Toby :: Free-Trade

[tamekapatricio]

best video fo' me today!

[JasonAdam83]

Like some other conservative YTers, I can't believe I agree with Toby, either! But he does have some good moments. This and the scene in which he's telling the Congressmen why Toyota's competition is actually good for Ford are among my faves.

[PaperbackWizard]

You know, from the second to about the middle of the fifth season, a lot of the values espoused by The West Wing (especially Toby Ziegler) were moderate to conservative. A lot of that had to do with the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and "everyone being a Republican, whether they knew it or not"; but many forget that free trade is an extension of free market capitalism, and "liberals" used to believe in it.

Now, though, we have protectionists in office.

[hdsport82]

Always liked this scene especially the 'activist vacation' line...

[nudist1033]

I love every scene that Toby has with this policewoman. Especially when they're inside and he suggests that she shoots her gun at the protestors.

[DRPatJon]

"Free trade stops wars!" Yay Toby!

[noquarter610]

I can't believe I agree with Toby on something! Too bad our president doesn't... its amazing how much "progressive" labor and Lou Dobbs nativists have in common on this issue.

[polusdumsiderapascet]

This is what I love about the West Wing: It prompts these kinds of discussions. And whether you agree with each other or not, and however angry you all are at each other, there's a debate about free trade between total strangers that's been started by a popular television series. It's television that makes you think.

And also Toby is hilarious when he rants. I love that, too.

[epiphany55]

Free trade would be an even better idea if workers and consumers had the means to form more co-operative and democratic workplaces and markets.

The problem with the current brand of so-called "free" trade, is that monopoly and concentrated wealth now exist on a global scale. They are able to act as the unaccountable, distorting middlemen between what would be freer, more diverse, more competitive and more perfect markets without them.

Labour and consumerism continues to be institutionalised.

[PaperbackWizard]

@epiphany55 It's more that free trade only works in free societies. You can't have a true free trade agreement with an oppressive government. That's what was behind the Cuban embargo. It wasn't just communism; it was the fact that Castro oppressed his own people, like Chavez and Ahmadinejad. You can't have free trade with dictators.

[TheSlimViper]

No outdated information applies to this

[mujaku]

The Stolper and Samuelson theorem (1941) says that the wages of workers would rise higher than the costs of imported goods *when a tariff is imposed*! Basically the theorem refutes the belief free trade will guarantee the rise of real wages of workers. In other words, international trade actually lowers real wages and thus makes imported goods more expensive because workers have less to spend on goods.

[fling93]

As I read it, the Stolper and Samuelson says the wage of the scarce factor of production will decline whereas that of the abundant factor will increase. Basically, it predicts that free trade causes the wages of unskilled labor to go down in developed nations and up in developing nations, and vice versa for more advanced nations.

In other words, trade restrictions only help some workers by hurting others (while hurting all the consumers).

[1Raven4u]

If the US government was corrupted, what makes one think that a one world government would not be corrupted?

What happens when that one government is corrupted? There is no other choice and then the people are screwed and things are not so peaceful. The entire crap about free trade promoting peace is a lie to sell you so that the power elites can reign in the ultimate of all power; control of the world!

Free trade means that elites have the freedom to control and ruin you and your nation.

[jct329]

No, free trade means the elites have less control, that the market controls things.  If elites are free to make controls on people as they see fit, they will make the controls how they see fit. Free trade allows people to exchange goods and services with each other across national boundaries.

[LibertyJedi]

The elite run a rigged game and their game is not free trade. 19,000 pages of NAFTA is not free trade, it is 19,000 pages of pay off to the elites that call it free trade to divide the people: that is the first rule in ruling: divide the people. I agree world gov will be worse than current as the corruption will be un stoppable. True free trade is the answer as it destroys rigged games currently used by the elites.

[scottferrie]

Toby is right about free trade, also those people on the bus are really communists calling themselves anarchists. I am an anarchist, an anarcho-capitalist libertarian.

[GabeTheArchAngel]

haha, times have changed alright

[ScottfromTexas]

No, he is wrong. The "cheap" goods are also of poor quality. We are losing our sovereignty....it is no coincidence that the globalists are using this lie of benefits from "free trade" to push for One World Government.

[defjam99b]

last time i looked at the earth, it was all one planet, no borders ... those black lines and pastel shaded countries are all in your imagination, they don't really exist, y'know. it's one planet, one people, no-ones going anywhere, so you probably want to start figuring out a better way of getting along.

... outmoded tribalistic ideas of nations and sovereignty, how very 19th century of you, how quaint.

[defjam99b]

the power of global-capital and benefits of free-trade are the best and perhaps only chance for a tolerable and worthwhile human existance for vast swathes of this planet's population, a popultaion that is currently forced to endure grinding poverty and conditions you should consider intolerable, and for whom, idling their time with self-indulgent conspiracy theories on youtube comments would be the very least of their priorities.

you're looking down the wrong end of the telescope.

[blackflower75]

Amen xx.

[DeAnte85]

If you're refering to sham "free trade" agreements such as NAFTA or CAFTA, then yes. However in real free trade between businesses and individuals from different nations, something we rarely ever do, our sovereignt is neither threatened or impeded upon.