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Pres. Truman on trade. Relevant to the central planners in the Trump admin: "Everything that comes into a country can be kept within limits determined by a central plan. This is precisely what we have been trying to get away from, ever since the war. It is not the American way."
"We are the giant of the economic world. Whether we like it or not, the future pattern of economic relations depends upon us. The world is waiting and watching to see what we shall do. We can lead the nations to economic peace or we can plunge them into economic war."
"The pattern of international trade that is most conducive to freedom of enterprise is one in which the major decisions are made, not by governments, but by private buyers and sellers..."
"The pattern of trade that is least conducive to freedom of enterprise is one in which decisions are made by governments. Under such a system, the quantity of purchases and sales, the sources of imports, and the destination of exports are dictated by public officials."
"And if the Government were to yield to this pressure, it would shortly find itself in the business of allocating foreign goods among importers and foreign markets among exporters and telling every trader what he could buy or sell, and how much, and when, and where."
(I interrupt this thread this to point out this is exactly what DPA Kommisar Navarro is pushing for regarding PPE and pharma.)
"The size of our market is not forever fixed. It is smaller when we attempt to isolate ourselves from the other countries of the world. It is larger when we have a thriving foreign trade."
"Peace and freedom are not easily achieved. They cannot be attained by force."
