adios
09-20-2003, 05:43 PM
I posted this on the stock market forum as well. Gene Epstein writes the economic beat column for Barron's almost every week. IMO it's one of the few worthwhile columns in the paper. Here's what he had to say in this week's column in Barrons entiled The 1200 Pound Hog. His statement is in regards to what should happen after the failed WTO conference in Cancun:
Before turning to what will probably happen next in this slow-moving circus, let's pause a moment and ask: What should happen next?
Answer: The U.S., for one, should eliminate all its subsidies, tariffs and duties, repeal its farcical "antidumping" law, and do anything else necessary to turn itself into the largest free-trade zone ever. Right away, and without demanding reciprocity from any country, firm or lemonade stand.
Then it should require that Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans learn some economics. "Americans are willing to compete, on even terms, with any country in the world," he declared in Detroit last week, "But we will not stand for unfair competition."
But what-you-mean-we, White Man? (to quote the Lone Ranger's faithful Indian companion, Tonto). What the secretary was really saying, probably without quite knowing it, was that the many must sacrifice their own financial interests for the sake of the few, even though these few are generally better off to begin with.
Is there a domestic industry that can't compete with imports from abroad because the imports are being subsidized by foreign governments? Well, then, the American consumer must be denied these bargains and pay more because the "playing field" isn't "level."
If that doesn't persuade us, how about something even more sinister? If allowed to drive our domestic industry to the wall, those foreigners are planning to start gouging us, secure in the knowledge that no one else in the world will ever compete with them, according to our own government seers.
Such rationales are hydra-headed monsters. Slay one, and two more appear. Even worse, some arcane exception can always be invented. But what cannot be invented is a world in which protectionism can occur without protectionists. Since those are the very folks who are so easily corrupted, they can start believing their own propaganda. We're asking the fox to guard the chicken coop.
Americans can only be better off if the country's protectionist shackles were cast off unilaterally. Indeed, the original 48 states consisted of an enormous de facto free-trade zone in which the division of labor -- and location -- could work its miracles. Who knows what other miracles might occur if we fully avail ourselves of the rest of the world's entrepreneurial energy?
By strengthening the forces of free trade within other countries, we would probably do more to break down trade barriers than we could possibly achieve through several Doha Rounds.
Before turning to what will probably happen next in this slow-moving circus, let's pause a moment and ask: What should happen next?
Answer: The U.S., for one, should eliminate all its subsidies, tariffs and duties, repeal its farcical "antidumping" law, and do anything else necessary to turn itself into the largest free-trade zone ever. Right away, and without demanding reciprocity from any country, firm or lemonade stand.
Then it should require that Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans learn some economics. "Americans are willing to compete, on even terms, with any country in the world," he declared in Detroit last week, "But we will not stand for unfair competition."
But what-you-mean-we, White Man? (to quote the Lone Ranger's faithful Indian companion, Tonto). What the secretary was really saying, probably without quite knowing it, was that the many must sacrifice their own financial interests for the sake of the few, even though these few are generally better off to begin with.
Is there a domestic industry that can't compete with imports from abroad because the imports are being subsidized by foreign governments? Well, then, the American consumer must be denied these bargains and pay more because the "playing field" isn't "level."
If that doesn't persuade us, how about something even more sinister? If allowed to drive our domestic industry to the wall, those foreigners are planning to start gouging us, secure in the knowledge that no one else in the world will ever compete with them, according to our own government seers.
Such rationales are hydra-headed monsters. Slay one, and two more appear. Even worse, some arcane exception can always be invented. But what cannot be invented is a world in which protectionism can occur without protectionists. Since those are the very folks who are so easily corrupted, they can start believing their own propaganda. We're asking the fox to guard the chicken coop.
Americans can only be better off if the country's protectionist shackles were cast off unilaterally. Indeed, the original 48 states consisted of an enormous de facto free-trade zone in which the division of labor -- and location -- could work its miracles. Who knows what other miracles might occur if we fully avail ourselves of the rest of the world's entrepreneurial energy?
By strengthening the forces of free trade within other countries, we would probably do more to break down trade barriers than we could possibly achieve through several Doha Rounds.