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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Land Shark who wrote (144227)	10/30/2008 12:25:45 PM
From: PartyTime	Respond to of 173976

>>>Aside from being the text-message candidate, and the video game ad candidate, it's clear that Obama fundamentally understands technology like you and I do, and not like Grandpa McCain is trying to. That's why Obama said, way back in November 2007, that he wants to create a Cabinet-level position of chief technology officer.<<< machinist.salon.com

To: Land Shark who wrote (144227)	10/30/2008 1:15:07 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

Saying you will "level the playing field", by not trading with Mexico and China and other poorer countries unless they have the same environmental and labor standards that we do, is the same as saying you will simply keep them off the playing field and not trade at all (or trade only with large barriers imposed on other countries. They are poorer countries who will have worse conditions. Their competitive advantage is lower costs related to labor. The whole point of trade is to have production done to a greater extent by those that have a comparative advantage. Some might ask "would you have China produce everything"? In addition to simply saying "no", I'd point out that they seem to be laboring under two serious misunderstandings, the 1st about economics and the meaning of comparative advantage, the 2nd about China and its competitiveness against the US (or Canada) and the rest of the world. 1 - Even if China had an absolute advantage in everything, it would not have a comparative advantage in everything. If it uses resources producing and investing in production capability in one area, it can't use those same resources in another. Even if it could produce any item it chose to produce cheaper than anyone else, it couldn't produce everything cheaper than everyone else. 2 - China simply doesn't have an absolute advantage in everything. Its labor costs are low (although not the lowest, and they have generally been increasing), but its productivity is also much lower than in countries like the US, Canada, Japan, France, UK, Germany etc.