White House announces withdrawal from TPP, ready to begin discussing NAFTA

bbedward

I can only get so erect Mr president.

Westside Steve

BB we are pretty much on the same team here but for myself the worst I can feel is ambivalent above our trade policies. There are things I like about NAFTA one of which is the idea the cheaper consumer goods here in America do keep the flow of capital going and provides for a better standard of living for all of us.

But the biggest blow to American manufacturing jobs has not been Outsourcing two countries that pay lower wages. It is outsourcing to countries who have less regulation, and less of a crushing tax burden both items that could be fixed here and I hope they will be.

I do think union labor has driven up the cost of semi-skilled jobs which have pushed Manufacturing mostly out of the Rust Belt and into the right to work states. Another hit to the warm body plan of building things is Automation, and we all know that. We can see that in every phase of life from the microwave oven to the robotic automobile assembly plants.

Of course I think we should strive to keep the playing field even 4 items we make the items the Mexicans Chinese Indians Germans or Sri Lankans make.

We shall see my friend.

WSS

Tour2ma

bb,

I hope killing TPP ends up being worth it...

Oh... and FYI... my son-in-law found "the button". He came back from the fridge laughing and saying "I swear, Mr. T., I did not do this. It was in the 6-pack."

I will treasure it always...

bbedward

@tour2ma said:

bb,

I hope killing TPP ends up being worth it...

Oh... and FYI... my son-in-law found "the button". He came back from the fridge laughing and saying "I swear, Mr. T., I did not do this. It was in the 6-pack."

I will treasure it always...

I thought you'd like that.

And it's official, Trump has officially signed the order to withdrawal from the TPP today

bbedward

Osiris

So I don't have strong feelings about this issue mostly because I'm not well-informed. So I decided to do some reading and I found an article here:

https://hbr.org/1987/05/why-protectionism-doesnt-pay

It's a long read. The TLDR is that low-wages and unfair practices in other countries are not the reason the USA has such a large trade deficit today. They instead say the following:

"One needn’t look far to discover what lies behind the spending-production imbalance. As Exhibit III shows, from 1980 through 1985 the government sector (federal, state, and local combined) increased its annual borrowing by about $100 billion. Borrowing by the federal government alone exploded, growing from $64 billion in 1981 to $198 billion in 1985. The private sector failed to boost its saving to balance the government’s binge. In fact, net private savings and investment actually declined."

As for a solution, they say:

"As we have argued, the U.S. trade deficit will not shrink much unless the imbalance between American spending and production is corrected. Clearly, given the magnitude of the imbalance—reflected in the $170 billion-plus merchandise trade deficit recorded in 1986—this will not be easy. And it cannot be accomplished overnight. For this reason, an effective trade policy must not only reverse national overspending but also hold protectionist pressures at bay during the difficult transition."

So reducing spending is a good thing and something Republicans are good at doing, but being protectionist will not help matters, or so this article claims.

This link provides perhaps a more 'balanced' review of protectionism, with pros and cons:

https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-trade-protectionism-3305896

https://hbr.org/1987/05/why-protectionism-doesnt-pay

Westside Steve

Sorry for the typos but I meant to say the biggest Blow To Us manufacturing isn't particularly cheap wages in other countries but less regulation and no unions. We've lost a lot of the northern manufacturing base to right to work states.

WSS