(This is a corrected text of an earlier version of this post which had errors--my appologies--DWD)
The liberal media may have yet more power of persuasion than even most conservatives already believe. There are several misconceptions that many conservatives uphold that are inconsistent with a conservative point of view, at least with respect to economic issues. With appologies to some of my conservative friends, I offer the following as one that I consider to be among the most common such misconceptions (more to follow at a later date):
Misconception: Outsourcing is bad.
"Oursourcing" is a term that has been seized upon and disparaged by liberals who desire to put (yet more) government constrains on free trade. The primary critics of outsourcing are labor unions and those particular businesses that are impacted by "foreign competition." Both free trade and competition are good things--the more the better.
Many thousands of common products that we buy and sell each day are the product of free market cooperation among multiple nations worldwide. This has been true since, and even before, the founding of American. International free trade has helped all countries worldwide to raise their living standards--including the U.S.
Today, nearly every country "outsources" TO the U.S. in some manner or other. When we ask government to curtail outsourcing we are asking for more constraints to personal freedom and to free trade. U.S. trade restrictions are typically met in kind with trade restrictions from the targeted nation which, in turn, harm U.S. business interests. It's a cut-of-your-nose-to-spite-your-face thing.
If you're not already peeved, let me offer a final comment: the slogan "Buy American" is a knock against free trade (and personal freedom) and it is a vote for more government power over freedom of association and more constraints to free trade. I LOVE American made products, but nothing has raised the quality of Fords and Chevys (and kept car prices down) more than competition from Toyota and Honda and the like. The same is true of all products, and we citizens are the benefactors.
The basic concept is: whenever we ask government to control or regulate anything having to do with personal freedom--in the long run, we lose.
Have a nice day,
DWD
As a strong Conservative I totally agree with your assessment on government regulation and taxes. I work for an "Outsource Company" we are US based and have operations in over 30 countries. My experience confirms your assessment as I see taxes and Government regulations as a primary cause of driving business to low cost outsource operations as it makes manufacturing in the US non-completitive on the world market. A limited government would in fact see a return of jobs to the US but unfortunately this is not likely to happen in the near term and as a result we will continue to see high unemployment rates for years.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments. I will be addressing high U.S. taxes in an upcoming post.
ReplyDelete