Would you be in favor of terminating all guest worker programs and stopping all imports...

...if, in return, you would never be issued a visa for any foreign country again and all foreign countries would stop buying US made goods?

This thread is a setup for you to expose those whom you think will answer 'yes' ?

Go back to the hole you climbed out of ...

...that suggests alot of people are under the impression that one can freely choose not to fullfill one owns side of an agreement and still expect the other side to fullfill theirs.

edit to add link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6201497&mesg_id=6201497

and it impacts peoples lives significantly.

I just threw a lit match on it.

...suggesting that terminating guest worker programs and buying american goods only would be beneficial to our economy (while at the same time
ignoring that we would be in deep trouble if the other countries treated us the same way). I'm not going to link to any specific ones. They are all over the place if you look. These posts don't refer to "fair trade". They advocate isolationism. Fasted road to becoming a third world country.

what a stoopid question....

Our Free Marketers - a misnomer if ever there was one - always favor undercutting US labor with cheap, unregulated foreign labor, no matter the impact to our citizens, no matter the unsavory conditions of those foreign sweat shops, no matter the lack of safety regulations for those cheesy foreign products.

being taken by the exploited illegal immigrants. I get called all kinds of names because of it to the point I pretty much don't reply much in these threads anymore. I know in the memory of my work life I will always defend my brothers and sisters job from this kind of money grubbing by the corporate overloads.

I'd like to add. Anything can be pretty much done by anyone but if you want your moneys worth hire an experienced local person if possible.

First, we pass all sorts of laws and regs to protect workers, to give them a fair shake, and to assure ourselves that our workers can buy our products, our homes, etc. and pay taxes to support our governments at all levels. We learned from the Henry Ford model that paying a living wage helps us all.

Then, once we've made sure that American workers have decent pay and safety, the GOP and its minions start figuring out ways to undercut those same workers. They love foreign workers, who grow up in cultures where being a demanding citizen isn't as common as we see here. They love to buy cheap goods produced from sweat shops in God Knows Where.

It is insane for Americans to oppose protecting American jobs. We need the jobs for people to live, to buy, to support themselves and their families.

some are just plain assed stoopid if you ask me. Oh I know some of those kind in my real world too. assholes all of them

it's a stupid premise.

One can be dissatisfied with a situation without supporting extremist "solutions".

To answer your question: No, but I'd be in favor of sensible trade and immigration laws.

or stopping all imports. Simply asking for fairness in the programs and trade. Do you have a problem with fairness?

Huh

I thought that US made goods went the way of the dinosaur.

Welcome to DU. :hi:

:dem:

-Laelth

:crazy:

Does that include imports of things like oil?

Of course the US exports a lot of goods and those countries would impose reciprocal agreements killing all exporting industries (grains, coal, semiconductors, aerospace, etc).


Great way to turn the US into a 3rd world nation overnight.

The sole purpose of "the economy" is to support the people living in it. The current economy can't adequately support 304 million americans.

Yes.

Stopping all imports?...

No.

As far as being denied a visa/traveling to a foreign country...

I'm happy where I am and have never been into traveling or long distance vacations.

Farthest I've ever been out of the country (excluding military service), was Montreal (and even that was pretty boring).

once you actually leave the continent... your perspective changes radically... if not you aren't paying attention.
I was as arrogant as the next American.
I wanted to think that I was a evolved, open minded American... but I look back and I was a fucking red neak compared to now.

We are really out of our league, or at least were, with * in charge.

The president has really made a difference in attitudes about the US. But we are still seen as ill educated, gun humping, red neaks.
We may be a bit more advanced on a few things, but enjoying life really isn't one of them.

26 days, that's how many vacation days I have... and that's considered LOW for the rest of Europe. My company doesn't close during the summer, being a mega corp. Most European countries have 30+ days of vacation time, 34 hours weeks (actually thats why it's so high, the extra time is counted towards time off) and full-on health care, cradle to grave.

You adjust to the astronomical taxes because things aren't as expensive in other areas. also prices are adjusted to include VAT, or sales tax in most countries (because adding 20% to 100e items would cause bloody revolts). It's nice because it means I can actually budget my money accurately.

Banks are not allowed to wholesale rape it's clients like in the US, interest rates are a bit higher for cars n houses, and credit cards are a novelty for the more well off (my inlaws have one, but we don't). banking is all done online - before that it was done wit h dial-up to a central server.

purchases use ATM at point of sale, actually that is about 10 years behind, before that it was all cash. Checks haven't existed in Holland, anyway, for at least 10 years.

We NEED trade. But we also need to start making things ourselves again!
The US was a MAJOR exporter of textiles for 2 centuries! only in the last 30 years has that evaporated!
It is insane, truly insane that we let our clothes be made in such cruel conditions and still charge so much for them.

*sigh*

I don't want to reject Visa's because I'd dependent on mine to be able to STAY here in Europe. Honestly I am torn. IF I was offered a position that paid well, covered moving, etc, I really don't know if I'd take it right now.

I have security of mind here.

What do I have in the US?

Many oppose trade with (or at least want hefty tariffs place on trade with) China, Mexico and any number of other poor countries because they have the "advantage" of low wages.

OTOH, during the discussion here "Buy American" clause in the stimulus bill earlier this year there were many who claimed that Canada (and by extension, Europe, Australia, Japan and every other "rich" country) had an unfair advantage over US firms because their companies benefited from government-run national health care system, while our companies do not. If one wanted to, you could argue that poor countries have one kind of "unfair" advantage and rich countries have a different kind of "unfair" advantage, thus making any trade arguable "unfair".

Practically everyone supports "trade" in theory. It's the specifics of actual trade that causes controversy. We like exports because they generate jobs and wealth. Most of us like certain imports because of price, quality, or something special about a particular product. But each import (though it may have some consumers who love it) also has an American competitor who would love to not face the competition if there is any way out of it. (If I owned a winery, I might love to see French and Italian wine to be subject to a hefty tariff. You may love your favorite French wine, but tariffs would make it easier me to sell my wine.)

Some want each country to be able to raise and lower tariffs at will, because each government is there to protect its own citizens, not the world's population in general. (Of course, there are also those who believe that each government has the right to not cooperate with other countries on international rules regarding climate change, thinking it is in the best economic interests of their citizens to make their own decisions about pollution irrespective of other countries' wishes.)

Some want internationally agreed upon rules for international trade or global climate change because what one country does affects every other country. (Again those who treasure national interests over international cooperation in trade issues are often on the other side of the debate when it comes to climate change issues, i.e. countries need to cooperate and follow a common set of rules rather than each pursuing their own narrowly defined "national interest".

One thing that distinguishes progressives, IMHO, is that we are not just concerned with ourselves (me, my family, my friends, etc.) but are interested in what is best for the larger community. What we may divide on is whether that "larger community" is the US and its people or the world and its people.