Apparently, this nation has undergone a significant transformation from being a confident nation that loved free trade to being a nation that thinks the middle class gets screwed over by every free trade agreement. It’s sad to see the Party of Reagan getting duped into believing that we’re a nation that can’t compete by our party’s nominee.
Let’s unclutter this argument. Do you trust Donald Trump more than you trust Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman? That’s what this comes down to. Ronald Reagan took over a struggling economy, cut taxes and dramatically reduced regulation while negotiating trade deals. As a result of President Reagan’s economic policies, the US economy created over 20,000,000 jobs in 8 years. In September, 1983, the economy created 1,100,000 jobs.
Compare that with Donald Trump’s record of failed businesses and bankruptcies. That’s right. That isn’t a comparison. That’s more like Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn. It isn’t much of a fight. That’s before getting into Milton Friedman’s lecturing Phil Donahue on the virtues of capitalism and free trade:
Here’s what Milton Friedman told Donahue:
In the only cases in which the masses have escaped the types of grinding poverty that you’re talking about, the only cases in recorded history, and where they have had capitalism and largely free trade.
Anyone that thinks that Trump knows what’s best compared to President Reagan and Dr. Friedman isn’t dealing with reality. The biggest reasons why jobs have moved overseas are the overtaxation and overregulation, the increase in regulatory compliance costs here in the United States and the lowering of marginal tax rates in other countries. Add into that Obamacare and this administration’s war on cheap energy prices (think Solyndra and Hillary’s statement that she was going to shut down coal plants) and it isn’t surprising that companies are leaving.
Without question, we’ve hesitated to call trading partners out when they’ve broken the agreement’s provisions. That’s proof of political spinelessness. It isn’t proof that trade agreements are counterproductive.
Anyone that trusts a man who opened a casino in flush economic times, then saw that casino go bankrupt, more than they trust the greatest president of the last 125 years and one of the most accomplished economists in modern history is a blithering idiot. I’ll trust President Reagan and Dr. Friedman over Donald Trump any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Technorati: Donald Trump, Fair Trade, Trade Wars, Ronald Reagan, Milton Friedman, Free Trade, Deregulation, Tax Cuts, Capitalism, Conservatism
Too bad that isn’t one of the two choices on offer.
On trade, as everything else, Agent Orange is clueless.
“Let’s unclutter this argument. Do you trust Donald Trump more than you trust Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman?”
Absolutely. No f_____g question. 100% so, while, admittedly it’s very, veyry faint praise.
Gary, haven’t seen you in forever.
1. “Free Trade”, if you are mired in huge regulatory and tax burdens, is ludicrous unless the agreement is with a country with similar internal structures.
2. As Charley Reese once put it, “free trade” means you set up a blanket tariff/duty policy and then trade with everyone with those rules. Not entirely sure how to describe what we have, but that ain’t it.
3. Stop freaking out over Trump. Shrug your shoulders and realize that the republican congress will make common cause with the democrats and oppose him at every turn. Which is far more than they will do against Hillary Clinton. That could be quite healthy for the country. Think about it.
4. If the republican congress does not oppose Trump it means deals are being made which are making all the Washingtonians happy. And nothing changes.
5. “Do you trust Donald Trump more than you trust Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman?” Never trusted Friedman, Reagan I’ve always had mixed feelings about, and, no, I don’t trust Trump one bit. I do trust self-interested politicians to fight him to protect their turf.
6. If you call yourself a “conservative”, I assert that the greatest president in the past 125 years was Grover Cleveland.
Happy 4th.