Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

Russia’s strong economy and modernity despite strict sanctions is evidence that free trade is not a requirement for first world status; in fact, there’s a case that it primarily makes the rich richer at the expense of society. The extremes of trade are completely open, where a country does nothing but import; and completely closed, where the country makes everything itself. In the first scenario where a country is self-sufficient then all governmental decisions are made with the goal of perpetuating that society without regards to other societies. But a free trade society is dependent on the actions and sensibilities of foreign nations. In the extreme example, the unproductive open society is completely at the mercy of, essentially enslaved by, outside forces. If an economy is defined by its productivity, then everyone is productively making something useful that other members of the economy, who also make useful things, can exchange with. On the other hand, in a consumer economy, people do nothing productive but instead use the things someone else makes; perhaps it’s robots making these things or more likely, it’s from a productive country. In an investment economy, where nothing is produced nor consumed, people place financial bets on the productivity or consumption of others without necessarily doing either themselves, but accumulating financial wealth, which is as ephemeral as it is imaginary. Under Trump, the U.S. took back control of its financial destiny by putting an end to free trade.