Reply #35: Basically, it someone is in favor of these "free" trade agreements...

[brentspeak]

...then they are either a) highly gullible; or b) dishonest.

The cheap Chinese crap that's been flooding our ports saves American consumers maybe only a few pennies, if at that. Why? Because the savings of paying the slave-labor wages are not passed onto the consumer. Some Chinese worker is paid 40 cents/hour to make the crap; the piece of crap is then shipped over the United States; the piece of crap is then sold in a Toys R' Us or a Wal-Mart or a Best Buy at just a few pennies less than for what an American-made product would be priced at; the corporation which is selling the piece of crap makes off like bandits with a gigantic profit.

In other words, the "low Chinese wages = low prices for American consumers" argument is a flat-out lie.

BTW, can you explain just why anyone should give a rat's-behind what the majority of economists think on this matter -- or for any economic matter, for that matter? Their track-record is pretty dismal.