What would happen if the entire world went Free Trade?
And if a country chose not to, it would be banned from all trade with Free Trade countries. Period. No exceptions. You're in, or you're out.
What would happen?
November 10, 2008
What would happen if every trade barrier, tariff and subsidy were eliminated? And every country opened its borders to unlimited & legal immigration?
What would happen if the entire world went Free Trade?
And if a country chose not to, it would be banned from all trade with Free Trade countries. Period. No exceptions. You're in, or you're out.
What would happen?
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29 comments:
Before the rabid liberals come in and start freaking out I think it's important to define what free trade really means.
It does not mean complete lawlessness or anarchy. There is nothing wrong with free trade. Humans have been trading freely from the time they learned how to skin a buffalo.
The problem is not greed.
The problem is corruption, monopolization, lack of transparency and concentrated power in the hands of the few.
Seeing as we are never going to eliminate corruption, either in a completely free market system or a totally centrally planned system or any blend of the two what is important is the rule of law.
The rule of law is what America was founded upon and it's system of government was setup to protect the rule of law from the rule of men.
The free market and local government are less prone to totalitarianism and monopolization and the dangers of centralized power than centrally planned systems of government.
So in short, it could be a great thing but of course it doesn't mean the world would be a utopia. However, I've yet to hear a convincing argument or see an example of how a centrally planned system works better than free market forces.
And as Ron Paul so lucidly explains, economic freedom and individual liberty are two sides of the same coin. They are mutually inclusive.
The entire world would opt out in about 2 seconds and you'd be exactly how we are now.
Asia, and China in particular, would say good bye in about 2 milliseconds.
They're not in it for level playing field.
They're in it for the advantage.
you'd have a one world govt with a new world order...this will be happening soon.
fun to ponder but in reality it would never happen.
there are just some things, like food production, that you don't want to be completely reliant on imports, even if the imports are cheaper and better.
I would force open my eyelids, look at my clock radio, see that it was 4 a.m. and go back to sleep for two more hours.
America would be destroyed in about a week, after everyone for every dirtbag country around the globe showed up on our doorstep.
That average laborer in the U.S. would be screwed immediately as opposed to the no inevitably slowly.
Global Equilibrium, meaning the US is no different than Angola.
Not a pleasant thought is it?
The reason why the West/The US is so well off is because of the choices we made; dump religion, embrace science, embrace law, embrace markets.
Deviate from that and you cannot way you weren't warned.
"What would happen if every trade barrier, tariff and subsidy were eliminated? And every country opened its borders to unlimited & legal immigration?"
Ebola in Minot, SD.
We would revert to the global mean in the standard of living - The have nots would gain 5%, the middle classes would lose 95% and the 50 rich people at the top would get even more...
There would be no more "First World" or "Developed Nation" THe sad truth is that there are not enough resources on the earth to allow 6 billion plus souls to live a "Developed Nation" existence... Maybe after a massive die-off where we are left with maybe 750 million then free trade might work...
You cannot have FAIR "free trade" without "free (movement of) labor." Ipso facto, your plan is dead on arrival.
That means you would probably have to eliminate the magnet of social services available to residents, e.g., medical care, housing subsidies, etc. in order to avoid being inundated by a tsunami of people emigrating for a better standard of living (I am thinking Europe or Canada here since the US is not all that generous...).
Just look at what happened in West Germany after the Wall came down. first the East Germans invaded and tehn the Poles. Unified Germany has never recovered. Total socialism. The desire to excel is gone in Germany.
Bailouts' Unintended Consequences
Within the next 12 months the yields on treasuries will begin to rise. This is because the fools (China etc.) who have been willing to accept low interest rates will be tapped (China has a stimulus package of their own to fund etc.) out.
This will cause all interest rates to rise, which will make the housing market worse. If it gets too much worse then the stability of the financial system will once again be the main concern.
Shorting treasuries seems like a rational investment, but yields may decrease before they increase.
The whole world turns into a giant third world country. That may seem like a lot of pain, but it would just be case for developped countries, as third world countries wouldn't see a change.
Keeping immigrants, even illegals out of the country is reactionary. Opening the borders is allowing the best kind trade; in human labor and knowledge, while allowing people to escape deplorable situations.
Where I live there's plenty of legals and illegals. And you know what? 90% of them work themselves very hard, harder then most Americans, many without common benefits or entitlements.
Immigrants give this country a lot more then they take from it. Most are just happy to have a crap job reroofing someone's house or working in a factory.
And don't forget, we all started somewhere. In the immortal words of the White Stripes:
white Americans, what?
nothing better to do?
why don't you kick yourself out
you're an immigrant too.
Keith - look up the term "carrying capacity" for your answer.
Really ...look it up.
Industrious people would gravitate to where the jobs and opportunities are.
There would be a massive free rider problem with people from underdeveloped countries with a culture of large families and many children moving to where the social safety net is most generous.
Hmm...
Large corporations already have moved much manufacturing into low wage areas so that wouldn't change much. You would just have workers moving out of low wage zones, reducing the supply of low wage labour and thereby causing wages to rise.
Wages would fall where they are highest.
I'm afraid the power structure would change little and large corporations would just get larger to the enrichment of their executives and boards.
Disparities of wealth and income would continue to increase.
There would be a global monopoly in each industry and the International Banks would own EVERYTHING.
ONE CAR VENDOR, ONE OIL VENDOR, ONE FOOD VENDOR.
All wages would devolve to SUBSISTENCE pay.
There are a few American left who are not as stupid as you think we are.
Keith, you may want to disclose that you are funded by the same people who own the Economist.
The Rothschilds.
I think we'd lose most of the human rights protections that western/developed nation workers currently enjoy. No more two day weekends, no more eight hour days, no more mandatory lunch break.
On top of that we'd have various global turmoil as a country such as China can't employ all of it's citizens in low wage jobs any more.
If everyone agreed on basic rights/protections of workers then I think completely free trade would lead to innovations and advances we can't even imagine. Without the protections everyone becomes slaves and only the strong & rich survive.
What a question Keith . First, rules would have to be set up for this
New World your suggesting . Everyone would have to play by the same rules
tERRORism!
Coconut!
If the U.S. was open to unlimited immigration, we'd probably have a few billion people here in the next decade or so. After all, there are about 5 billion people who live in countries poorer than Mexico.
US in danger of Losing its 'AAA' Rating?
One brit indicates (6:50) that we can't be downgraded from 'AAA' because we can print more money. LOL
Jim Rogers interview: This or That?
.
The banana republic of the USA would have 2 billion citizens.
All my globalist buddy friends live and die by free trade. They are now beginning to understand whats in store for them. They thought the multi-nationals were going to sell the other half of America into slavery and they were going to get rich. They thought I was was going to be in that other half. They told me to get tough and reinvent myself. Well I've been shifting gears busting a serious horizontal move in our newly minted global economy. (Minus all that borrowing to fuel US consumption and or living standards.) Hey, methinks they now understand not only are they not going to get rich, they are in the wrong half (more like 98%). After they get a good look at the cascade effect these job losses are going to have on our now 80% service economy they will promptly shit themselves. Welcome to the jungle you dumb f*cks. It never ceased to amaze me how people confused education with intellegence. These people were never anyone's friends and they disgust me. They wanted globalism, they have it. Greed is a cancer.
Good luck to all decent Americans.
anon 11:47 nailed it -- reversion to the global mean, which from my lay-z-boy is not too attractive at the moment.
But getting there would certainly be an interesting ride. I can envision many possible scenarios but they end with a few controlling it all and most with nothing beyond subsistence requirements, if that.
Kinda sucks in that alternate future.
Sounds like Alex Jones crap to me. I got sucked into it but after a while I changed my mind.
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