'Significant' Risk of Protectionism: Globalization Backlash as Markets Crumble

china is addicted on the export growth model like europe and now the export market is gone! they were in the game by recycling all the dollars back to the usa by buying fannie and freddie debt and us gov't debt. they were a part of the cycle to keep the scam of international trade going. international trade has not worked for the USA as we have shipped our best jobs overseas and now rely on others to produce most of our consumer goods. if you don't have the jobs you can't buy the goods! america used loans to afford everything the last few years, it was not due to individuals earning and buying stuff. it was individuals,corporations, gov't...borrowing from foreigners and buying their stuff. at the same time, shipping our wealth and jobs overseas. We need trade that is balanced in order for the system to work in the long term. my bet is protectionism will come back as the public has no understanding that now is the worst time to stop the game. you will see more crys to kick out people in the USA under h1B visas because americans can't find jobs. we need to offer illegals a free flight home and $500 to go! they wont have a job soon anyhow like many americans!

If we did a better job on protecting the security on the quality of goods and stop black-marketing of our goods overseas, then we wouldn't need protectionism. We Americans bow down to anybody they say we are not trading fair. These same countries have huge trade surplus with us. America when are we going to quit being suckers to the world?

Hello all. We are a tipping point in America. It is all balanced on the consumer having enough money to consume. With the price of government services on the rise and the stagnation and degradation of workers take home pay and American companies going overseas and still charging ever inflating prices for some goods. The consumer that makes up 2/3's of the economy does not have enough money in their pocket to spend also has credit cards that wont let them spend money they don't have. Ouch!

jus make the damn numbers balance... http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html#2008 and make so-call American company's support American export like they support China export... People in America need to realize jus what got America in this shape...cheap... yes so-call cheap items from a foreign land. quote*Wal-Mart firmly believes in local procurement. We recognize that by purchasing quality products, we can generate more job opportunities, support local manufacturing and boost economic development. Over 95% of the merchandise in our stores in China is sourced locally. We have established partnerships with nearly 20,000 suppliers in China. *end quote! Now! if there be 182 country's making items for the world to buy and they have only 5% of the pie in China...duh! This company makes the nice people of China support their currency(yuan) by keeping it in their country working for the people there.... but with the yuan going up in value and the US dollar going down...all the foreign items that the American consumer buys thinking it is cheap has went up in price. People...its all about the currency and to keep a currency strong you got to keep it floating around the country you live in so it can work for you. For the past 12 years all them US dollars are being shipped overseas to a foreign bank and with the American worker not making anything for the foreigner to buy the "we the people" have to turn to the "second" largest employer in America(Uncle Sam) to sell "we the people" debt in order to get all them dollars back! 50 years ago a foreigner would had given their left nut for a US dollar or a Hershey's chocolate bar and today the same foreigner has got Uncle Sam and the American consumer by both all the while Hershey is moving the chocolate factory to Mexico. Wake up! America and think "MADE IN AMERICA." quote*"Considering that there are over 30,000 ships at sea this morning," writes James Carlton, director of the Williams College-Mystic Seaport Maritime Studies Program, in an e-mail, "the total number of organisms and species in this global 'bioflow' on the morning your readers read your piece could be staggering - billions of individuals, and thousands of species." Indeed, scientists have long considered ballast water the primary way invasive aquatic organisms are introduced. From the zebra mussel's arrival in the Great Lakes, to an American jellyfish severely disrupting Black Sea fisheries, the potential costs of accidental introduction of a species to new homes can be tremendous. Aquatic invasives cost the US $9 billion yearly, according to estimates by David Pimentel, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. Zebra and quagga mussels (a cousin to the zebra) alone cost the $1 billion annually.*end quote! tats $9 billion in hidden taxes to ALL AMERICAN TAXPAYERS.....cheap ain't chic and it cost America jobs!

Globalization may work and may not work depending who you are: for example, if you are us and your partern is china, US should not globalize because it will send all the jobs and technologies away to their competitors, if you are China, you want to have globalization, because you can manafacture all the junks and send them over for US consumption and therefore make forturne. Depending on which side you are on, you can approve and disapprove globalization. Also, if you are corporation who wants to make a huge profit, you want to have globalization so that you can utilize cheap labor and open up more market. If you are a citizen of us who works in the auto industry, you do not want to have your jobs ship overseas and be globalized. Unfortunately, the big corporations runs the government anyways, so therefore most of us becomes the victims of globalization.

Protectionism is only protectionism when applied to particular industries for reasons that are about political pork; and protectionism is only protectionism when it altogether shuts off competition from imports. On the other hand, general regulation to insure reasonable balance of trade isn't protectionism. It's survival- any national economy subjected to massive and ongoing trade deficits eventually bleeds out completely. The sort of imbalance we've experienced this decade is absolutely unsustainable, and only lasted as long as it did by amassing a tremendous external debt, every bit as large as the national public debt.

Buy American... Smith and Wesson....This is a melt down that is not stopping...

BillDaCat: Consumers buy what is the best, what gives them the highest performance/price (bang for the buck). That is a law. You should not expect people buy a Japanese or American product only because it is made in Japan or the US. I buy what gives me the most inexpensive quality ride, that is a Toyota/Honda. Get over it.

Love change everything? Let's talk about love!

ask G.M. why theycrushed their first HYBRID modeels even before TOYOTA came out with their first one? Doen't anyone watch nightline any more? G.M. liked the profits on their trucks and BIG cars over fuel efficient gas guzzelers.

The American consumer is king and we can do whatever we want to. BUY AMERICAN products and services. It help's us ALL! We are the only one's who abide by the rules of the various trade agreements we have made over the last 20 years.

Protectionism in bad economic times is the absolute worse thing to do. We need access to markets, if we close to them, they close to us. Part of the Great Depression was the issue of protective tariffs. Globalization was just part of "bigger is better" mentality that began with deregulation in the Reagan era and the support of big business in the Bush era. Not since the late 1800s (pre T.Roosevelt's Sqare Deal) has so much wealth been centered on so few people. The names may change but the attitudes have not. Time for middle class revolution.

Free trade would be OK if there was a reasonable balance of trade. But with the US in huge trade deficit positions, the result is that we are giving our wealth away. The US is becoming poorer and China etc. are becoming richer. More protectionism (not completely) would be good for the US.

Isn't it amazing how if even one person criticizes the concept of free trade then all of a sudden hundreds of talking heads appear on every news station the very NEXT evening trying to convince us of how absolutely wonderful it is to keep exporting American jobs overseas, how swell it is to outsource office jobs to India, and how brilliant it is to substitute skilled craft workers born here with illegal immigrants. We are constantly told what idiots we are to expect our elected leaders to protect the citizens of this country from loss of jobs and good incomes. Isn't it amazing that corporate leaders here can pay so many experts at once, and that journalists buy it hook, line, and sinker because, they, too, were taught at the university that supporting and helping your fellow citizen is a dumb thing to do? It is high time to punish the corporate traitors in this nation for their institutional violence against our citizens. Keep the pocket books closed until such time as they start bragging about creating jobs right here in your town instead of braying about how proud they are to send jobs overseas. When was the last time you heard an American corporate leader brag about creating jobs here?

Isn't it amazing how if even one person criticizes the concept of free trade then all of a sudden hundreds of talking heads appear on every news station the very NEXT evening trying to convince us of how absolutely wonderful it is to keep exporting American jobs overseas, how swell it is to outsource office jobs to India, and how brilliant it is to substitute skilled craft workers born here with illegal immigrants. We are constantly told what idiots we are to expect our elected leaders to protect the citizens of this country from loss of jobs and good incomes. Isn't it amazing that corporate leaders here can pay so many experts at once, and that journalists buy it hook, line, and sinker because, they, too, were taught at the university that supporting and helping your fellow citizen is a dumb thing to do? It is high time to punish the corporate traitors in this nation for their institutional violence against our citizens. Keep the pocket books closed until such time as they start bragging about creating jobs right here in your town instead of braying about how proud they are to send jobs overseas. When was the last time you heard an American corporate leader brag about creating jobs here?

To everything there is limit. When limit is crossed things fail. There is limit of Greed in Capitalism. We crossed the limit and capitalism has failed. Communism in Russia failed when they crossed the limit of personal freedom. Imperialism failed when king forgot about people. Now capitalism has failed and socilism will emerge. Socilism should alos have limit of protection. Over protection will take away creativity and competition and economic growth will be strangle. Main thing do we have honest finacial leader who can lead us in this time? Greensan failed miserably . Is there someone individual or group who can help in this situation? May be we need to listen to Soros.

free trade is broken and won't be fixed soon, gov'ts will be forced by politics to cut H1B visas. why are companies lobbing for increased levels when americans are getting fired left and right. yeah, there are no americans to do that job. the truth is a cheap supply of labor will be cut off to boost the CEO's and board of directors pay! Foreign workers under H1B visas should be sent home before and american is fired! Our trade system needs changes so it is more balanced. You can't have a country like the USA borrowing from foreigners so we can turn around and afford to buy their products. individuals,corporations, banks, gov't all borrowed from the foreigners to be able to buy their products. now, with no credit the game is over!

Isn't it amazing how if even one person criticizes the concept of free trade then all of a sudden hundreds of talking heads appear on every news station the very NEXT evening trying to convince us of how absolutely wonderful it is to keep exporting American jobs overseas, how swell it is to outsource office jobs to India, and how brilliant it is to substitute skilled craft workers born here with illegal immigrants. We are constantly told what idiots we are to expect our elected leaders to protect the citizens of this country from loss of jobs and good incomes. Isn't it amazing that corporate leaders here can pay so many experts at once, and that journalists buy it hook, line, and sinker because, they, too, were taught at the university that supporting and helping your fellow citizen is a dumb thing to do? It is high time to punish the corporate traitors in this nation for their institutional violence against our citizens. Keep the pocket books closed until such time as they start bragging about creating jobs right here in your town instead of braying about how proud they are to send jobs overseas. When was the last time you heard an American corporate leader brag about creating jobs here?

Free trade, outsourcing and globalization ARE the cause of our economic ruin. These people in washington and wall street have ruined the dollar, the US economy and the constitution - yet they think they know best. They went to fine universities and got good grades, but they are driven by pure greed and possess no wisdom. Screw them - BUY AMERICAN!

American consumers are whores!Buy it a cheap as they can ,who ever,where ever it was made doesn't really matter to them,as long as THEY have a job,they don't care.Not to worry the coming world war will pickup things alot,and we can use imported bullets in our imported M9,or M10 pistol,with our imported M240 SAW,or our US designed,Alexderia Virginia made M4 with german barrels on them,in our China made uniforms.The good old USA.I am a veteran that will not allow my only son to sign up to defend this system!