{"id":89824,"date":"2016-03-13T11:05:49","date_gmt":"2016-03-13T19:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=89824"},"modified":"2026-05-12T09:29:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T17:29:01","slug":"economist-russell-roberts-do-you-care-at-all-about-the-chinese-escape-from-poverty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=89824","title":{"rendered":"Economist Russell Roberts: Do You Care At All About The Chinese Escape From Poverty?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I care more about America than I do about China and I want a trade policy that favors American interests, including the dignity of American workers.<\/p>\n

China cannot rise peacefully<\/a>. <\/p>\n

I reply to Russell Roberts<\/a>: “China is our enemy. As they grow richer, they threaten the countries around them and US power. China cannot rise peacefully.”<\/p>\n

“You say the welfare of Chinese is equally important as the welfare of Americans. You are a globalist, not an American patriot.”<\/p>\n

“Do you not favor your children over other children? Why do you not favor the welfare of your country over other countries?”<\/p>\n

“Free trade with Germany in the 1930s would have boosted Germany’s capacity to wage war, same with China today.”<\/p>\n

Russell Roberts on KCRW<\/a>: “Trade with China has accelerated the job loss in [America’s] manufacturing.”<\/p>\n

“On the plus side of the ledger, hundreds of millions of Americans have been able to buy relatively inexpensive goods from China, which they love to buy.”<\/p>\n

“I want to add something equally important that has not been mentioned by any of the candidates, which I find deeply depressing and may not be mentioned by anyone else on this program — that trade with China has transformed the lives of the Chinese people and I don’t think that’s irrelevant. I don’t know why people on either side of the political spectrum… ignore the tremendous benefits that have accrued to desperately poor people [in China]. Yes, it is hard for certain Americans with low levels of education to find work when they have to compete with people outside the United States. Let’s fix that by improving their skills and their opportunities and not by artificially keeping out foreign products that help those workers who are even poorer than ours. As a person who cares about humanity, I don’t know understand how you can suggest that we should not bring in their goods and allow them to be as poor as they have been in the past.”<\/p>\n

Russell Roberts tweets<\/a>: <\/p>\n

* Dear Donald Trump: Self-sufficiency is the road to poverty. Replacing foreign factories w\/US ones makes us poorer, not richer.<\/p>\n

* Why do we only get one side of trade? Immigrants compete w\/US workers, yes. But they also help consumers and themselves.<\/p>\n

* Can’t someone explain that opening our borders doesn’t destroy American jobs, just certain kinds of jobs?<\/p>\n