Now what does this tell you?
Chile was the first Latin American partner to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with Hong Kong. Both economies are members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) and the World Trade Organization, and over the past two years, trade between Hong Kong and Chile has grown at an annual rate of 16 per cent.
You see, being a member of APEC and WTO is neither here nor there. So are most other South American countries. But sign a free-trade agreement, BOOM! 16%, HUGE growth.
Now, Hong Kong side is too polite to point it out, but Hong Kong always had free trade with Chile. Chile did not have free trade with Hong Kong. It is impossible to have a "free trade-agreement" because free trade means, well "free" to trade.
Free trade is always unilateral. If you want free trade, the lower taxes and regulations that inhibit free trade. So Hong Kong unilaterally has free trade with the world. If an when a country reciprocates, such as Chile, BOOM, immediate benefits, peace and prosperity.
We once knew this in USA, and practiced it. Hong Kong and USA were formed at the same time on the same ideas. Hong Kong stayed the course. USA has gone all imperialist. Our free trade agreements run 14,000 pages or rules and regs. The Hong Kong Chile one runs about 100 pages, but my guess is because China is involved. When the US states were considered independent countries ("these United States") we had a free trade agreement among all of the states. It is still in place. It takes a paragraph to explain.
USA cannot or will not back out of its current econ mess. But we'll need to rebuild at some point, and if so, we should recall free trade agreements. Real ones. Unilateral and a paragraph long.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
Chile was the first Latin American partner to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with Hong Kong. Both economies are members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) and the World Trade Organization, and over the past two years, trade between Hong Kong and Chile has grown at an annual rate of 16 per cent.
You see, being a member of APEC and WTO is neither here nor there. So are most other South American countries. But sign a free-trade agreement, BOOM! 16%, HUGE growth.
Now, Hong Kong side is too polite to point it out, but Hong Kong always had free trade with Chile. Chile did not have free trade with Hong Kong. It is impossible to have a "free trade-agreement" because free trade means, well "free" to trade.
Free trade is always unilateral. If you want free trade, the lower taxes and regulations that inhibit free trade. So Hong Kong unilaterally has free trade with the world. If an when a country reciprocates, such as Chile, BOOM, immediate benefits, peace and prosperity.
We once knew this in USA, and practiced it. Hong Kong and USA were formed at the same time on the same ideas. Hong Kong stayed the course. USA has gone all imperialist. Our free trade agreements run 14,000 pages or rules and regs. The Hong Kong Chile one runs about 100 pages, but my guess is because China is involved. When the US states were considered independent countries ("these United States") we had a free trade agreement among all of the states. It is still in place. It takes a paragraph to explain.
USA cannot or will not back out of its current econ mess. But we'll need to rebuild at some point, and if so, we should recall free trade agreements. Real ones. Unilateral and a paragraph long.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
4 comments:
"You see, being a member of APEC and WTO is neither here nor there. So are most other South American countries. But sign a free-trade agreement, BOOM! 16%, HUGE growth."
Increased growth is a good reason why nations should engage in free trade. I'm wondering however why this is not the case more than it is. Why are only countries like China (Hong Kong as you mention), some South American countries and South Korea doing this? Is there an imperialist conspiracy going on? What are the trends when it comes to free trade agreements, increasing or decreasing?
You often refer to Hong Kong as a role model and a beacon of light of sorts in todays global economy. Since you have experience with Hong Kong I'd like to know what you think of the Hong Kong Dollar currency.
/Jacob
Well, many things entitled "free trade" are no such thing, so you have to read the document to see if it approaches free trade.
I don't think the Korea-USA FTA has anything to do with free trade. As to why we do not have more free trade, no, it is not a imperialist conspiracy, but it is a capitalist policy. No secret of the animosity between capitalism and freedom.
Well, which Hong Kong dollar? There are three private companies which put out the Hong Kong dollar (and the Hong Kong city puts out a $10 note for some reason), each with its own design, all circulating at the same time. If you want my opinion, the Standard Charter notes look coolest.
Is that what you meant?
Thank you for your humorous reply. What you write is profound, at least to my thinking. My experience with higher education is that they dull you into subliminally thinking that the market is all OK and nothing needs fixing. I like reading you blog since you speak the TRUTH! :)
Perhaps not a conspiracy but simply how our our economies work. The more I learn it seems to me that capitalism and imperialism go hand in hand. Non-free trade in all its forms is a way for the state to exert control over the market i.e. state capitalism. Todays system is not moved by a invisible hand but by the imperialist fist.
Since you praise Hong Kong I was simply wondering what the relation is between the Hong Kong Dollar and the Hong Kong real economy. Do you think it has the same faults as other sovereign currencies? I didn't know there were in fact three companies producing the Hong Kond Dollar. Why is this?
Technically USA has nine private companies that put out the currency, and their companies all end in .org, until you get to the head office, which ends in .gov. The Federal Reserve bank is a private org of banks. The banks truly do run the USA. Before 1913, in USA anyone could issue curency, so it is not odd hong kong has 3 private companies, it is odd not everyone does.
The people of Hong Kong have decided to play the hand they are dealt: the USA is the worlds reserve bank, the USA makes policies to reward one group and punish another, and hong Kong looks at that fact, and tailors its monetary policy to best suit Hong Kong. After Nixon closed the gold window, Hong Kong pegged its currency to the US dollar to benefit Hong Kong by riding with USA policy.
This may not last much longer. USA is exporting inflation to Hong Kong (hong kong has to print proportionally as much as USA to defend the peg) and at some point they'll quit that.
I think they should go 100% reserve (gold backed) and let most deals go to vendor financing. Then they can ride out the coming storms.
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