Free trade a weapon of the rich
I ditto Ian Fletcher’s call for import tariffs to level the playing field against unfair overseas competition. But I don’t think his suggestion to use a tariff to make up the difference in the price of goods due to China’s currency manipulation and to compensate for other country’s foreign export rebates goes far enough.
The Capitalist Tools want us to compete by rolling back 100 years of labor reforms and eliminating environmental protections, basically a race to the bottom for the other 98% of the population so that our hard-working children and prisoners can breath the same smoggy air and drink the same polluted water enjoyed by labor in China and S.E. Asia.
To hell with that! Let’s keep our high standards, and instead hit foreign goods with ‘carbon,’ ‘pollution’ and unfair labor practices tariffs.
Sure, the prices of goods will rise as manufacturing shifts back to well-paid North Americans…but at least we’ll have jobs and some money with which to buy them!
Tags: balance of trade, environmental protection, labor laws, tariffs, trade war