(03-27-2022, 07:11 PM)mikesez Wrote:

(03-27-2022, 07:04 PM)Jaguarmeister Wrote: I don't think we should be allowing any country who doesn't impose term limits on their heads of state to have access to our economy.  That goes as well for countries who don't allow a legitimate opposition party to exist.  These tyrants can play the long game against us, waiting for a U.S. regime they can work with or worse, one they can buy.  Meanwhile, they feed off of our economy and actively work against us at the same time.

This is obviously easier said than done because China falls in to that category and manufactures the vast majority of goods for us and you can't cut that off cold turkey.  Manufacturing will never come back fully to our service based economy, but some of it does need to come back and we also need to find other, less hostile nations that would see the benefit in bolstering their economy by taking on some of our manufacturing needs.  Spread the risk around by not having it all come from one country, but instead from several in relatively similar percentages, if possible.

It's not just China.  We're becoming more and more intertwined in trade with Vietnam, which is also in that category. And then there's the Saudis.

Yeah there's a lot more to it domestically as well.  Large multinational corporations buy representatives in congress (who by the way should have been term limited a long time ago for this very reason) to ensure their interests are protected.  These corporations have an interest in gaining or maintaining access to China's economy and not rocking the boat with them.  Unfortunately, all we can really do about it is vote, support local small business when possible and try to buy alternatives to Chinese made goods when possible.  That's a big ask at the moment with the inflation we're experiencing.

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