“Yeah, it’s bad, but I don’t see you yellin at everyone else selling stuff over there”. Read the whole thing, they basically nailed it.

Our relations with China have so many “yeah, but” & “uh, no comment” bits intertwined that the term “double standard” doesn’t really go far enough. If they’re too evil for Google to deal with them then they’re too evil for anyone else to deal with, you can’t have it both ways.

Speaking of Google & Yahoo specifically, this type of stuff goes to the whole nature of government: contrary to the sole legitimate reason for their existence, they all act as “gate-keepers” of some sort, China just makes it more obvious. To do business these days you practically have to enter into a quid-pro-quo with the reigning elite of the country you’re in — whether it’s the U.S. way where you get subsidies & customized loopholes in exchange for greasing a few congressional palms, or helping turn in dissenting voices as a condition for market access, or turning a blind eye to — or even requesting — slave labor. The way things are set up, business as the average Joe thinks of it is a handicap; government wants you to play ball, or it wants you gone.

I’m a free-trade guy, & I don’t think there should be barriers thrown up. Everyone locking each other out just props up the inefficient at home. Yet I think many free-traders in the mainstream make a critical error in failing to realize just how deeply unfree trade has been. It goes well beyond just selling from one place to another.

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