Free Trade, Fair Trade

[Dominicana_1965]

What are the pros and cons of each?
I do know though that Free Trade is highly opposed.

[Fawkes]

There was a thread on this some time ago but because the search engine is down I can't retrieve it.

Free trade has little to no pros for anybody except the bourgeois.

Fair trade is a lot better than Free Trade because the producers (usually farmers) are payed a much higher price for their goods than those that sell to free trade companies.

If you have to choose between the two, definitely go with fair, though it still isn't that great for the farmers, it's a lot better than free.

[Democratic Socialist]

Free trade is to capitalism as communism is to socialism. It is the full actualization of the capitalist way of life. As it stands now, free trade allows companies to outsource labor and manufacture goods overseas with little to no regulation or taxation by their native government. In the same way, these companies can often sell their product to other countries without regulations or taxation also. As Fawkes pointed out, the upper class is the one who reaps the benefits.

Fair trade is as simple as insuring that the workers who manufactured the good or provided the service was fairly treated, paid, and given adequate benefits. Fair trade also takes into account the environmental effects, insuring companies used safe environmental labor practices.

I'll let you choose which one you think is better.

[Janus]

Previous thread on free vs, fair trade (http://www.revolutionaryleft.com/lofiversion/index.php/t54888.html)

Free trade (http://www.revolutionaryleft.com/lofiversion/index.php/t42589.html)