Quote:Hilary Clinton is NOT a centrist on most economic issues. This is a woman who wrote her college thesis on Saul Alinsky and wants to tax the AIR! Before i even read the article I could tell which way it leaned. Then i see that it was linked to the DNC, Yahoo News.


What the article fails to mention is that in the case of China specifically is no real free trade. As has been pointed out, there are essentially four key pillars to the protectionist pie.


1.) Currency Manipulation: China has been the worlds most notorious currency Manipulators for years. countries manipulate their currency to make their goods appear cheaper to foreign importers. This is essentially cheating the foreign manufacturer who may actually have the same or a slightly lower production cost. If this is allowed to continue it makes real free market competition impossible.


2.) Administrative barriers: As has been pointed out, China makes it very very difficult for American companies to sell goods or services in the Chinese Markets. This curtails the supply of imported goods artificially raising their cost and making it harder to compete against domestic producers.


3.) Tariffs (Duties): China has what it describes as a TARIFF WALL. That means that after you get past the currency manipulation and after the administrative barriers then AMERICAN PRODUCERS pay inordinate Tariffs to sell their goods in china.


4.) Subsidies: And the revenue generated by the Tariffs that you pay when you sell your product then go to subsidizing the infrastructure of your Chinese competitor making it even less expensive for them to produce their goods.


So in essence we don't have real FREE TRADE. We give the Chinese virtually unfettered access to our markets for their goods and services and they turn right back around to us and say we'll take your money, but we can't sell your goods.


In a true FREE TRADE environment there would be a give and take, when one side gained a competitive advantage manufacturing a product the influx of foreign currency into their market would weaken the foreign currency and make the foreign products cheaper over time bringing us a lot closer to equilibrium. Or one country that may be more proficient at producing cars may need to import air conditioners and the like. In this case we have a more one sided outflow in the form of a half trillion dollar trade deficit. When one side of the equation implements protectionist policies that draconian its like sitting down at a poker table and handing your opponent a rigged deck in their favor.


And that's before we get to the fact that in the case of China the goods we do export to them routinely have their intellectual property stolen with no recourse. We also have a regulatory system in this country that makes it almost impossible to do business and we have the highest tax rate in the world.


The answer that the left provides is simple: Rich people are just unpatriotic meanies and should shut up and pay their carbon taxes anyway. Increase taxes on capital gains, increase taxes on corporations, and use the revenue to subsidize the population that can't get a job.


That doesn't make any sense. The game is still rigged and the cards are all in the favor of foreign producers.


The common sense solution would be to create the best business environment domestically, lowering corporate taxes, income taxes, curtailing an out of control regulatory structure, and offering companies the ability to bring home foreign INVERTED profits to invest in infrastructure and job creation. That gives companies the incentive to grow and produce goods and services here.


At the same time, we understand in the world of modern economics that we have to be able to do business with our foreign partners, but we can not and should not sit down at a table designed for us to loose. As a country it is our moral obligation to our producers and our workers to ensure that their is basic and fundamental reciprocity if we expose their sectors to foreign trade. Foreign countries should be allowed to openly and blatantly manipulate their currency, they shouldn't face extra administrative burdens to export when their foreign counterparts don't have to. They shouldn't be subject to Tariffs if their foreign competitors aren't when they import goods to us. If other countries subsidize the costs of production we should have a tax code that has real time incentives for business investment.


The concept of federalism adopted by our founding fathers was based on the idea that when we go out into the world we have to speak with one voice as a nation through the executive branch to represent our business interests. It is their fundamental obligation to ensure that international trade is balanced and that if someone is taking advantage of us and not dealing in good faith then they should not have free and unfettered access to the most desirable consumer market in the history of all mankind.

Here's the problem, if you follow trumps plan to address the issue with China his solution is to tax the consumer. No new tax is going to change the reality it's cheaper to build something in China, it would just simply raise the cost of building something in China to bring it line with the cost of producing something here. You see Trump isn't advocating fixing the reason why it's so expensive to build something here (governments interference in the free market) instead he's advocating using government to increase the cost of making goods in China so it's more fair. That's not conservatism hell that's even a bridge to far for most Democrats.

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