Why would anyone want free trade?

[Az]

I'm generally pro, as long as working conditions and enviromental regulations remain the same.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Free trade is generally good. It allows for countries to specialize in certain goods that they make super-efficient, and trade them to countries that make other goods (which they make super-efficient). In the end, prices fall and the standard of living will increase. Problems arise when you have corruption, however.

An added benefit is that by being dependant on other countries for your economic health makes you listen to those other countries every once in a while and brings the world closer together (and btw, that isn't a bad thing).

[Plan Austral]

Would the people here agree in privatizing natural resources like water?
I am talking about water per se, not the service of providing water to a community.

It is said that in the near future there is going to be an important lack of water in the world, in Argentina we will not have that problem, but there is a very strong debate about it here.

Because of our last years economic crisis and the devaluation of the currency many foreign investors have bought thousand of sqare miles of land in the south (More or less the size of Italy) and in those territories there are whole rivers, lakes and Glaciars (sp?) included, there are lakes we can no longer visit because they are completely inside the property of a company.

This has alarmed quite a lot of people, losing the control of something as basic as the land and the water (In Argentina all services have been privatized, even oil, we dont have a state oil company).

There are some presidential candidates who are against this and want to impose something like a limit, for example not allowing more than the 2% of the surface of the province to be in foreign hands.

What would you the people here do in a situation like this one?

[Adagio]

Could someone please tell me, what "Free Trade" is? I thought I knew what it ment, but then I see people talking about "Money staying in US", "Chineese gets jobs instead of Americans", etc... this makes no sense at all, by looking at, what I thought "Free Trade" ment...

[spiritof1202]

Why? To get more trade arrows

[Solly]

"I'm generally pro, as long as working conditions and enviromental regulations remain the same."

For example..

What if by refusing to accept footballs made in Indonesia by 12 year olds being paid 10 cents an hour, you are stopping that family obtaining enough food to eat?

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Japher

I guess Adam Smith is right... Political agendas and policies are the big bane of free trade.

Um, capitalism is not natural, nor does it work without a large state apparatus to keep track of property exchanges and make law as well as a cultural consensus on what is to be bought and sold. Capitalism is a political agenda: whether or not it is necessarily bad because of this is another matter entirely.

[Sava]

Privatization of natural resources is wrong

Plan Austral I'll cry for you, Argentina!

[Az]

What if by refusing to accept footballs made in Indonesia by 12 year olds being paid 10 cents an hour, you are stopping that family obtaining enough food to eat?

That's why a global legislation is needed in order to stop such things. Btw, isn't that child labor prohibited by the allrespected intl. law?

[Imran Siddiqui]

That's why a global legislation is needed in order to stop such things.

Global legislation that actually has bite is quite a while away. I'd say not in our lifetimes. They have to start off low, and build up. Take South Korea as your example.

[ranskaldan]

Originally posted by Azazel

That's why a global legislation is needed in order to stop such things. Btw, isn't that child labor prohibited by the allrespected intl. law?

But the point is that if you stop it, then that 12-year-old's family really wouldn't have enough to eat. Instead of making footballs, the child would be sent off to pick discarded batteries. And if all of that is banned, then they can all go and eat dirt.

[Sandman]

A global minimum wage would be a good idea, IMO. Not based on some arbitary £5 an hour or something, but based on the daily requirement of food and other daily essentials for every adult, and depending on the price of food in each country.

[Az]

But the point is that if you stop it, then that 12-year-old's family really wouldn't have enough to eat. Instead of making footballs, the child would be sent off to pick discarded batteries. And if all of that is banned, then they can all go and eat dirt.

What if he went to *gasp* school?

[ranskaldan]

Originally posted by Azazel

What if he went to *gasp* school?

And who is going to pay for that?
Perhaps the teachers can eat dirt too?

Or perhaps the boy's younger brother, or future son, could now be supplied with enough money for school, instead of having to pick discarded batteries as well?



Frankly I never understood why people don't want free trade. It keeps rich countries supplied with affordable goods; and keeps poor countries, alive, developing, relatively stable, and hence less likely to do North-Korea-esque crazy things.

[Az]

the "eat dirt" argument is silly. There is more food needed and still, we destroy a lot of it, while millions starve.

It's a matter of distribution of resources.