What Billary and B Hussein Do NOT Understand About Trade.

A trade deficit can actually be good for a country as this paper illustrates. We get goods and exchange those goods for paper. Paper that is only good in the US so foreigners have to invest those pieces of paper back into the US.

We get to consume more than we can produce. That is how our standard of living improves. China exports more than they consume and their standard of living grows only very slowly. China is still one of the poorest countries on the planet and will be for decades (same for India).

If we want to raise the standard of living around the world, free trade is the only way to make that happen. Does it mean the US might be a smaller portion of the world pie? Yes. However, the pie will be bigger and thus our piece will be bigger but just a smaller percent of the total.

B Hussein and Billary will lower the standard of living around the world if they restrict trade like the say they claim. Trade restrictions are not good for Americans or American workers.

Is NAFTA Really All That Bad?

If this NAFTA thing is so bad, why is unemployment at 5% (very low historically), manufacturing production up, and productivity at an all-time high? No doubt there have been certain sectors of the Ohio economy that have lost out and not stayed competitive. However, does this mean our society should live the equivalent of an 8-track lifestyle when the MP3 lifestyle is possible? Moving jobs to Mexico has made us more productive as a nation and raised the standard of living for millions of Americans, and Mexicans.

Yes the Mexicans do not have the same environmental standards we do and yes they earn less per hour. However, these workers are also much less productive, thus the lower wages. Their standard of living has not gotten to the point where they can make a trade off between food and shelter and a cleaner environment. This is very much like the US 100 years ago.

As the Mexicans become more productive and their wages rise, their citizens will demand a cleaner environment. Until then, they must take care of the basic human necessities. Re-working NAFTA will not make Mexico's environment better, it will make it worse.

Be very suspicious of those that say Free Trade is bad for America. There is usually a special interest lurking in the background. Free Trade always has, and always will, make society more prosperous.