by Peter Stern

Created on: March 20, 2010   Last Updated: March 23, 2010

The impact of free trade on the world should not be underestimated.  The imbalance of free trade may be viewed right here at home.

The free trade imbalance is hurting the U.S.  For "Free Trade" to work it must be fair.

The trade imbalance for the U.S. keeps on getting worse.

Currently the U.S. imports $800 BILLION more than we export.  That is a heap more.

It is happening because the U.S. permits anyone who wants it, access to our markets.  It often seems that "free trade" is free to anyone other than the U.S.

Former President G. W. Bush had told the legislature and the American public that there is no reason to be concerned about the trade deficit because other countries will always be available to loan us the money to finance our deficit.  However, borrowing money from other nations is a prime reason for America's current economic crisis.

Apparently, the action proposed by Pres. Bush is our trade policy.  Current President Barack Obama is trying to tighten our free trade agreements, but it is another uphill fight for him with our Congress.  Apparently old habits and wealthy financiers die hard.

In addition, we are in a world of hurt because of that perspective and also that eventually any debt becomes due and as our trade imbalance continues to grow astronomically, our power and influence in the world greatly diminishes in direct relation to that huge debt.  We lose our clout as a world leader.

Case in point:  Approximately 12 years ago American car manufacturers sold 33,000 cars in Japan while Japan had sold almost 3 MILLION cars in the U.S.

In addition, for all the promises by the Japanese to build automotive plants in the U.S., thus providing jobs for Americans, the Japanese car corporations still were sending most of their components and parts from Japan.

That doesn't sound like fair or balanced free trade to me!

The reason American car manufacturers were NOT selling more cars in Japan was that the Japanese weren't letting us. It wasn't practicing "free trade".

Japan is a predatory trader and it tries to maintain a lopsided trade imbalance; consequently, it is always cheaper for Americans to buy Japanese vehicles while the Japanese government and manufacturers ensure that it is more expensive for the Japanese to purchase American cars.

Our Congress doesn't seem to mind and the Bush administration and decades of administrations sure did not.  It has always been this way for generations of presidents.

While the

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