Ron Paul: The Case For Free Trade

[Madison320]

Just to make sure there's no confusion on which side of this Ron Paul is on:

https://mises.org/free-market/case-free-trade

 

[TheTexan]

According to the logic in that argument, we should all be celebrating that industrialization has centralized into China and they now have an effective monopoly on it.

You free traders feel free to celebrate that. Those of us who live in the real world, will be recognizing it for what it is: a problem that needs to be solved.

 

[TheTexan]

If I had to grow my own food, make my own clothes, build my own house, and teach my own children, our family’s living standard would plummet to a subsistence, or below-subsistence, level.

The above is a terrible analogy, because it's not what's actually happening.

A better analogy is that America has sold off its industrial capacity, in exchange for disposable consumer goods, which is a much more accurate analogy... because it's not an analogy.

If an individual did the same thing, sold off the farm for a bucket of cocaine, that person would be deemed irresponsible. When a nation does it, free traders say it makes us wealthier.. LOL

 

[TheTexan]

If you trade off factory X so you can reinvest more into factory Y that's a good thing.

But if you trade off literally all your factories and you have nothing to reinvest into productively, you're just gonna end up spending that money on buckets of plastic dildos, which is exactly what has happened. That's not "division of labor", that's just being irresponsible.

 

[PAF]

If an individual did the same thing, sold off the farm for a bucket of cocaine, that person would be deemed irresponsible. When a nation does it, free traders say it makes us wealthier.. LOL

Some would argue that the street value of a bucket of cocaine is worth more than the Haney Farm on Green Acres. That would be up to the individual to decide.

I want the choice to spend $5.00 for a disposable tool that I need to use only once and use the other $10 for something else that I could use every day, rather than spending $15.00 for a similar tool and having nothing left over. Spending $15.00 on that similar tool would be wasteful to me and not help me to build wealth.

 

[Anti Federalist]

“When people and goods cross borders,” Ludwig von Mises used to quote, “armies do not.”

How is it then, that after 50 years now of "free trade" we have not been at peace during any one of those years, our armies are across the globe and in scores of countries, we are $37 trillion in the hole, technically bankrupt and on the verge of WW3.

 

[PAF]

How is it then, that after 50 years now of "free trade" we have not been at peace during any one of those years, our armies are across the globe and in scores of countries, we are $37 trillion in the hole, technically bankrupt and on the verge of WW3.

Blame the fed and all of the regulations. We have not had "Free Trade" in decades and decades. And "Free Trade" does not necessitate the "other side" to do it either. There are articles on Mises . org that explain all of this.

 

[acptulsa]

How is it then, that after 50 years now of "free trade" we have not been at peace during any one of those years, our armies are across the globe and in scores of countries, we are $37 trillion in the hole, technically bankrupt and on the verge of WW3.

You know the answer to that. It was "free trade", not free trade.

 

[TheTexan]

Some would argue that the street value of a bucket of cocaine is worth more than the Haney Farm on Green Acres. That would be up to the individual to decide.

I want the choice to spend $5.00 for a disposable tool that I need to use only once and use the other $10 for something else that I could use every day, rather than spending $15.00 for a similar tool and having nothing left over. Spending $15.00 on that similar tool would be wasteful to me and not help me to build wealth.

You know what's really useful to building wealth? Living in a country that produces wealth.

The $10 you saved isn't gonna be very useful in building wealth if you have nothing you can actually invest it into.

 

[CCTelander]

How is it then, that after 50 years now of "free trade" we have not been at peace during any one of those years, our armies are across the globe and in scores of countries, we are $37 trillion in the hole, technically bankrupt and on the verge of WW3.

Oh come on now brother AF. You know good and god damn well that that has very little to do with free trade, and everything to do with a malevolent cabal within the US government intent upon manipulating things in that direction. Mises was referring to the natural, organic relationships between nations SANS empire building. The problems you cite are all the direct result OF empire building and the fed.

And even so, in spite of all their malevolent manipulations, we have not had a war on the scale of WWI or WWII, or even any “police actions” on the scale of Korea or Vietnam since the mid 1970s, basically over that entire 50 years you allude to.

 

[PAF]

You know what's really useful to building wealth? Living in a country that produces wealth.

The $10 you saved isn't gonna be very useful in building wealth if you have nothing you can actually invest it into.

Since the Biden/Trump "My Tariffs Are Better Than Yours", and what I'm spending on eggs lately, I can't build any wealth at all. I'm on the losing end of the stick.

What ever happened to "government get the f&ck out of the way"?

 

[TheTexan]

Since the Biden/Trump "My Tariffs Are Better Than Yours", and what I'm spending on eggs lately, I can't build any wealth at all. I'm on the losing end of the stick.

What ever happened to "government get the f&ck out of the way"?

Well, you're not alone, noone's been able to build any wealth for decades now.

Except obviously those standing in front of the money printer.

 

[Snowball]

I'll tell you who was right in the 80's and 90's...

Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot.

 

[nikcers]

Other countries wont free trade and they don't do it. The charts show that the other countries impose barriers.

You can't sit at a poker table with other people cheating and be the only person that's not cheating.

It's like playing a game of monopoly where the other people are cheating and monopolizing everything and taking control of the markets.

We let other countries monopolize all of the different markets when we do that then they get to make all the rules. Trump is flipping the table and isn't playing those rigged games anymore.

 

[unknown]

Where's our leverage, we import everything.

Bring manufacturing back?

With Unions?

A microwave will cost $2,000.

 

[nikcers]

Where's our leverage, we import everything.

Bring manufacturing back?

With Unions?

A microwave will cost $2,000.

The cost wont be that high because of modernized manufacturing technologies automation and AI.

The price wont even be that high since there will be competition to sell microwaves and competition to bring manufacturing prices down.

 

[PAF]

‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’​

 

[nikcers]

‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’​

As opposed to the other 100s of governmenents in the world which one do you think most represents the interests of the people of the United States?

 

[Anti Federalist]

https://ronpaulforums.com/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.postimg.cc%2FqvWNJ5LM%2FCat.png&hash=328178b4eca49e2f636014b56dcf8a07

 

[Voluntarist]

What ever happened to "government get the f&ck out of the way"?

The government stick is fine so long as it's being used to beat people outside your "clique". Unfortunately, cyclical elections eventually put the government stick in the hands of other cliques, and then your clique starts complaining about "government being in the way".