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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: craig crawford who wrote (236459)	3/11/2002 9:35:19 PM
From: Dan B.	Respond to of 769670

Re: "oh i don't claim that manufacturing jobs lost to free trade don't get replaced" You do claim that they don't get replaced value for value. I believe you are wrong...else as I say, imports to this country would slow accordingly. Which is why Teddy Roosevelt was wrong. I agree with you wholeheartedly here however, indeed "there must be a healthy balance of production to go along with the consumption." This is exactly why I believe as I do..there in fact MUST be a healthy balance, so long as protective tariffs don't put good folks doing a good job, out of business, that is. With free trade, the best will take over. With protective tariffs, we protect the status quo(which we tend to be nostalgic about, and cling to and believe in like a kid with a teddy bear- making it easy to pull at heart strings with "loss of manufacturing jobs" arguments, etc.), hinder change(which we are fearful of, imagining the worst first), and harm everyone in the long run(the goodness in which, we may seldom even understand until it is done). Freedom simply does work, Dan B

To: craig crawford who wrote (236459)	3/11/2002 9:43:08 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 769670

Your argument that all under productive workers displaced due to either their own or their employers inefficiency is specious. I have witnessed many rounds of layoffs in my brief lifespan. Many laid off workers become underemployed, or work in low paying jobs. Many more put their suppressed entreprenureal skills to work. Those tend to become exponentially more productive to themselves and society than they ever could have in manufacturing. A common problem is simply this, when a worker generates $10 an hour in production, but her union contract mandates $12.50, who benefits? Minimum wages hurt marginal workers. Unions attract marginal workers. Marginal workers need import controls to keep from being displaced in an efficient economy. Everyone suffers. The US economy is evolving into a knowledge economy. Manufacturing is more efficiently done by people who value their labor less than Americans seems to. Let us export things like Intel chips and Microsoft software. Lets import textiles. Your arguments against free trade demean and devalue Americans.