Rob Viglione

Economic Efficiency Cannot Be Calculated

Paul's onto something with the notion that America has consistently adopted policies rendering us less competitive over the last 50+ years. We have lost our way as a bastion of free trade, and free enterprise.

Still, we cannot escape the trade distorting protectionism found in nearly every country with which we interact. This certainly benefits American consumers, as they buy cheaper goods, but it can be devastating to our industry. This is one, BUT NOT THE ONLY, reason our industrial base has contracted over the last several decades.

I can see the need for collective security in negotiation of truly fair trade agreements, in which the distortions of foreign protectionism are diminished. Yet to engage on this level we need to equalize our own trade distortions.

In the end we all benefit from a free America and should look to ways in which we can reinvigorate our competitiveness by removing regulatory, trade, and tax barriers to prosperity. Only when America is free and interacting with the world on a system of free enterprise can we demand our trading partners do the same.


On Dec 28 10:00 AM Paul Killinger wrote:

> You can blame trade, Wall Street or anything else you like for our
> economic malaise. But the fact is we're becoming more like Europe
> (and just as globally uncompetitive) every day.
>
> Our ONLY chance for a serious economic resurgence at this late date
> is a return to our roots, to what made our country economically great.
> And the answer to that, my friend, is CHEAP ENERGY.
>
> The truth is we have MORE domestic energy resources than any other
> nation in the world. But so long as our government gets to artificially
> decide the energy winners and losers, we're destined to join the
> many other formerly great nations of the world on the economic ash
> heap.
>
> It was a nice ride while it lasted.

100% Yields on Ecuador Bonds: A Sign of the Times

And yet populism continues to drive power to defunct ideologically-driven policymakers. You'd think humanity has sufficient data at this stage to pass judgment on collectivist politics.