was little British 'free trade' before the '80s.

There is little doubt that mercantilism favored the industries of the 'home land' over the interests of the colonists... but once those colonists got 'uppity' and desired to industrialize themselves mercantilism failed.

A good argument can be made that only with the introduction of Maggie Thacher's trade-opening and anti-socialist policies did the economy of GB begin to advance again.

An even better example would be the Irish.
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext