Comments for 0 at http://www.tradereform.org , comment 1 to 2 out of 2 comments http://www.tradereform.org Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:20:04 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.tradereform.org/content/view/1136/52/#comment-177 It's up to American consumers to start exerting their influence on behalf of their own economy. Whenever possible, buy goods Made in the USA. Do not buy goods made in China. Please see "Dollar to the Giant" on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUj8leZxmK8 for some valuable insights into our relationship with China. - George Krainovich Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:34:32 +0100 http://www.tradereform.org/content/view/1136/52/#comment-169 There is a correlation between the current financial market meltdown and our trade meltdown that was a precursor to the current economic problems. Neither market has the proper oversight. Markets work for everyone when there are rules and someone is watching the activities in the market. The human condition is such that when people are tempted with great wealth, some will cheat the system. Ronald Reagan said, "trust but verify". In the financial meltdown unfolding before our very eyes, we trusted but didn't verify. As a result, otherwise virtuous men were tempted to be not so virtuous and began "gaming" the system since nobdoy was watching and/or they bought the watchers. In trade, we made even more gross mistakes. Besides making bad agreements and then ignoring the agreement and the rules, we trusted foreign nations known not to be virtuous and we expected them to behave like we do. They never have been trustworthy before so why would we expect them to be so now? When we began deregulating many of our markets, it could be argued that they were, in fact, over-regulated and maybe even stifled. So we proceeded, as we always seem to do, to go to the other extreme and abandoned proper oversight allowing people to ignore the rules and "game" the system. Markets do NOT function properly when there are no rules. We do not have "free trade" or "free markets" without rules. Without rules, we can't have agreements/contracts. Without agreements/contracts we can't have laws. Without laws, there is no redress and we have chaos. Does this sound a bit familiar? In our present environment of trade anarchy, the most aggressive, ruthless, unethical, immoral win and those of us who follow the rules and are guided by ethics and morals lose. Goodbye "American Dream" Thank you Washington - Frank Shannon Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:48:05 +0100