I think that what we know as “free trade” is quite misleading; what it really is is trade that is shaped to help the largest corporations “trade for free.” It’s set up to help the largest and wealthiest people and corporations bypass countries with strong unions or work forces and manufacture in places where they can pay a dollar a day to wage-slaves (no offense intended) who are happy to get even that little bit of income, then ship their products around the world for free, making the corporations unfathomably rich in the process. Real free trade would resemble a system where our country’s interests are put first, not multi-national globalist corporations who only care about profits (not people), and who have no loyalty to any country, just their own corporate interests.
It’s true, we’ve gotten cheaper goods in the U.S. because of what we call “free trade,” that’s indisputable; but the loss that “free trade” has created in the middle class has hurt families, local and state governments, and the Federal government monetarily through the taxes those higher wages generated, leaving ghost towns full of failing roads and infrastructure, and a growing number of people on government assistance to try to pick up the pieces and make ends meet with low paying service jobs. All the while, the largest corporations have less and less competition to contend with as more and more businesses close, as only the largest corporations can profit from “free trade.” Add to that the extra advantage of these corporations not having to pay American wages or health care to their employees (since they now manufacture outside of the U.S.), and it’s a win all around for those rich enough to shape our laws (through lobbying) to what we call “free trade.”
Like nearly everything affiliated with government, it benefits THEM (politicians/corporations), not US (hard working citizens)!
How to End Poverty
I, like everyone, personally know a few people who live in relative poverty. It’s not “America’s” fault that they live in poverty. A large majority of them simply refuse to go out and get a job. That’s it. Period. They could get up every day and go to work like everyone else, but they choose poverty instead. They choose to sleep in and watch tv and play on their phones while everyone else goes to work. (I’m not talking about those who are truly disabled. That’s something altogether different.)
All of the people who I know who do not live in poverty go to work every day. I’m pretty sure that’s how you end poverty (if you live in poverty) … go to work! Get a job, live responsibly. Problem solved.
Excerpted from Them and Us: A Philosophy of Freedom by Adam Soto
Mind / Purpose / Truth 