Some trust fund prosecutor, got off-message at Yale, thinks he’s gonna run this up the flagpole, make a name for himself, maybe get elected some two-bit, no-name congressman from nowhere, with the result that Russia or China can suddenly start having, at our expense, all the advantages we enjoy here. No, I tell you. No, sir. “But, Danny, these are sovereign nations.” Sovereign nations. What is a sovereign nation, but a collective of greed run by one individual? “But, Danny, they’re codified by the U.N. charter!” Legitimized gangsterism on a global basis that has no more validity than an agreement between the Crips and the Bloods! Corruption charges. Corruption? Corruption ain’t nothing more than government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulation. That’s Milton Friedman. He got a goddamn Nobel Prize. We have laws against it precisely so we can get away with it. Corruption is our protection. Corruption is what keeps us safe and warm. Corruption is why you and I are prancing around here instead of fighting each other for scraps of meat out in the streets. Corruption is why we win.
The above quote comes from Syriana. It’s one of the many very controversial (yet true, at least to some degree) quotes from this terrific movie. Definitely a must see for anyone interested in the Peak Oil.
Uh…I don’t get it.
Seeing analysis of what the open unregulated trade with China is doing to America, I’ll say “welcome government regulation!”.
No to corruption, but definitely a measure of regulation is needed.
Net Neutrality is in risk of becoming the new China Trade -esque victim.
If anything, the lack of regulations only lead to corruption induced prosperity of the telcom companies on the backs of the end users.
It’s a very complicated subject. Sure, some government regulations are needed. The hardest thing is to find the balance between the free market and the market regulated by the government.
Internal might be tougher, but there’s certainly no question in regards to external.
When the inner economy is being shreaded to null by outter influence, I think it’s nigh good time to put a block on imports and encourage inside growth of industry and employment.
There’s no such thing as ‘inside growth’ nowadays. You’re either in the premier league (joining the globalisation) or you’re out of the game (like the Eastern block after the WW2, Middle East, Far East, parts of Africa, parts of South America,…). Only after opening up to the world you can grow – look what’s been happeneing to China, India, the Eastern block in the past 10-15 years.
On the expense of the USA citizens.
They could open up and none would listen, infact China WAS under a trade embargo.
It is that when the WEST opened up to them that they begun to prosper…by exploiting the stupidity of the west’s capitalistic regime.
Economic freedom is BAD.
It destroys the nation’s economy, it destroys things such as net neutrality.
It’s BAD.
There should be economic PRIVILEDGES, to a degree.
But never complete freedom.
Sometimes, being up-tight-stuck to a certain principle, even one good in core idology, makes you no better than any other zealot and it will be your very own undoing.
The basis to existence is ADAPTATION, just like everything else, freedoms need also adapt as well as regulations.
So free-unrestricted trade has been tried, we’ve seen the consequences, time to pull back and reconsider where to lie the bounds.
In some ways, I envy America, in others, I sure am glad I ain’t living there…
“Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative.”
– H. G. Wells
I believe it is not possible to achieve 10%+ of annual GDP growth without being open to the world and globalisation.
Sure USA is exploiting China. Sure the world evolves at the expense of USA – crude oil prices due to the increased demand, reduced foreign debt, etc. It’s a sort of symbiosis, because the developing countries also create new markets for US products. Sure there need to be some laws – for example drugs or weapons (which create corruption – see Lord of War), but trade should be basically without any barriers. In my opinion, that is.
USA doesn’t exploit China, it THINK it exploits it.
Or rather, the rich people at the USA.
The regular USA citizen is taking a beating for this.
And at the end, it’s China which exploits the USA and swiftly and repeatedly provide kicks to the balls of its economy.
The so called new market in China is so micro, it’s comparable to the nano level in regard to the USA Market to which China supplies.
The idea was to sell to China, in the end, all production is being done in China, the majority of the export is from/in China (china exporting, the west importing), USA only buys buys buys…good way to collapse the country’s economy.
Unrestricted trade leads to self-destruction.
Unrestricted trade, on all levels, also means the voiding of net neutrality.
Say goodbye to your blog and ‘free’ voice.
The uneven balance between the export/import in China is changing. As China grows its demands grows too (crude oil, for one).
I don’t quite see the relation between net neutrality and free trade.
Internal free trade means the traders can do what they want inorder to ‘effectively compete’, any attempt to restrict, conform or otherwise regulate means inhibiting the totally free trade.
China’s largest demad at the moment is iron, they seem to be heavy into industrialization.
However, you fail to realise that they’re under totalitarian regime which objects capitalism and private entrepenuerism and that its so called “mass market” is made of rather very poor citizens who receive minor government grants in order to make a living and as such has next to zero chance to become something similar to the USA where one could actually develop a massive consumer market.
And this is just where this entire trade innitiative with China failed blindly in the first place.
There is nothing to cater to, there won’t be demand because there’s no consumer base to have demands.
The only shopper is the government and its sunctioned/subsided industries (mainly the steel ones ATM).
And while “gov is rich”, it still doesn’t mean they’ll be needing really anything from the west, they’re smarter than the west, they learn well from the west, and they know exactly what to take inorder to become strong and independent.
At most they need materials which naturaly lack in their ground’s minerals, but beyond those elements, they’re quite stand-alone.
I think that you over-simplify things. China stand-alone? Without the huge $ investments the country would be still in the middle ages.
“And at the end, it’s China which exploits the USA and swiftly and repeatedly provide kicks to the balls of its economy.”
I agree with Ori Klein on this one. China is exploiting the US economy and also now has us in a financial stranglehold that will be hard for us to overcome.
Wow that was a great quote. I really like it… Thanks for sharing with the community