For our isolationistic nationalism loving DU'ers who want the world to be a bigger place

[Lydia Leftcoast]

16. Straw man alert on aisle seven!

I have nothing against international trade. I am involved in international business.

But it's not at the expense of American workers, nor do I take the "I just want money and I don't care how I get it" attitude that is so common in the corporate world today.

I work for people all over the world, but I refuse sweatshop wages and sell on the basis of providing overnight translations in native English for people in Asia.

I also refuse to take jobs that are ethically challenged, such as a group that was trying to promote the works of a 1920s Japanese pundit who was one of the intellectual architects of militarism.

If I wanted an English to Japanese translation, I would hire a Japanese person in Japan, but only because the number of native speakers of Japanese living in the U.S. is much smaller than the number of native speakers of Japanese living in Japan. (How about that!) Translation fees in Japan are actually a bit higher than they are here.

You keep setting up straw men of hippie-dippy localists who only want products from within walking distance or nationalists who hate foreign workers. Nobody has advocated either meeting all one's needs within walking distance or hating foreigners.

You, on the other hand, are on the side of the greedheads who have de-industrialized America, thrown hard-working Americans out of the jobs that used to provide the first generation of upward mobility in this country, and taking advantage of the low wages, lack of environmental laws, and repressive governments (that will cheerfully arrest and even kill anyone who tries to start a union) of the Third World.

You argue like a buyer for WalMart or an outsourcing specialist. No one's buying your line.