Just How Free Is Free Trade - - by Joe Murray
"Manufacturing is the key to national power," wrote former US presidential candidate and conservative columnist Pat Buchanan. "Not only does it pay more than service industries, the rates of productivity growth are higher and the potential of new industry arising is far greater. In other words, factories protect freedom and industry fosters independence.
The level of U.S. dependency on foreign goods is down right staggering. The level of American dependency on foreign medicines and pharmaceuticals is 72 percent, computer equipment is 70 percent, communications equipment is 67 percent, semiconductors and electronics is 64 percent, engines and power equipment is 56 percent, and metal working and machinery is 51 percent.With trade deficits well over $800 billion, America has become an economy, not unlike the British of the early 20th Century, which is squandering its inheritance to live for the day. The US is living for the moment, while forsaking the future. And with the Chinese the largest beneficiary of the American trade deficit, China, not unlike the young American republic of yesterday, is using American money to increase her infrastructure, solidify her manufacturing prowess and advance her technology. In essence, the US and Europe are handing Beijing the keys to the store.
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