[Samseau]

Here is the raw data to support the first post of this thread. Since America opened trade with China, here is the total trade balance by numbers (in millions):

http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html

1985: -6.0
1990: -10,431.0
1995: -33,789.5
2000: -83,833.0
2005: -202,278.1
2010: -273,041.6
2015: -365,694.5

Notice, ever since trade began with China, the trade balance grows worse and worse? This is because China manipulates their currency with a peg. No matter what, Chinese dollars are set to be worth 6 times less than American dollars. In fact, this peg may have even been lower prior to 2008. The result is that, over the years, American businesses who move to China have their production costs lowered by a factor of 6 or more, which makes it impossible for American-based businesses to compete at cost. The only way to stay competitive is to move operations overseas and manufacture with slave labor as well. It is a race to the bottom.

Now, let us compare the US trade balance with Hong Kong, which allows its dollar to float. Here is the US-Hong Kong trade balance (in millions):

http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5820.html

1985: -5,610.5
1988: -4,550.2
1989: -3,430.9
1990: -2,804.8
1991: -1,141.3
1992: -716.0
1993: 319.3
1994: 1,745.3
1995: 3,940.2
1996: 4,101.7
1997: 4,829.3
1998: 2,387.2
1999: 2,123.9
2000: 3,133.0
2001: 4,381.4
2002: 3,266.2
2003: 4,669.3
2004: 6,513.5
2005: 7,459.3
2010: 22,274.1
2015: 30,471.5

Notice how the trade with Hong Kong goes up and down. This is what healthy trade in a free market economy looks like. I chose HK because it is one of the freest economies in the world and shows us what normal trade looks like. Although Hong Kong is a net importer of American goods (which makes sense, as they do not have much room for industrial production), the amount that they import to America fluctuates with the normal ebbs and tides of the American economy. As America was rich and our currency valuable, we were buying more from them than they from us, and as we became poor and our currency less valuable they bought more from us than us from them. Despite being right next to China, there is no persistent trade deficit that goes in one direction. This illustrates the power of a currency peg - it creates the artificial appearance on the markets of a country being poorer than they actually are so they can continue to sell exports at a competitive advantage.

Also note that since 2008, the amount of goods Hong Kong buys from America has gone up tremendously, as America has seriously devalued it's currency since the housing crisis.

Now, classical economists (aka libertarians) would say, "Hey currency pegs are bad for them, not us, because we get extremely cheap labor!" But the problem with this analysis are several:

1. Workers under currency pegs are slaves who cannot accumulate much savings relative to their efforts.
2. No one except the extremely rich can afford the cheap labor from these slave economies anyways, so average First-world citizens do not directly get to hire and use the slaves.
3. First-worlders go unemployed.

To see this, we just have to look at a country's GDP relative to it's GDP per capita.

China GDP: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/china/gdp



China GDP per capita: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/china/gdp-per-capita



China, in spite of having one of the largest economies in the world, have some of the poorest workers in the world. Their GDP has increased roughly by a factor of 5, yet their workers have seen their GDP per capita increase only roughly by a factor of 2. This is exactly what you'd expect with a currency peg, since the only people who escape the rampant inflation in China are the Communist elites and Industrial elites, who quickly spend their profits in other countries, buying up real estate, gold, or whatever else tangible goods they can get their hands on, while the Chinese worker watches his savings inflate away every year.

Now compare this to USA's numbers. USA GDP: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp



USA GDP per capita: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-s...per-capita



Notice how much more evenly USA's GDP increases with it's per capita? That's because our currency isn't quite as ravaged as other currencies, and so American citizens see their savings increase proportionately with the elites and rich. However, it should be noted that although America is nowhere as bad as China, the USA still has a vast discrepancy between what the rich are making and everyone else.

This is because American corporations are the only ones realistically able to employ the slave labor farms in third-world nations like China as they are the ones who collect profits from selling the slave produced goods. This money is then reinvested back into third-world slave farms, while the American worker only gets to buy the goods, but does not get any jobs to produce the goods. Thus American worker wages remain near-stagnant during this process while the rich get richer. We see this quite clearly when examining the historical data of America's GDP and GDP per capita:





In the same time period it takes for the GDP per capita in America to double, between 20,000 to 40,000 (1967-2000) the total American GDP has increased by a factor of 10. Notice how, since Nixon opened up trade with China in the 1970's, America's GDP has vastly outpaced its GDP per capita. This is because once the first American companies established a competitive advantage with slave labor in third-world nations like China, future American workers will never be able to compete since they did not get their foot on the slave markets first and lack the capital to compete at cost. On top of this, American labor pools are flooded with immigrants, both legal and illegal, compounding the problem.

As a result of these terrible trade deals, money has been flowing out of the US Economy for decades, and nowhere is this more clearly reflected than in our M2 money velocity:



Fewer and fewer dollars are spent each year within the America economy, as they are all sucked up by elites of various countries who scam everyone via slave labor and currency pegging. Money spent on slave goods in places like China never return to America, nor do the jobs taken by slaves labor in places like China. Every single day, the amount of money for American citizens to earn decreases which creates a deflationary spiral that can only be countered with debt and money printing. The ability for citizens to take on more debt has become exhausted since 2008, while the ability to print money is the only thing keeping the American economy from imploding completely. Even this can eventually fail should other countries decide to remove their pegs, but considering how foreign elites move to First-world nations to buy real estate and have zero moral qualms keeping their own citizens enslaved back at home, money printing looks like it can be continued for as long as the third-world slaves have life left in them.

But eventually this runs out as third-world slaves in places like China really aren't reproducing like they used to, and labor in India or Africa isn't even close to the same caliber as East Asians. South America has a somewhat high quality labor force available, but the governments in South America are so corrupt it is just as likely for any US industries to be nationalized as they are to turn a profit. So ultimately, the currency peg scam runs out once the supply of slaves run out.

Therefore, it is obvious to see that current trade deals do not benefit anyone but the elites, while the workers go without. This is why the current group of politicians are so against Trump, because Trump will fight for tariffs against currency pegs. This stops the plundering of slave labor in third-world nations and causes corporate profits to plummet, but First-world workers would get vastly richer. Of course, American corporations do not give a damn about the workers, which is reflected in the rhetoric of the politicians they buy.