Since Free Traders believe that America should lower its standard of living to help the third world

[pampango]

22. Yes. It is not "us vs. them" it is "us AND them".

Last edited Sat Jan 7, 2012, 11:52 AM - Edit history (1)

European progressives have domestic and foreign trade policies that support and protect their citizens while encouraging the development of poor countries. That is a better deal than the "us vs. them" approach which leads to attempts to wall the US off from the world's poor.

As Europe's experience shows, the blame for our increasing level of poverty and inequality is not at the feet of the world's poor but at our own rich.

The US' per capita income is about $47,000. That of the EU is about $31,000. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita) What makes their society better than ours? The fact that their incomes are much, much more equitably distributed and their safety net is much stronger.

The US has plenty of income and wealth compared to the rest of the world. What we lack is the political will to see that income and wealth distributed fairly as it is in Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea and most other developed economies. Is our lack of political will to change how our society treats its own workers and most vulnerable the fault of the Third World and the global poor? Or should the blame be placed on our own rich and corporations who prevent this change?