Quote :

"well it's not a big surprise most Americans aren't experts in much other than their primary vocation and what's on tv"

i am also an internet expert thank you

10/4/2010 10:18:23 PM

Quote :

"that doesn't stop us from polling them about every other nuanced subject and over-analyzing the results"

I'm not sure I believe that Americans are over-polled. Unless of course you have some polling data to back that up?

10/4/2010 11:44:18 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Fzm1hEiDQ

10/5/2010 10:08:32 AM

^^ hahaha

10/5/2010 10:11:23 AM

Quote :

"the headline tweet should read "Majority of Americans don't know anything about trade or economic theory and are therefore unqualified to answer questions on such topics, and the answers they do give are irrelevant"

10/5/2010 1:52:51 PM

Sadly their answers aren't irrelevant. Hence candidates and elected officials who talk about the horror of trade with China.

10/5/2010 3:12:28 PM

antifreeze in your toothpaste?

Lead and cadmium on kid's toys?

tainted heparin to thin your blood?


there is some legitimate horror in trading with China.

10/5/2010 3:21:05 PM

Fair enough (although if we're going to pay for fucking regulatory agencies, why aren't they screening this shit out?), mostly I was referring to people who think our trade deficit with China will cause the implosion of world capitalism. Or, God forbid, those people that yell about jobs going overseas. Especially when those same people scream up and down about how great the free market is.

I've never seen a tea partier say, "No, we must allow jobs to go overseas! It's the free market! To stop the process would involve increased government regulation!"

10/5/2010 3:31:57 PM

I suspect the argument usually involves a "but" somewhere. Free trade is great, but we have such a overbearing regulatory state that Americans cannot compete freely, therefore we need to restrict trade with China.

It is a bad argument, but it serves the need for internal contradiction.

10/5/2010 4:23:41 PM

Maybe for some. I think the majority of the people espousing such views use them to scare people of Red Dawn 2: Panda Dawn. That way they don't complain when tariffs or some such are set up to help special interests.

But like you said, it's a bad argument anyway. Maybe we're overbearing, but nobody in this country is getting executed for making faulty products.

10/6/2010 2:25:46 PM

when i think of the biggest threats to free trade I think tariffs and quotas. and other trade restrictions If both US and foreign companies have to meet the same safety standards, i dont think you can call it a breach of free trade.

10/6/2010 3:24:49 PM

Quote :

"If both US and foreign companies have to meet the same safety standards, i dont think you can call it a breach of free trade."

No one does.

10/6/2010 5:16:31 PM