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by
Donald D. Schroeder
The specter that haunted the l930s again threatens world
economic instability. Here's why!
S
UDDENLY,
battles over
trade are heating up!
Charges and counter–
charges of unfair trading
practices are flyi ng across
oceans a nd national borders.
Tradi ng conflicts threaten to
und e rmine relations between
even the closest allies.
Calls for protectionism and retal–
iation have reached, in recent
months, the highest levels since the
1930s. "The world trading system
is at a crossroads," warns Robert
Hormats, U.S. Assistant Secretary
of State for Economic Affairs.
Emotlons Out of Control?
These new battles over trade are
st rident in tone, with strong emo–
tions. And no wonder! The focus of
these battles is simple:
lt
is preserv–
ing and protecting scores of thou–
sands of industries and jobs- the
only
means of livelihood for mil–
lions.
lt
is a matter of nationaJ sur–
vival! Your job or livelihood- or
that of your family's- is direct ly or
indirectly at stake!
22
In recent months, tradc ncgotia–
tors have threatened their counter–
parts from Europe and Japan that
more U.S. demands for freer trade
must be met or there will be rctalia–
tion with reciproca! barriers. J apa–
nese and European officials reply
they will then have to respond in
return with "corrective" act ion.
Something is wrong with the
world's economic and trading sys–
tem! Why do trade wars plague
mankind about every 50 years?
Nation after nation is in the grips
of serious recession. Millions are
unemployed, plagued with inftation
and deep debt as in thc late 1920s.
And everyone fears that recession
could slip into depression.
Again more and more are find–
ing their only means of earning a
living being undercut or wiped out
by a ftood of foreign imports. Many
thrown out of jobs are left dest itute
and hopeless. They are without
other marketable skills or alterna–
tive means of employment.
Why do these economic prob–
lems plague mankind?
Millions believe the West 's eco-
nomic system, based on intense com–
petition between industries and
between service institutions, is the
best way to produce the most goods
and services for the most persons at
the best price. "Competition is the
life of trade," say businessmen.
But then why has the "world's
best system" produced so many
casualties, so much suffering?- mil–
lions thrown out of their only means
of livelihood. Why must this trading
system produce a few nations pros–
perous in trade and growth at the
expense of wiping out the livelihoods
of thousands in other nations?
Certainly the Soviet communist
system is no answer-witness
Poland and all Eastern Europe, and
Cuba, too.
Few yet grasp the danger tbat líes
ahead because of trade disputes. The
danger of trading confticts with their
whipsawing retaliation threatens to
cause more than loss of jobs.
It
fore–
bodes startling changes in alliances
and military confrontations far more
dangerous, because of modero tech–
nology, than experienced in the
1930s and 1940s. In 1970, in Tokyo,
The
PLAIN TRUTH