I feel that the US either deals with no intellectual property rights, across the board, or we dump our free trade policies. If we dump free trade, wages will skyrocket and all these unemployed blue collar workers in Detroit get healthcare again (a basic right that most civilized nations would never remove from such a huge part of the citizenry).. .and then pfizer can charge $100K/year for drugs if they want. The trade imbalance in the US is an indication of how much wealth we are exporting year after year, if we didn't do this we could afford most anything.
The other option is we keep the free trade and forget IP rights, just give it away to ourselves and the world. Not my favorite option but a viable one.
The current scenario, where big companies in the US protect their IP and charge high dollars for it *in western nations* while giving it away to the underdeveloped countries, because they want to employ cheap labor from underdeveloped nations, does not work for me. Basically, this is a reverse robin hood system where US consumers are forced to pay globally noncompetitive prices for IP, while their labor is expected to be globally competitive.
I think this anomaly about free trade, where is costs US consumers but does not benefit them, is starting to be well understood by the voters thanks to Lou Dobbs and some other commentators. Even some US businesses are starting to balk, for example microsoft is still charging high prices for software HERE, but their longhorn product is being developed offshore where msft products are essentially free. US software developers are getting an earful of Balmer saying programmers in the US need to cost $50K/year to be competitive (presumably with India) but we as US businesses don't get to BUY msft software for indian rates.
Enough of this. |
