#2080:Re: #2072:Free trade and Haiti: Gill replies to Heinl

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 1990 06:40:54 -0600
From: Mark Gill <markgill@midwest.net>
To: Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>
Subject: Re: #2072: Re: #2063/ Re: #2032/Free trade and Haiti: Heinl asks..... (fwd)

this is why "free trade" seems so attractive.....that is, that the
consumer pays less.....again, the consumer is the "god" to be pleased in
free trade....

in this part of missouri, south of St Louis where Bob Corbett lives,
there have been 5 closings within the last 2 months of manufacturers,
with these five moving to either Mexico or some other country.....they
are moving with the idea that they can compete better from another
country, as costs are lower, such as labor costs, insurance, benefits,
etc....

well, these closings leave around 2000 people out of work, and some who
have worked for over 20 years.....now, under free trade, the theory says
that these displaced workers (a) should be retrained or (b) be absorbed
into the local economy thru other jobs......but, this is the weak part
of the theory....

little real effort is made to retrain and the theory does not take into
account whether the economy can absorb displaced workers or not....

in Haiti, there is no retraining available and there is precious little
even in the US.....and, please inform me as to how the economy of Haiti
can absorb displaced farmers?

in Haiti, the govt could subsidize the local producers, IF it
would.....this sort of thing happens all the time in the US and it is
called corporate welfare.....farmers are subsidized all the time....it
is called protectionism and remember that something like 2000 products
are protected in the US.....

it is not correct to demand that Haiti enter into "free trade", forced
thru the policies of the World Bank/IMF while other countries do not
follow the theory......

i contend that free trade will have negative results until a country has
a stable internal agriculture......Haiti does not and will not until the
govt corrects internal wrongs....