Quote from dafugginman:
we're so far apart on everything, there is no way to convince you otherwise, and i get the feeling neither yourself nor waggie read anything into my posts, while picking out one or two minor minor things (bush is a protectionist) and expounding on those. you have not acknowledged any of the points i made, nor have you offered one rational argument to refute that protectionism, unions, and high taxes are all horrific for a high standard of living, jobs, etc, etc. while free trade, globalization, etc, benefits everyone. yes, those that choose not to learn a skill that is in demand (computers rather than steel), or better themselves, and those that look for handouts, will not experience the same level of success or standard of living, which is at it should be.
before we go any further, we must state this basic fact. the US is the strongest economy in the world - period. look at the rest of the world for god's sake before you start painting this horrific picture of the US. you need to first acknowledge the fact that we are an economic superpower, the 'land of opportunity', and the the reasons why.
you don't seem to realize the above stated basic fact, much less the reasons for it, which is that we still have some form of capitalism here(though it's dying). however, other countries have begun to see the success we've had, and are breaking down their barriers (china), while we are going the oppositie direction and becoming more socialist, due to your barriers of trade and unions. these countries will soon catch us, and your precious jobs will go up in smoke, as higher taxes will squelch the entreprenuerial spirit by taking away the incentive to take risks.
reread what i said about unions - how they are the reason for the flight of manufacturing jobs, and if you're 'contacts' in technical fields choose to undergoe organized blackmail and create artificially high wages, the same will happen to their jobs.
i'm going to go out on a limb here and say that your 'contacts' are not attempting to unionize to prevent from losing jobs, but to blackmail their employers into paying them more than they are worth. instead they should be directing their efforts to bettering themselves and developing or enhancing their skill set (if in technical, learning new programming languages, etc)
your 'pride in work' is a nice theory, but it's just not reality. people work, and take risks (form companies and create services)to make a profit, and if you take away that incentive through higher taxes, form unions to force the owner/founder to give up a piece of his company, force the him to pay ARTIFICIALLLY high wages so that his products are no longer competitive, there will be NO jobs.
in terms of free trade. i'll say it once again. cheaper products raise the standard of living for EVERYONE. the poor here can afford a computer because of cheaper labor, and god willing, educate themselves and become a productive member of the economy. if say dell produced all their products in the US, paid their employees $50 an hour to assemble a computer, you'd be complaining about how only the rich can afford a computer. furthermore, that company and those jobs would not be around for very long because it would be unable to compete with foreign computer manufacturers. instead, it's manufacturered cheaply overseas, creating a HUGE number of jobs in the technical computer field, database administrators, programmers, etc. etc.
