Next you'll argue how H1-B visas actually help the middle class too, give me a break.
When used correctly, yes. They do. Problem is they have been abused.
The concept of "free trade" has been morphed into "free-for-all trade", except for us of course. Free trade has become a bullshit concept, and should instead be what both Trump and Sanders have proposed as Fair Trade, where each nation has to play by a certain set of rules and within certain parameters. That means the threat of reciprocal tariffs (if China takes theirs down so should we) and protections for American business from blatant currency manipulation, which is essentially currency warfare.
No, what they want, by proxy, is an actual trade war. Economics is all about efficiency. You want more manufacturing in the US? Let us move away from what we are efficient at (growing corn and services). Let us be inefficient and suck at manufacturing jobs, something we moved away from decades ago. Let us also implement new robotics workers, minimizing the actual number of new jobs in these factories. Let us crush the small workers who cannot handle the increase in costs as both domestic and foreign products rise in price to combat the increased costs of production and tariffs. Want to export them? Tough luck, no one will buy them at the price you're selling them at.
Want to remove the immigrants too? Fine, lets lose 11m workers who can no longer consume the goods and services we produce because they're no longer here.
Also:
1.Explain to me how Ford plants and Carrier plants in Mexico make the American people better off.
Originally, they were cheaper. Now, they're not and that is why you are seeing Ford, Toyota, Chevy, etc. move factories back to the US.
2. Explain to me how having no tariffs on Chinese goods that get dumped on our shores, while our goods exported to them receive high tariffs, makes American people better off.
These tariffs will do nothing but raise the price for the American consumer. Do not think for a second the Chinese will not raise the prices to combat the tariffs. Christ, this is a two sided battle, it'd be a dick-swinging contest where only the consumer loses.
3. Explain to me why having open trade with nations that engage in currency warfare with the US, makes Americans better off.
Prove that we (the US) are experiencing currency warfare. We are fine. Thailand and Malaysia? Not so much.
4. Explain to me why dirt cheap, made-in-China, garbage at Wal-Mart (which enriches the Walton family), while Americans lose their jobs and have to rely on government assistance, makes Americans better off.
Those goods are "better" because of economies of scale. Find me an American worker that wants to sit in a factory all day making the cheap plastic shit you get from there. The Walton's are abusing the minimum wage system, it needs to be increased. I have said that.
5. Lastly, your defense of "free trade in services" is also an open defense of a massive expansion of the H1-B program and other visa programs. So, explain how forcing Disney IT workers, among many others, to train foreigners to do their jobs at half the wage makes Americans better off.
Abuse of the system. It needs to be curbed, not removed.
I used to be a big free trade proponent, but in its current state, it's a lie. It's one of the main drivers (among other factors) of wealth to the top 1% of wage earners, a symptom of an economy that relies primarily on consumption rather than investment and production.
No, it is a symptom of globalization. We are not a manufacturing country, nor will we ever be again. We lack both the infrastructure and competitive edge. Putting tariffs in place will only hurt the consumer.
This is basic economics.
