Any trade agreement is by definition anti- free trade. The true definition of free Trade is transaction between parties where there is zero influence by anyone else. Pegged exchange rates and monetary policy and the IMF and ANY government based agreement regarding the movement of goods and services between counties is by definition something that prevents free trade. If we really wanted free trade the best way would be to ban the sale of treasury bonds of any kind to anyone not a US citizen or a US based corporation; to band the transfer of any such instruments to anyone not entitled to buy them directly from the Treasury. This action would force currency exchange rates to move more in line with free market principles. I would also make it harder for the federal government to finance debt but that would be a very good thing.

This is a well thought out post and right one! I have a degree in economics received prior to the shift that embraced John Maynard Keynes’s view on economics as presented in his Book “The General Theory.” In general this view which every school now teaches is that Government can control the economy though monetary policy and regulation. This shift to service from manufacturing which Sundance talks about was just starting to be taught in the early 60’s when I was in school and since it had not been fully adopted and since I had the pleasure of reading to works of Milton Friedman who back then had already broken from the Keynesian view I was not corrupted by the government centric view. My military career and business career after college allowed me to experience the real world and also experience the full effect of the policy’s that moved so much of American might out of the country. Being retired now I write on how insane this view is and so I instantly became a Trump fan within days of his announcement. This is no place for a full debate on the merits or demerits of a service based economy but I can tell you with a high degree of certainty that this concept is fundamentally flawed and is at the very core of the problems that we now have. There is no doubt that Trump has it right my only fear is that we elected him too late to stop the train wreck.