free trade: too good to be true

Did you parents ever warn you of deals that are too good to be true? Well, "free trade" is one such deal. Its main benefit is low prices and as we saw earlier, low prices are bad for people.

Free trade is, as the ads say, good for consumers. Consumers being the mindless automatons that consume things. This is how large multi-national companies think of you, the American citizen. They think of you as the American consumer, the last step in a long process that destroys value and shifts money into their pockets.

You are the last step in a long process, but fear not, you are also the top line in their spreadsheet. Because they are the bottom line and we all know what that means: it is the bottom line that counts. They are the main beneficiary of the long chain of consumption. You are just a line item, a cog in the big machine of consumption.

Free trade is only good for consumers to the extent that it induces them to consume more. Consumers are only valuable if they consume items. And what that means is nothing more than incessantly buy and throw away stuff. The throw away step is an integral part of the equation as it is necessary to make room for new stuff. If consumers do not throw out old stuff or if they do not throw it out fast enough, then the final step in the process will jam up and the reaction will stop. And when the reaction slows down or stops -even temporarily- then the flow of wealth into the pockets of the rich slows down or stops.

Free trade is intended to keep prices low, or below real cost, so consumers find it easy to buy more. They are lured into buying more because prices are constantly dropping as goods get commoditized. Commoditization, although "feared" by companies is a key step in the "value chain." Value chain is a misnomer and the process should be called "destruction of value chain" but not only does that sound bad, it is also a mouthful. So we prefer the shorter and crisper label, value chain.

Free trade destroys local economies by finding cheaper items and especially cheaper labor abroad. It can do so because one key cost factor is conveniently ignored: the cost of transportation and shipping. If one can find cheaper labor on the other side of the globe then go for it, because you can ignore the cost of shipping. One can fish salmon in Norway, ship it to China to clean and bring it back to Norway and sell it for less than it would cost to have it cleaned locally.

We are told this benefits the Norwegian consumer. Never mind the Norwegian worker who just lost his or her job. They can be retrained for another job.

Such miracles are possible because of cheap oil. Oil is cheap for several reasons: first, because we choose not to pay the cost of pollution and cleanup. We only pay the cost of exploration and pumping. Second, because we guarantee cheap access through our military.

Let there be no mistake. The main function of our military is "to protect our freedom to access cheap oil." Note that that too is a mouthful so we like to shorten the message. We simply state that the goal of our military is "to protect our freedom." That sounds better too. And it is easier to remember. Besides, the latter part is self-evident. You only have to look at the wars we fight. We fight wars for oil. It is as simple as that.

The military is but one tax we all pay so we can buy more gadgets and eat more food. But it is a tax we willingly pay because we know that "freedom is not free." Neither is free trade.