About what "free trade" means:
I wrote:
> The free trade/market is characterized by the lack of (or
> bypassing of) regulations (from gov't) and of ethical
> considerations, and by treating humans as commodities. All these
> criteria are met in the trade described in the forwarded article,
> so it does have a lot to do with free trade/market. (Note that
> it's a trade _with_, not _by_prostitutes.)
Harry replied:
> Free trade is simply the breaking down the barriers between
> people -- and between peoples. The restrictions that stop people
> from cooperating are removed for everybody's benefit.
The two definitions above are not incompatible, except for the last part
("for everybody's benefit"), which is in contradiction to the example.
There are countless other examples (externalization of costs) where
removal of trade restrictions is harmful to many, such as the tunnel
fire example which you still didn't care to reply to. Another example
is that bans on hazardous substances (e.g. food colorants) must be lifted
by countries that previously had these bans, because the FTers (WTO)
consider the bans "trade barriers". This is harmful to anyone except
a few shareholders of the substances' manufacturers and the pharma industry
that benefits of the resulting cancers etc.
> Free trade means dropping tariffs, quotas, anti-dumping measures,
> and the rest. It allows people freely to exchange their goods and
> services for the benefit of all.
> It has nothing to do with the coercion of human beings, so your
> suggestions are nonsense
It has a lot to do with coercion, such as being forced out of business
just because polluters and exploiters (wage dumpers) produce cheaper stuff.
> Protection is the opposite of free trade. It is the granting of
> privileges to certain groups of people, or corporations, or
> political cronies. Protection allows them to get rich at the
> expense of the consumer, which is everyone of us.
Free trade allows polluters and exploiters to get rich at the
expense of the planet's inhabitants and workers, which is everyone of us.
> I cannot understand your support of privilege, but apparently
> that is what you do.
If clean air/water/etc. and decent wages are a privilege, then I support
privilege. If making $10,000+ profits by selling crappy unsafe cars (SUVs)
--instead of $1000 profits with good cars-- is a privilege, then _you_
support privilege, or so you did recently on this list in the SUV thread...
Chris
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