Senator Mark Kirk (May 27) makes the case that we should
ratify the new trade agreement with the Pacific Rim countries, because this is
supposed to be good for American jobs; and nations, and people, who would not
want such an agreement are isolationists, protectionists, have their heads in
the sands, and pretend that the world is flat.
That’s enough to shut down any debate with opponents who
should feel embarrassed to raise any objections. But if anyone had the courage to challenge
this thinking, this is what they might say:
A nation has a responsibility to take care of its own people
first. We are not doing that, because we
cannot provide enough jobs for our people.
So they rely on the government for assistance, and this takes enormous
amounts of money from everybody else to pay for this.
The only way we can provide good jobs for all of our people
is to make all of our own stuff here. We
used to do this, and jobs were always plentiful. As the population increases, demand
increases, and so do the jobs.
But now our politicians are trying to sell us the idea that
the key to jobs and our prosperity is in exports, selling our goods to the
whole world. However, there are a number
of problems with this thinking.
First, it takes the control of our country’s prosperity out
of our hands and puts it in the hands of everybody else. If other countries are in an economic
downturn, then we will be too, because they won’t be buying as much of our
products.
Secondly, for years we have known of other countries manipulating
their currency to make their goods cheaper relative to ours. We haven’t been able to stop them then, and
we won’t be able to stop them now.
And, thirdly, treating the world as one large economy
essentially makes all nations equal. By
that I mean that all standards of living will gradually meet somewhere in the
middle. Rich nations will become poorer,
and poor nations won’t get much richer.
The jobs will gravitate toward the countries with the lowest labor
costs, regulations, etc. Competing with
200 nations is like flooding the labor market with workers. Those who get the jobs will be the ones who pay
the least.
Kirk believes that without free trade our exports won’t be
bought by other countries, even though our products are the best in the
world. Not quite. When we used to make all of our own stuff, we
always had the opportunity to buy foreign products. They were always more expensive, but nobody
minded paying a little more if they thought the product was better than
ours. So if our products are indeed
better than others, there will always be a market for them.
Our country is in a deep economic crisis. The biggest single reason for this we don’t
have enough jobs for our people, because we sent so many of them overseas. All this increased the cost of social
services, and in our search for the money to pay for all this, we take more
money from our companies, making overseas locations looking even better.
This trend can and must be reversed. Our national debt can cause our economy to
collapse. And what drives the debt the
most is the amount of people dependent on the government, because there aren’t enough
good jobs here for them.
All imports should be taxed. A trade agreement is not forever. We made a mistake.
In our nation’s history, we have gone through periods of
taxing imports and periods of not taxing imports. In the 1920s, we probably led the world in exports,
and imposing and raising tariffs dampened our economy at a time when we sorely
needed jobs.
The fact is that since we started free trade agreements in
the 1990s, we have sent millions of our jobs overseas, and we are no longer
able to provide good jobs for the people of our country. Our trade deficits run into the billions of
dollars every month, and this hurts our economy even more.
Taxes on businesses need to be reduced. Say what you want about greedy corporations,
but if it is cheaper to make widgets in China, they will make them in
China. And taxes on profits and taxes on
imports all enter into the decisions on where to make things.
And all the rules we put on corporations make a difference
too. If you’re worried about climate
change, it doesn’t do any good to try for cleaner air here by making manufacturing
increasingly more costly. They all just go
somewhere else where the standards are far worse than ours were 20 years
ago.
Trade discussions will always use such terms as isolationism
and protectionism in pejorative ways to shame people, and countries, into what
they call free or fair trade. The fact
is that ultimately we can only control what happens in our country, if control
is the right word. Just like our
Representatives and Senators are there to act on behalf of the people of their
districts and not on behalf of the people of other countries, we must make
decisions in international matters on what is best for us.
What I am suggesting is not selfish or harmful to other
nations. If every nation made their own
stuff, they could provide their people with jobs and a good standard of
living. If they need to import things,
they don’t have to tax them. They wouldn’t
be losing any jobs.
Exports are great when you can get them. To rely on them for jobs and prosperity is a
mistake. You need other countries to
prosper before you can. If we make all
our own stuff, we will have jobs for all of our people, because people will be
competing for the needs of everyone around us.
Most of us can’t see what is going on in a foreign country else to try
to compete against them. As our
population grows, demand grows, and so will our jobs. And they will be good jobs too..
