First off, no. Free trade is great. The manor in which we approach free trade is somewhat questionable. NAFTA, CAFTA, the WTO, and other agreements certainly have improved the flow of trade. However, they still represent government interference in global free trade - eliminating all tariffs and allowing market forces to truly set prices.
Today, the Wall Street Journal had a 'Page One' article entitled "Republicans Grow Skeptical On Free Trade." In the article were some disturbing figures - 54% of Democrats have called Free Trade Agreements bad. And the Journal continued by saying that 59% of Republicans call 'foreign trade' bad. The problem with trade is the manufacturing and other jobs that are moved overseas. WAKE UP PEOPLE! The reality is that because of new technology and other improvements, manufacturing has seen greater output with fewer employees. That means while there are fewer manufacturing jobs, goods produced are cheaper. Never mind the fact that there are thousands of new service jobs created every month.
In addition, the income gap is a concern among most Americans. If we open our borders to allow more highly skilled workers, we could actually lower the average wage of the highest paid individuals and possibly raise the wage of the lowest paid individuals. How's that for social welfare!
Markets, when unconstrained, will actually resolve many of the problems we think they create.
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