Bad Deals

I read that about the worms once in National Geographic, but it sounded fishy to me.  According to them, imported earthworms wrecked the soil which helped cause the Indians to starve.  Everything I had previously read about earthworms said that they are good for the soil.  They eat the dirt and poop it out, making it more friable and fertile in the process.

I suppose there's nothing wrong with national governments negotiating trade deals.  What I objected to was that they call NAFTA a free trade deal when it's really a regulated trade deal.  They should call it what it is.  Free trade to me means that we don't charge any tariffs and they don't either.  If we dropped all of our tariffs and they kept some of theirs, then it was indeed a bad trade deal for us.  People are accusing Trump of starting a trade war, but it sounds to me like the war was already going on and Trump just started shooting back.  Of course, living in the Post Truth Era, I can't be certain that any of this is true, which is why I said "if".  

Speaking of "if":  If it's true that Iran kept right on making nukes after our government lifted the sanctions, then it was a good thing that Trump scrapped the deal. Similarly, if it's true that North Korea kept on making nukes after Trump cancelled the joint military exercises, then it would seem that Kim did indeed take Trump for a ride.  On the other hand, nothing has been signed yet, so Trump could restart the exercises, if he hasn't already done so.

That's the whole point of my proposal to pay for imported goods with scrip.  They could use the scrip to buy stuff from us, and for nothing else.  Then again, I suppose there would be no way to keep the scrip from being traded on the black market, which might be why they stopped using it in Korea.  Another way to deal with the issue would be to pass a law that says we can't buy more stuff from other countries than they buy from us.  Of course that wouldn't be free trade, but at least it would be balanced trade.  I never did like the idea of the Red Chinese loaning us money, but then I never did like the idea of us trading with Red China at all.  The best way to solve this whole mess would be to un-recognize the Red Chinese government and re-recognize the Chinese government in exile on Taiwan, but I don't expect that to happen anytime soon, even with Trump in the White House.