Red, Green and Blue: Fair Trade?
Image source: WikiMedia Commons: Photographer: Dider Gentilhomme
Editor's note: Fair Trade is a topic that GreenOptions.com has been covering for some time now, so we thought it might be interesting to debate from the progressive vs. conservative perspective. Brady and Alicia offer us some excellent background on the discussion. Now, it's Jimmy and Shirley's turn…
Jimmy: Although I am generally conservative on fiscal matters and would normally lean toward unfettered free trade, I understand the importance of Fair Trade to our country’s interest and as a humanitarian influence on the world. Fair Trade levels the playing field. Where we have certain standards for the treatment of our workers and environmental restrictions, while other countries do not; therefore, they have a competitive advantage. In circumstances where slave and prison labor is used to compete with American labor the need for Fair Trade standards is obvious. But what about circumstances where the cost of living in undeveloped countries is simply so much lower that this allows the country to clobber the US with low cost labor?
Free trade would seem only fair given willing workers and willing employers. Also many of our increasingly stringent environmental standards are a testimony of our wealth. Although basic health and sanitation standards are a must, do we hold other developing countries to the high environmental standards that only our wealth can support?
These are important questions that we will consider. Please add your thoughts as well so that we can determine what might be the best form of Fair Trade policy to live and support.
Tags: Activism, Developing Nations, economics, Education, Fair Trade, fair+trade, free+trade, Jobs and Careers, politics, Red, Green and Blue, Socially Responsible Investing, Taxes
May 30th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
As for China there is pressure for them to revalue their currency. The net effect of our trade with China has been positive with a liberalization of their social structures and a growing middle class. I think the US can live with that even though government can’t take credit for forcing it through ‘fair trade’ regulations.
You can’t keep a society oppressed unless the average person is worried more about his/her next meal than steps higher up Maslow’s hierarchy.
June 1st, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Hi Jimmy … a few more thoughts here:
Re: “That bracket creep was the fundamental reason for the recession when everyone (who was actually paying substantial taxes) looked around and said ’screw this’.” I seem to recall the last economic downturn having something to do with overhyped and overvalued dot-coms that came crashing down. I didn’t quit the well-paying gig I had at that time because I was pushed into a higher tax bracket; I lost the gig because the publisher (a tech magazine) lost ad revenue when tech companies started dropping like so many Mylar balloons at the Democratic National Convention.
But back to fair trade. I’ll be realistic and acknowledge there’s probably no way in hell that fair trade will be mandated in this country (with other, more progressive countries, it might be a different story). So the next best solution I see is public education: the more people learn about how their goods are produced, and under what conditions, the more demand we can expect to see for fair trade goods. If every cheap T-shirt at Walmart had details on who made that shirt, how much that person was paid, and what that person’s circumstances were like, I’ll bet there’d be a lot fewer people buying cheap T’s (there’ll always be some, of course). Fair trade labeling and public disclosure of working conditions, fair trade and not, will drive the market better than anything else, and I think it will continue to grow rapidly. Many people might be content to buy their goods in ignorance, but once the facts are known, a great deal of them will change their buying habits.
Sound like a fair approach to fair trade?
June 1st, 2007 at 7:51 pm
I’ll go for consumer choice every time Shirley. The more reasonable information about the product the better.