Why Do Countries Trade?

Canada and the United States are allowing one family to decide that one of our natural resources is going to be worked, refined and sold off our continent and make BILLIONS doing this while ALLOWING another area of the world to do the same in North America?

Do you know how STUPID the voters of our countries sound right now?

We are allowing the bought and paid for politicians by the Koch brothers to decide what is done with our natural resources while allowing another country to profit off of our taxpayers.

Why do countries trade?

We have forgotten why we trade. Countries trade because we cannot get what we NEED where we are. We get it from other countries while giving those countries something they NEED in return.

Other than that, we should be self sufficient. If we can grow beets, we grow beets for ourselves, if we can raise livestock we raise it for ourselves and if we can harvest our oil or lumber we do so for ourselves BEFORE we sell it off to the highest bidder. This goes for all countries.

We TRADE for what we need. Canada has a particular climate that growing tropical fruit isn’t possible, so we trade for it. Canada can produce numerous amounts of potatoes…so which tropical country would like to trade potatoes for bananas?

Is that too simple? It is just an example. We have much, much more to offer here in Canada than potatoes, potash being one of the leading exports for our country.

The issue is we have made it about money and how much we can make instead about what we need to survive on.

An example, McDonalds in South America should use South American beef thus promoting their economy. McDonalds in North America should use North American beef for the same reason; along with every other restaurant in these countries.

“Free Trade” is not free to the average individual. It is costing us our self sufficiency. We are giving away our resources that our countries need to survive.

China’s greatest trade for many, MANY years was Silk. The Han dynasty TRADED it for things like cucumbers, walnuts and figs as well as new skills like using grapes for making wine. They brought new ideas, products and innovation to their lives to become more self-sufficient while selling something they had an abundance of.

Now, and for many years, the secret to producing silk has been out. What China has had to do is revamp what it trades. The problem, they are trading cheap labour to companies that take advantage of the over abundance of the population and the products that are made by that population. These companies make millions on cheaply made products that these people work hard at making. It is not only that the product is poorly made; it is that it is cheaply made and that has to do with the company…NOT the workers. 

We keep allowing companies to push our governments into “free trade” deals that allow companies to take our resources, natural or otherwise, and ship them to other countries to make into products that we do not need OR if we do need them, they are taking our resources away from trading it out right for the product. 

Why would the Canadian government not trade its oil with China on its own for a quality product that Canada needs from China? Why would we need the Koch brothers as a go between? Why do the Koch family need to own any oil rights at all for that matter in Canada?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/03/20/the-biggest-land-owner-in-canadas-oil-sands-isnt-exxon-mobil-or-conoco-phillips-its-the-koch-brothers/

Should we not be using our OWN natural resource before purchasing it and making another country or one family very wealthy?

Should we not use our own natural resource before selling it to other countries and then selling or trading what we have left over?

We are buying a natural resource we have from other countries and selling our own oil in order to line the pockets of one family. Why are we doing this?

Just like we tell families when the economy goes in the toilet, back to basics…we keep what we need to be self sufficient, sell what we have extra and buy or trade for what we need with that extra.

Back to basic economics. Take care of our own, pay our own, feed our own, and clothe our own, help where we can and buy or trade for what we need.

I know it sounds to simple…but sometimes simple is best.