Apparently I was supposed to create a new thread, which is here. A sample:
3rdNipp1e 107 points
You’ve quite been an outspoken critic of free trade theory, remarking that it impoverishes wealthy nation’s standards of living down to third-world levels, and I must admit I’ve been persuaded to mostly agree with your point of view over time. However, do you believe there is a nationalist case to be made for only allowing free trade policies with first-world countries that have higher standards of living than the U.S., while rejecting free trade with countries with lower standards of living? I don’t see how Americans lose in that situation as industries in free trade countries would be more incentivized to outsource their jobs to America than vice versa due to our lower wages, which would in turn raise the standard of living for Americans. This also limits the incentive for domestic employers to hire foreign replacements, except in cases where sufficiently qualified laborers can only be found abroad. Due to the trading partner having the higher standard of living (at least for the time being), emigration becomes more of an issue than immigration for the U.S., while the opposite occurs for the country with which we are trading freely. Thoughts?On a related note, will you ever present a positive case for protectionism or tariffs in the near future? Thanks.
[–]voxday[S] 111 points
Yes, in fact, that is precisely the strategy that has been ruthlessly pursued by the Asian “tigers” to develop their economies. “Free Trade up” is also the method historically used by the United States.And I do plan to write more on free trade and protectionism in the future, but not any time soon. I have three other books in the works.
[–]bestinlife 30 points
As it seems this year is going to see many vicious battles, I’m sure many of us are wondering this: how do you sanitize the skulls of your enemies to ensure there are no diseases before using them to build your throne or to drink from?
[–]voxday[S] 35 points
Malwyn urinates in them, then gives them to the dwarrow for silvering.
I conceded defeat to Milo, as he managed 1,634 comments and 1,797 points to my 628 and 1,123, but he was gracious in victory and wrote to say that he was “proud of you anyway”. Despite my being late, the AMA was high energy throughout, thanks to the credible showing of the VFM and assorted Dread Ilk.