Estimados Ahmijos:
Recién publicado en el "The Whasington Post", edición online de hoy mismo un demoledor artículo que repasa cómo se expande como la pólvora el TIGRE del PROTECCIONISMO, como es sabido, el quinto jinete del apocalipsis. Os traduzco una pizca y os reproduzco, "pasteo" su integridad:

"Las barreras comerciales se endurecen con el desplome global"
A pesar de las promesas de libre mercado muchas naciones adoptan políticas restrictivas
Por Anthony Faiola y Glenn Kessler
Lunes, 22 de diciembre de 2008

"Con el propósito de blindar a los maltratados productores domésticos frente a importaciones foráneas, Indonesia ha impuesto restricciones a como mínimo 500 productos sólo este mes, exigiendo licencias especiales y nuevos aranceles a importaciones. Rusia está por su parte añadiendo tarifas a vehículos de importación, carne de ave y cerdo. Francia ha constituido un fondo estata para proteger a compañias francesas de adquirentes extranjeros. Funcionarios de Argentina y Brasil están intentando elevar los aranceles para productos que van desde los vinos importados hasta los textiles pasando por productos de marroquinería y melocotones, todo ello de acuerdo con fuentes de la Organización Mundial del Comercio."
(...)
"Cada vez mas los países están desplegando planes de apoyo a sus industrias domésticas en apuros, cosa que los críticos empiezan a deplorar al considerarlos como subsidios gubernamentales distorsionadores del comercio. Los Estados Unidos, bajo fuego por rescatar General Motors y Chrysler, anunciaron este viernes que iniciarán acciones legales contra China ante la OMC por ofrecer presuntamente subvenciones a su industria exportadora, incluyendo la concesión de garantías de efectivo, reembolsos y préstamos preferentes a los exportadores."
(...)
"Rusia es el mercado más grande para vehículos de toda Europa, pero al ralentizarse dramáticamente con la crisis la venta de coches, Moscú ha incrementado las tasas que gravan los coches de importación este pasado día 10 de diciembre hasta en un 35 por cierto. Esta medida ha sido adoptada con la finalidad de proteger a la ahora en apuros industria del automóvil rusa, incluidos los fabricantes del boxy Lada. Esta iniciativa llegó a provocar protestas esta última semana por parte de 3.000 trabajadores en la ciudad portuaria de Vladivostok, en la costa del Pacífico, cuyos empleos dependen de la venta de vehículos extranjeros, de tal manera que este sábado la policía reprimió otra protesta y según se informa llegó a detener hasta 15 personas. El primer ministro PUTINREOLADED también ha propuesto un arancel adicional del 15 por cierto para equipamientos agrícolas."

AQUÍ OS DEJO EL "TOCHO" ENTERO , "in inglís":


Trade Barriers Toughen With Global Slump
Despite Free-Market Pledge, Many Nations Adopt Restrictive Policies

By Anthony Faiola and Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, December 22, 2008; Page A01

Only a few weeks after world leaders vowed at a Washington summit to reject trade protectionism and adhere to free-market principles as they combat the global financial crisis, a host of nations are already breaking that promise.
Moving to shield battered domestic manufacturers from foreign imports, Indonesia is slapping restrictions on at least 500 products this month, demanding special licenses and new fees on imports. Russia is hiking tariffs on imported cars, poultry and pork. France is launching a state fund to protect French companies from foreign takeovers. Officials in Argentina and Brazil are seeking to raise tariffs on products from imported wine and textiles to leather goods and peaches, according to the World Trade Organization.

The list of countries making access to their markets harder potentially includes the United States, where critics are calling the White House's $17.4 billion bailout of the U.S. auto industry an unfair government subsidy that would put foreign competitors at a disadvantage.

Though still relatively narrow in scope, the moves, observers warn, in the coming months may grow into a broader wave of protectionism. That could worsen the global financial crisis by further choking world trade, which is already facing its first decline since 1982 as the world economy sharply slows and demand dries up.


In hard times, analysts say, nations are more inclined to take steps that inhibit trade, often with dire consequences. Trade restrictions imposed by countries trying to protect domestic industries in the 1930s, for instance, escalated into a global trade war that deepened and prolonged the Great Depression.

"Exporting firms tend to be innovative, dynamic and capable of generating good job growth," said Eswar S. Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell University and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "If trade restrictions caused by trade wars shut them down, their suppliers shut down, job losses get worse, and you can quickly have a spiraling downward effect on the entire economy."

To be sure, most of the measures taken to date appear to be within the limits of current international trade treaties, which grant countries some room to raise tariffs and contain loopholes that can be exploited to protect domestic industries.

But the general trend toward protectionism could undermine what has been the steady march of free trade during the era of globalization, with export-dependent countries such as China standing to lose the most.

Seeking to avoid such a reversal, leaders from 20 major and emerging economies gathered in Washington on Nov. 15 for a global economic summit, issuing a pledge to refrain from protectionist measures for at least 12 months. They also vowed to reach a breakthrough this year on a stalled global trade deal that would bring down tariffs on a wide variety of exports, injecting as much as $100 billion into the global economy.

But nations have failed to comply with both of those promises, with many not waiting for the ink to dry on the summit agreement before reversing course.

For example, on Nov. 18 -- just three days after the summit -- India levied a new 20 percent duty on imports of some soybean oils to protect domestic farmers as international prices have dropped during the global economic slump. Experts in India think the government may soon raise taxes on other types of foreign-made cooking oils.

Increasingly, nations are rolling out support for battered domestic industries that critics are decrying as trade-distorting government subsidies. The United States, under fire for bailing out General Motors and Chrysler, on Friday announced that it was taking legal action against China at the WTO for allegedly offering unfair support of its export industry -- including the award of cash grants, rebates and preferential loans to exporters.

Russia is the largest car market in Europe, but with the crisis dramatically slowing sales there, Moscow increased taxes on imported foreign cars by as much as 35 percent on Dec. 10. The measure is aimed at protecting the struggling Russian auto industry, including the makers of the boxy Lada. The move provoked protests early last week by 3,000 workers in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok, whose jobs depend on foreign car sales, and on Saturday police broke up another protest and reportedly arrested at least 15 people. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has also proposed a 15 percent duty on agricultural equipment.

To protect farmers, the Kremlin on Dec. 11 significantly increased duties on pork and poultry imports in a move likely to reverberate in the United States. Russia is the single largest market for U.S. poultry producers, which this year have exported $740 million worth to Russian shores.

"This is dangerous for several reasons, not the least because it is a move that could spread to other nations that are under pressure now to keep imports out to help domestic producers," said Franklin J. Vargo, vice president of international economic affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers.


Perhaps the biggest blow against trade, however, came this month when Pascal Lamy, director-general of the World Trade Organization in Geneva, conceded that there was not enough consensus among major countries to reach the pledged breakthrough on global trade talks before year's end.

The fate of the Doha Round of trade talks -- so named because a group of nations gathered in Qatar's capital, Doha, and agreed to work toward dramatic new cuts in subsidies and trade tariffs -- is now more uncertain than ever. The talks have been stalled since 2001, with analysts seeing support for a global deal waning as countries try to contain job losses at home in 2009.

Lamy voiced his concern about creeping protectionism this week, suggesting the WTO begin monitoring and issuing reports on the new anti-trade measures being taken by nations worldwide.

"The WTO has a particular responsibility to follow up on the trade measures which have been taken in the wake of the financial crisis," Lamy told a commission trade committee in Geneva last week.

The march of free trade is also facing a possible course correction from the change in leadership in the United States. President-elect Barack Obama has signaled a much more skeptical attitude toward unfettered free-trade deals than President Bush or even former President Bill Clinton.

Obama on Friday named former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk as U.S. trade representative. The city's first black mayor, Kirk, 54, is viewed as generally pro-trade, having voiced support for the North American Free Trade Agreement and touted its benefits during and after his time in office from 1995 to 2001. But in accepting the post, Kirk suggested he would champion Obama's vision on trade.

During the campaign, Obama said he generally supports free-trade policies, but also said he would seek more-enforceable labor and environmental standards. Obama has said he would "amend" NAFTA, approved in 1993 under Clinton, to reflect those concerns.

"Trade can help us create jobs at home and encourage development abroad," Kirk said, adding that he believes "a values-driven agenda that stays true to our commitment to America's workers and environmental sustainability is not only consistent with a pro-trade agenda, but it's also necessary for its success."

As a senator, Obama voted for a free-trade agreement with Oman but opposed a deal with Central American and Caribbean countries because he said it had weak labor and environmental provisions. He also has been critical of free-trade agreements the Bush administration reached with South Korea and Colombia, which have stalled in Congress.

There are reasons to believe trade will not be high on Obama's agenda. Rep. Xavier Becerra, (D-Calif.), an early favorite to be picked by Obama for the top trade job, signaled as much in a recent interview.

"My concern is how much weight this position would have had, and I reached the conclusion that it would not be a top priority, or even second or third priority," Becerra told the editorial board of La Opinion, a Spanish-language newspaper in his home town of Los Angeles.

Si no se permite que ocurra una crisis economica ocurrirá una crisis de otro tipo, puede que mucho peor.

El desplome del sistema finaciero es una CONSECUENCIA de su mal funcionamiento basado en un dinero impreso a voluntad, las quiebras de empresas SON UNA CONSECUENCIA de su funcionamiento basado en perseguir ese dinero en vez de los productos que demandan sus clientes, el desastre del precio de los pisos es otra CONSECUENCIA de un mal funcionamiento de un sistema basado en el control legislativo del m2.

NO SE PUEDE EVITAR UNA CRISIS ECONOMICA CAMBIANDO LA LEY, MODIFICANDO LOS BALANCES Y MODIFICANDO EL PRECIO DEL DINERO, lo que se hace es transformar la crisis economica en otra cosa mucho peor.

Demoledor el mensaje de alguien del foro explicando como la hiperinflación alemana puso en puestos directivos y de responsabilidad a autenticos DEGENERADOS MORALES que acabaron siendo parte importante del auge del NAZISMO, me he quedado asombrado al leerlo y me gustaria si me pudiesen dar referencias de ese libro.

Aquí no creo que se puedan proteger a los servicios.

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jejejej mola el gift

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No deja de ser curioso de que alerten contra el proteccionismo hacia el que están derivando... ¡los países en vías de desarrollo! Sin embargo, ante las políticas proteccionistas (particularmente en materia agraria) tanto de la UE como de los EE.UU. siempre se han callado como putas.

Está claro que lo que les jode a esos "triunfadoreh" del "libeggalismo" es que ahora ya no podrán, bajo la excusa del libre comercio, colarles sus productos tecnológicos e industriales a precios de estafa al mismo tiempo que les niegan el acceso a sus mercados agropecuarios.

Pues nada, ahora a joderse y protección pa todo Dios: tal vez así se acaben las deslocalizaciones y volvamos a los benditos tiempos en que uno podía ir al trabajo tranquilo, sabiendo que no le chapan la empresa porque les inundan el mercado con clones chinos, o porque la deslocalizan a Tánger.

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Si se hubieran aplicado las necesarias medidas proteccionistas, grabando con fuertes impuestos los vehiculos de empresas foraneas, la SEAT no hubiera sido vendida a los Alemanes.
El mecanismo es muy simple, SEAT sube el precio de los vehiculos que produce al nivel que haga falta para no tener perdidas y, paralelamente, se graba con impuestos a vehiculos de otras marcas para que SEAT siguiera siendo competitiva.
El resultado hubiese sido que un Seat Ibiza costaría algo así como 50.000 euros, pero lo importante es ser patriota ?a que si?.
Y puestos a proteger tambien habia quien hablaba de que habia que proteger al obrero de las malvadas máquinas que quitaban puestos de trabajo.
Está todo inventado.

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Para España no creo que el protecionismo le haga mucha pupa pues es netamente importadora. De hecho creo que esa sería la tabla de salvación para el empleo en nuestro pais. LO QUE SE CONSUMA AQUI QUE SE HAGA AQUÍ.

Puede que un Seat Ibiza hubiese costado 50.000 euros si se hubiesen aplicado ese tipo de medidas, pero mucha gente los pagaría gustoso, porque entonces tendría un coche realmente de calidad y que le duraría sus 20-30 años, como los 600 que se fabricaron en España o los Renault 12.

Se de lo que hablo: la televisión de nuestro salón la compramos en 1.986, hace más de 20 años. Su precio: 100.000 pesetas de la época, y la compramos junto con el vídeo, otras 100.000 pesetas de la época. Por desgracia el último ya feneció, no sin ántes darle muchísima caña de España tanto con las cintas del videoclub como con las vírgenes, incluídas la de los mercadillos tipo más-malas-que-la-carne-de-cabra.

Y con respecto al proteccionismo, nada nuevo: en la última crisis del S XIX y en la del 29 lo primero que hicieron los países fue cerrar fronteras por una parte y lloriquearle a Papá Estado (¿a qué os suena eso?).

La gente se ha acostumbrado a móviles de última generación, GPS, coches extranjeros, tabaco extranjero, televisiones de plasma, ropa extranjera, etc... les quitas todo eso de golpe y se suicidan.

El proteccionismo no debería ser generalizado, tendría que servir para igualar las condiciones de producción entre paises. Es la única forma de evitar que las empresas se deslocalizen masivamente. No es lógico que se compita con paises que pagan sueldos de 200 € al mes, habría que compensar via aranceles esa diferencia para que a las empresas no les interesara deslocalizarse con el único fin de explotar al trabajador. Y además poner la tasa Tobin en marcha de inmediato.