The Global Trade Welfare State

http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSLP595906._CH_.2400

I just entered a post on the blog about an economist who “gets” the problem with trade.  (See the previous post below.)  So much for the thinking economist.  Then there’s the rest of them.  This linked article tells of a meeting in Ghana by global economists clamoring for an increase in “free trade” (which means lowering U.S. tariffs while maintaining their own) as a more effective solution to poverty than aid. 

Actually, they can hardly be faulted for recognizing that the U.S.-sponsored global trade welfare state has been a big boon for the overpopulated parasitic economies of the world, otherwise known as “emerging markets.”  I think the term “emerging market” should be a candidate for the prize of “greatest obfuscation of the English language.”  Instead of “emerging markets,” these nations should more properly be called “emerging labor forces.”  After all, where are the markets?  They’ve been stunted by overpopulation and overcrowding, driving down their per capita consumption. 

The following excerpt in particular merits comment:

Economists of all persuasions agree now that growth is the key to lifting people out of poverty — a view reinforced by a major World Bank report in May on growth and development.

And the key to growth is trade, the WTO says.

“Trade openness is believed to have been central to the remarkable growth of developed countries since the mid-20th century and an important factor behind the poverty alleviation experienced in most of the developing world since the early 1990s,” it said in a report last month (July).

Trade has not been some magical high tide that has lifted all boats.  Rather, it has rewarded nations for their overpopulation by draining $9 trillion from the American economy.  The high tide has lifted their boats and sunk ours, leaving the wreck of our economy on a reef to be plundered by the marauding bands of “emerging market” pirates.  It has established “The Global Trade Welfare State,” otherwise known by a shorter euphemism, “globalization.” 

It’s time to restore some common sense to our trade policy and eliminate our enormous trade deficit.  And its time for the “emerging markets” of the world to stand on their own two feet.  Let them prove the viability of their markets before we engage in trade deals with them again.