Free Trade

[barfbag]

I'm a free trader and believe that free trade helps the economy by opening up consumer options. The consumer is the fundamental building block of the economy as opposed to government redistribution of the wealth.

Keep NAFTA, CAFTA, GATT, and WTO.
Keep free trade with Oman.
Keep free trade with Singapore.
Keep free trade with Chile.
Keep free trade with Vietnam.
Keep free trade with Andean nations.
Lower tariffs on imports to keep costs of foreign products at a better deal for consumers.
Remove common goods from national security export rules.
Cut the corporate tax in half so that we can bring back jobs and export American products.
Free trade is good for foreign policy.

[Del Tachi]

I can't say that I disagree with you...

Free trade is Freedom Trade!

[barfbag]

I can't say that I disagree with you...

Free trade is Freedom Trade!

Amen brother! Amen!

[TJ in Oregon]

Free trade helps to increase the efficiency of markets and deliver products to consumers at a lower cost. It helps to create jobs in other countries and develop industry there. While some individuals do lose out from free trade, the sum total of the benefits outweighs the costs.

[dead0man]

Free trade helps to increase the efficiency of markets and deliver products to consumers at a lower cost. It helps to create jobs in other countries and develop industry there. While some individuals do lose out from free trade, the sum total of the benefits outweighs the costs.

this

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Free trade helps to increase the efficiency of markets and deliver products to consumers at a lower cost. It helps to create jobs in other countries and develop industry there. While some individuals do lose out from free trade, the sum total of the benefits outweighs the costs.

this

^^^

[barfbag]

Hooray for the free market!

[Redalgo]

Eliminate the corporate tax altogether and partake in free trade with any country which desires it, yet also accept trade agreements with LDCs under terms which allow them to engage in some degree of protectionism - especially when strategically arranged to nurture fledgling, vulnerable sectors of their economies or otherwise reinforce their citizens' financial security.

[barfbag]

Eliminate the corporate tax altogether and partake in free trade with any country which desires it, yet also accept trade agreements with LDCs under terms which allow them to engage in some degree of protectionism - especially when strategically arranged to nurture fledgling, vulnerable sectors of their economies or otherwise reinforce their citizens' financial security.

Are you ok with the government helping sectors of the economy if they're causing other sectors to suffer? I'm not saying the government should pick winners and losers, but it doesn't hurt to provide enough assistance so that a struggling sector such as the auto industry a few years ago doesn't effect the next sector so to speak. The perfect economy is balanced amongst its sectors.

[Redalgo]

I am okay with a LDC doing so as part of their plan to advance through industrialization if they so choose, but am not myself an advocate of corporatism or policies reminiscent of mercantilism when it comes to our country's own economic agenda. I am okay with a select few industries being run by the state if their alignment with the public interest is of critical importance... but no, I would not have bailed out the U.S. auto industry or bought in to the notion of "too big to fail." Let markets facilitate both creation and destruction so long as the social rights of the People are being tended to and some basic rules and guidelines are in place for refereeing how people go about settling their conflicts of interest in affairs of business.

Or more succinctly, one may describe my tendencies as ordoliberal when it comes to regulation.

To be honest, I consider policies of corporatist or nationalist character to entail more of what many folk call "big government" than I find palatable.

[barfbag]

I am okay with a LDC doing so as part of their plan to advance through industrialization if they so choose, but am not myself an advocate of corporatism or policies reminiscent of mercantilism when it comes to our country's own economic agenda. I am okay with a select few industries being run by the state if their alignment with the public interest is of critical importance... but no, I would not have bailed out the U.S. auto industry or bought in to the notion of "too big to fail." Let markets facilitate both creation and destruction so long as the social rights of the People are being tended to and some basic rules and guidelines are in place for refereeing how people go about settling their conflicts of interest in affairs of business.

Or more succinctly, one may describe my tendencies as ordoliberal when it comes to regulation.

To be honest, I consider policies of corporatist or nationalist character to entail more of what many folk call "big government" than I find palatable.

You sound very centrist.

[Redalgo]

I started out as a Trotskyist years ago and have had a lot of time since then - certainly a handful of years at university included - to learn more about other perspectives and temper my views. My values have remained fairly consistent all throughout, but the policies I favor shift over time as I learn about new and seemingly better ways to accomplish my core political goals. So even though I identify with leftist labels and on balance am much more so than not, I have indeed picked up a lot of ideas from other ideologies along the way which pull me a bit more toward the centre, aye.

[TNF]

Keep NAFTA, CAFTA, GATT, and WTO.
Keep free trade with Oman.
Keep free trade with Singapore.
Keep free trade with Chile.
Keep free trade with Vietnam.
Keep free trade with Andean nations.
Renegotiate all of these to the highest possible labor, regulatory, and environmental standards. If that's not possible, unilaterally withdraw from these organizations, throw tariffs up against human rights abusers, and continue from there.

Lower tariffs on imports to keep costs of foreign products at a better deal for consumers.
No, make imports cost more to encourage American industrial growth.

Remove common goods from national security export rules.
Don't know what this means.

Cut the corporate tax in half so that we can bring back jobs and export American products.
This will only repatriate corporate profits, not American jobs.

Free trade is good for foreign policy.
lolno

[barfbag]

Keep NAFTA, CAFTA, GATT, and WTO.
Keep free trade with Oman.
Keep free trade with Singapore.
Keep free trade with Chile.
Keep free trade with Vietnam.
Keep free trade with Andean nations.
Renegotiate all of these to the highest possible labor, regulatory, and environmental standards. If that's not possible, unilaterally withdraw from these organizations, throw tariffs up against human rights abusers, and continue from there.

We live in a world where we can't pay people for more than the amount of money they make for their prospective company. People don't have to work jobs where they're effected by such things. We're all free to start our own businesses. Dropping out of these agreements would dry up our economy as we'd have such low production no wealth would be created. Tariffs only make products more expensive for the average consumer.

Lower tariffs on imports to keep costs of foreign products at a better deal for consumers.
No, make imports cost more to encourage American industrial growth.

All that does is increase prices. American industrial jobs won't come back because some of them don't exist anymore and Americans demand far too high wages.

Remove common goods from national security export rules.
Don't know what this means.

It means we can save time and money if we no longer check simple goods.

Cut the corporate tax in half so that we can bring back jobs and export American products.
This will only repatriate corporate profits, not American jobs.

Profits lead to jobs whether it's people being hired to review profits or a CEO's hiring Mexicans to put pools in their yard. Either way jobs are created.

Free trade is good for foreign policy.
lolno

If people around the world buy our products, it helps our economy and strengthens the U.S. It also gives Americans an opportunity to save money by buying cheaper products. In turn this saved money from consumers is used in other sectors of our economy.

[politicallefty]

I support free trade with similar economies. I don't support free trade that allows corporations easy access to cheap labour at the expense of American workers. I would have voted against CAFTA and I'm not sure what I would've done on NAFTA (as there already was a Canada-US FTA in place). There doesn't seem to be any reason to oppose the WTO. As for the others listed, I'd probably vote for Singapore, but would have to look further into the others. I do support the proposed EU-US FTA. I'd also support a free trade agreement between the US and Japan, provided they lower their barriers against US auto exports.

[opebo]

Should be eliminated.

[barfbag]

Should be eliminated.

How would you have it work?