Why is the subject of "trade" verboten?

[mrgorth]

I mean, I think I know why. I just need to hear it. OK, so manufacturing moved to Mexico, South America and China. Recession. Tech jobs show up. Awesome. They get shipped to India. Recession. People start living off of credit and their houses. Fake recovery. Bubble bursts and now there's nothing to save us. Now, I get it. Our standard of living was higher than Mexico and China so it cost less to pay them for work. And somehow, it's unpatriotic to oppose a pointless war but not unpatriotic to suggest that companies keep jobs in America. Now, the only thing I've heard about trade during this election is this guy or that guy supporting "tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas". Now besides the fact that this should be unconscionable anyway, why is this all we hear about? I'm not for an all out trade war. I don't really have a problem with BMW selling German made cars here or us building a Coke factory in China to sell them Coke. What I have a problem with is a company like GM moving a factory to another country, then selling it's goods back to the US market. So, my perhaps ignorant question, is it not possible to just slap tariffs on US companies that move factories or service (like Dell's help desk) overseas? Why isn't this even on the table? I'm assuming it's because our government is bought and paid for, but I want to make sure I'm right.

Thanks. :)

[prairierose]

1. I think you are partly right...

WTO and GATT I believe make tariffs against their rules. What I have heard is tax breaks for companies that create jobs here and tax penalties for companies that send jobs overseas. This would be a good idea I think. It would bring in more tax revenue and business would have a choice of whether to create jobs here or elsewhere. ;)

Starting in 1981,Congress began creating tax breaks for companies to move jobs overseas and NAFTA sped it all up.

But mostly, since we have monopoly capitalism, those monopolies do not want anyone talking about trade policies. They sure do not want people to realize that the current trade policy (or lack thereof) is seriously detrimental to our national security.

[burning rain]

2. It doesn't pay to complain about subjects being "verboten," "un-PC," etc.

Just gird your loins and wade into the fray.

:hi:

[AdHocSolver]

3. Whoever controls world trade controls this planet.

The multinational corporations do not want the public to understand that their power comes from control of world trade through corporate cartel agreements such as NAFTA, the WTO, the IMF, the World Bank, and their ilk.

Real wealth and power comes from control and manipulation of natural resources, land, and manufacturing. Control of trade is what allows corporations to outsource jobs to low wage countries. If there were any actual competition in international trade, American companies who wanted to produce goods in the U.S. with American labor could do so and still make a profit if there were a level playing field. The multinational corporations use cartel agreements to stifle competition, which allows them to make huge profits by charging high prices for cheaply made low quality products made in foreign countries and importing those goods into the U.S.

The U.S. economy will never recover, and jobs will never return to the U.S., until these corporate cartel agreements are eliminated, and trade is regulated so that American-made products are given the opportunity to compete with cheap foreign imports.

There is a mistake in thinking of companies such as GM of being an American company. GM is a multinational corporation with manufacturing plants in several European countries, Mexico, South America, and China. They are not "competing" with GM of the U.S. This is the reason that the cartel agreements such as NAFTA are such a fraud.