Originally posted by sgtclub
Quote:
Short term I agree. Long term I don't, but your comment seems to presume that blue collar workers are entitled to earn at least a certain wage for their specific services in perpituity, whether or not there is a demand for those services. Am I reading you correctly?
I am absolute against a permanent tax on investment income, or more precisely put, a double, punitive tax.
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Unskilled workers on average suffer long term wage loss from free trade and immigration. And given that globalization is moving up the food chain, skilled workers will as well. I doubt you can prove that gains in purchasing power will make up for that wage loss. If 50.1% of the U.S. population will have a worse standard of living due to free trade and immigration, they should vote against free trade and immigration. They should do that unless there are going to receive full compensation from the 49.9% of the U.S. population that benefits from free trade.
Retraining is no solution. Free trade and immigration are simply lowering the standard of living for U.S. workers that are substitutes for foreign workers in countries with lower standards of living. Retrain for any job you like, free trade and immigration are depressing wages at all skill levels. The clear beneficiaries of free trade and immigration are foreign workers in undeveloped countries and owners of capital. There is no good reason for U.S. workers to hurt themselves in order to benefit foreign workers and owners of capital.
I'm also in favor of eliminating double taxation of corporate earnings, as long as we hike taxes on high income individuals enough to recoup the losses in revenue.
