The Left Screws Up Again

Well it didn’t seem like a major issue to the USA when they tied the provision of “Buy American Only” to Obama’s stimulus spending a few months ago. They only blinked slightly when Canada balked at this blatant infringement of the Free Trade Agreement. Although the Canadian Federal Government didn’t take the bait several rural communities and municipalities reacted with similar “Buy Canadian only” threats, which of course will hurt Canada much more than the States. However now the Americans have ruffled China’s feathers as the Chi-Coms have announced that they will impose a “buy China only” provision in their stimulus spending packages in retaliation for the US move. This is another blunder by the Liberal Democrats that tried using protectionism as a carrot to woo voters but the reality is that this will cause a further decline in the economy as foreign markets close their doors on US goods. Free Trade is a good thing if the traders play on a reasonably level field because, the access to large markets is extremely important to our businesses and industries. The Canadian socialists want to do the same thing in Canada but haven’t been as vocal as the US Democratic Party but trust the fact that if given the chance the NDP would close the borders in a blink of an eye. It reminds me of the Soviet Union a few decades ago that found it very difficult to sustain their economy while living behind an “Iron Curtain”. The ruble was basically worthless both inside as well as outside the USSR. In fact I remember when we (my Company) first negotiated with the Soviets on developing a joint business venture within their borders we found that the only way to repatriate our profit in dollars was to take payment in product such as Vodka and then sell it on the open market. It never ceases to amaze me how the left can disregard common sense and basic economics in an attempt to appeal to their base which in most cases is fanatical about issues with no regard to reason, history or lessons learned. Think about it in this way: If you lived in a family of 10 people who each had an acre of land and grew a different crop. If the head of the family had $100 and proceeded to buy some crops from each of the family members and then each of the members in turn bought some product from one another the $100 would continue to rotate around the table and everyone hopefully could continue to eat a nice variety of different crops. The problem is that the $100 would never increase, nor would there ever be any other products to purchase outside of what could be found on the 10 acres of family farmland. Hopefully the current US administration will realize the error of their ways before this trade war grows any bigger but don’t hold your breath.