Steve A. Sklar - Free Trade versus Protectionism

"Protection or Free Trade" was Henry George’s second-best-known book, with two million copies in distribution following its publication seven years after "Progress and Poverty". The newer work focused primarily on whether tariffs on imported goods can raise wages or otherwise benefit workers — a question of particular interest today, given the role of multilateral trade agreements such as the TPP in the recent Presidential election.

"Protection or Free Trade" is an invaluable expansion of the insights at the heart of "Progress and Poverty". It gives us George’s compelling thoughts not only on the fundamental defects of protectionism, but also on the conditions that (even today) give rise to its perennial popularity. Moreover, George shows us why free trade, as commonly enacted, is defective, and must be connected to the larger social issue of private property in land.

In this talk, Steve Sklar covers these points, describes and improves upon George’s thoughts on immigration, and reflects on how George’s observations on trade policy from the perspective of the helpless laborer might account for the otherwise mystifying election of a powerful landlord. He concludes by considering how George’s ideas may provide personal inspiration rather than intellectual isolation or cynical despair.

[eddtwohig]

Two points! The Robinson Caruso example fails at the point where Caruso no longer has any means to pay the worker who produces the import. At this point he must offer himself as serf or his island as land ownership. In the current world countries exhaust their natural resources, then offer their other wealth to the point of final serfdom.
The second point is the unfairness of imported goods not bearing the same amount of the costs of the importing society. The monetary cost of local production includes + or - 40% of GDP as taxation and fixed costs of the society. Each monetary unit then is circulated 2 to 4 times for local production. The basic for all societies is to produce to their maximum ability for consumption needs, for increases of productive capacity and to provide excess production to other societies.

[robe_p]

I don't agree with Steve Sklar's claim that Americans don't want the jobs worked by immigrants. Market forces in the absence of surplus labor push the wages of undesirable jobs higher. An American might find roofing in the hot sun at 15$/hr appealing unlike the same job at 7$/hr.