Amid all the other ideological fights between Democrats and Republicans, a consensus has emerged in exit polling that voters see free trade as an economic drag on the U.S., costing American jobs.
NEWSBALANCE
A Focus On Liberty by Bill B. May, PhD
The goal of the NewsBalance site is to educate readers on politics and economics using the principles of Liberty. If we think that schools fail us in basics like math and English, think about sending our children into the real world with virtually no education in economics. The education in politics is little better because it lacks any substantive discussion of the unintended consequences of well-meaning politicians or the monopoly nature of government. Both of which fail the citizenry compared to free enterprise where mistakes are either soon corrected or the business fails so that another one with better ideas can take its place.
Liberty is a fundamental yearning of humans, right behind satisfying hunger and comfort. People as young as two yearn want to do things their way. If we must be governed to keep an orderly society, that government should focus on protecting people’s liberty and we should not allow government to violate our liberty itself. That is the focus.
As he hosts Southeast Asian leaders at a two-day summit starting Monday in California, President Obama is under increasing pressure to stand up for human rights with some of his repressive guests.
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Saudi Arabia Tuesday for the first stop on a closely watched tour that will include visits to Egypt and Iran, as Beijing pushes to widen its access to Middle East oil and potentially supplant Washington as the most influential foreign power operating in the tumultuous region.
IBD Staff write: Economy: In the latest swipe at Wal-Mart, a new report suggests the retail giant has cost the U.S. 400,000 jobs due to purchases from China. In the bigger picture, this statistic is misleading and meaningless.
David Boaz says: Trade is not a trade-off Too many advocates of trade liberalization don’t really understand the case for free trade. Consider this sympathetic interview by Steve Inskeep of NPR with U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, the chief negotiator of the Trans-Pacific Partnership: Good article. bbm
IBD Staff write:Economics: Japan is back in recession, the EU is again slumping, once fast-growing nations such as China and Brazil are slowing dramatically, and the U.S. “recovery” looks pretty threadbare. Why are our policymakers so clueless?
Yesterday, I wrote about Immigration and Liberty in which I examined the various aspects of immigration from a liberty point of view. Today, I’ll twist that around to look at the immigration of products, rather than people. We call that importation. There are some similarities between importing products and people. They both can lower the cost of consumer items. They can introduce new ideas into…
Powerful Democratic interest groups revolted Thursday against President Obama’s massive free trade deal in Asia-Pacific and vowed to wage a bruising fight in Congress, imperiling the president’s top economic priority and deepening a party rift that will extend into the 2016 elections.
The Obama administration released the long-awaited details of a sweeping Pacific Rim free-trade deal Thursday, setting the stage for a heated debate in Congress before lawmakers vote on the pact early next year.
Simon Wilson writes: Peruvians were pleasantly surprised, if a little bewildered, by the news that on the 8th of October they were to receive an extended weekend holiday. The reason for the impromptu vacation was the arrival of the “international community” in Lima for the IMF and World Bank’s annual board of governors meeting. Peru’s president, Ollanta Humala (enjoying a brief respite from an ongoing…