Forum Archive Index - March 2004

["Duncan MacGregor" <d-m_macgregor@xtra.co.nz>]

Now that we are edging towards free trade with china, how good or bad will it be?.    The chinese have a cheap labour force,
so goodbye factories.       Carter holt intend setting up in china to process the logs, so goodbye jobs in the mills.
We will be a country of unemployed, and farm workers we will make more in our raw exports, but will have to spend more building bigger jails to hold the unemployed who will run riot.     Free trade with a country whose average wage we in NZ cant survive on is a very silly idea.   Free trade really means we must all compete at the lowest level with everything.   That is exactly why the USA
avoid free trade with us, they are not that stupid.    The scene will change the chinese will end up with a higher standard of living
than we have but the question is when?.    Short term very bad, long term good is it going to be worth it?.

                                                                cheers macdunk