Chiding the Wall Street Journal
Posted by SCapozzola on May 12th, 2008From Saturday’s Wall Street Journal:
China Trade Isn’t Helping U.S. Jobs
May 10, 2008; Page A10
Your editorial (”Indiana to Beijing,” May 6) flunks a basic test that most of our children learn in high school: how to balance an account. The Journal chides Hillary Clinton’s criticism of China’s mercantilist trade policies that distort the free market by citing export figures from Indiana.
However, the Journal does not factor in imports, which have led to a record $256 billion trade deficit with China, costing Indiana more than 45,000 jobs since 2001.
China’s unfair trade practices, including currency manipulation, dumping, subsidies, and lax labor and environmental enforcement have contributed to these market distortions and job losses. Criticism of these policies is not anti-China, but rather pro-rule of law and pro-free market.
Why is the Journal — or for that matter the U.S.-China Business Council — supporting practices by an authoritarian regime that distort the free market?
Perhaps remedial lessons in arithmetic and trade theory are in order.
Scott N. Paul
Executive Director
Alliance for American Manufacturing
Washington
May 14th, 2008 at 3:19 am
One need look no further than the recent spate of recalls on products made in China, namely, those that ended up killing people and pets. As it turns out, the products were adulterated in order to either fool the testing to determine product acceptance or to stretch the profit relaized by diluting the product with filler. This no doubt is a sad testament to the free trade ideologues that flourish in our government and on Wall Street. To the robber barons, its a “no holds barred” approach to padding bank accounts.
Regards,
QP