Democrats Win means America Loses!

Free trade is under attach as I predicted it would be if Democrats regained power. Read the following stories:

Financial Times Story
Wall Street Journal Editorial
Washington Post Story

So why is free trade under attack? Well, the Democrats are about to lead the Congress into rejecting a FTA with Colombia and Peru. This is bad news for the poor in those Andean countries and all Americans. Free trade brings more competition to both countries, it widens the marketplace for more businesses to operate and to reach more people. It lowers prices for the consumer and ensures that the most efficient companies survive. It also weakens the federal government by taking away a source of income. Lastly, the economies of the countries that liberalize their trade policies ALWAYS will be better off. These are basic economic principles that apply to all countries.

However, Democrats want to add in labor rights side agreements to these deals. To do so would dilute the freeness of the free trade deal. The essence of free trade is that it frees business from constraints that governments imposes on them (which will lower prices for all).

But why are these labor side agreements pushed by Democrats? Is it because they are worried that poor Colombians and Peruvians (who need jobs desperately) will be "exploited" in their NEW, HIGH PAYING jobs? Even if they were, they would be misguided. However, their real goal is to protect the Labor movement in the US. American Labor is worried that FTAs will ship jobs overseas and they are correct. It will ship the jobs that we are doing inefficiently, allowing Americans to move to higher paying service sector jobs. Labor does not want this. The AFL-CIO is one of the leading lobbyists behind the Democrats push to stop free trade. The AFL-CIO does not like competition, low prices, or capitalism. They want secure jobs such as the ones that the Soviet Union gave to their citizens.

So the question all Americans should ask? Do you want to live in a world of prosperity for all or do you want inefficiency and mediocrity to reign all for the sake of equality? I hope to help the American psyche by quoting Milton Friedman:

"A society that puts equality -- in the sense of equality of outcome -- ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom. The use of force to achieve equality will destroy freedom, and the force, introduced for good purposes, will end up in the hands of people who use it to promote their own interests."