WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF FREE TRADE?

Ridiculous Tales · December 20, 2015, 01:29:48 AM

So with all the talk of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade Agreement I wanted to know what is so beneficial about free trade. I've hardly heard anything positive about free trade but I have heard a lot of negatives about it because apparently it allows for the easy outsourcing of jobs to third world shitholes, like how NAFTA supposedly outsourced tons of manufacturing jobs to Mexico. I don't know if that's true or not but if it is, why would anyone in America want free trade?

DAS B00T x2 · December 20, 2015, 01:50:03 AM

While free trade may hurt those whose only marketable skill is (ironically) unskilled labor, it helps the typical consumer by providing lower cost goods and also frees up the labor market to divulge into specialist trades and services, as not as many bodies are needed for menial assembly and production tasks.

Ridiculous Tales · December 20, 2015, 01:54:18 AM

Wouldn't that still be a bad thing as manufacturing has always been a huge part of the American economy?

More Than Mortal · December 20, 2015, 06:57:29 AM

Quote from: Jagdtiger on December 20, 2015, 01:54:18 AM

Wouldn't that still be a bad thing as manufacturing has always been a huge part of the American economy?

Who cares? Outsourcing manufacturing jobs allows the economy to transition to high productivity jobs; we're in the middle of a skills transition.

ΚΑΤΑΝΑΛΩΤΗΣ · December 20, 2015, 08:04:01 AM

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Ridiculous Tales · December 20, 2015, 12:09:17 PM

Quote from: Metty Christmas on December 20, 2015, 06:57:29 AM

Quote from: Jagdtiger on December 20, 2015, 01:54:18 AM
Wouldn't that still be a bad thing as manufacturing has always been a huge part of the American economy?
Who cares? Outsourcing manufacturing jobs allows the economy to transition to high productivity jobs; we're in the middle of a skills transition.

I know America is transitioning to the service sector but doesn't a manufacturing economy generate more revenue than a service economy?

More Than Mortal · December 20, 2015, 12:13:08 PM

Quote from: Jagdtiger on December 20, 2015, 12:09:17 PM

I know America is transitioning to the service sector but doesn't a manufacturing economy generate more revenue than a service economy?

No, otherwise national income would've been declining over the past fifty or so years.