The failure of the West - Result of the free trade ideology?   Is the evidence not enough? Right on time for the American presidential election,"Der Spiegel" outlined the decline of the USA in a cover story entitled "Superpower on Demand" at the beginning of November 2012. Unfortunately, the (customs) free trade remained unmentioned as the decisive cause of the American disaster. I tried to make up for this omission with a short letter to the editor, but this kind of enlightenment fell (again) victim to censorship. I do not mention this rejection out of offended vanity, but because there is a system behind it: In crucial questions, they are usually squeezed!Basically, I can't complain, because my letters to the editor's office often attract attention. But when it really comes down to it once and for all, when it comes to fatal issues that affect the welfare of all mankind or of the entire continent, it is as if I were crashing into a wall of silence.   Why must humanity not know that free trade is responsible for global wage dumping? For 30 years now, inflation-adjusted net wages and pensions have been falling in almost all Western countries, while at the same time government debt has reached dizzying levels. This decline is completely paradoxical, because at the same time productivity has almost doubled thanks to technological revolutions! But politics and the media ignore this striking contradiction. They bury their heads in the sand when enlightenment would be the order of the day. In numerous essays and books, I have repeatedly proved this: Global dumping competition leads to ruin! The largely duty-free world trade destroys the social market economy and forces us into an absurd race for the lowest wages, taxes, environmental conditions and financial regulations. Is there still any doubt about this realisation? If so, what else could this unfortunate downward spiral have triggered? Convincing proposals are not presented, debates are not held. The currently most relevant topic of humanity is systematically kept quiet.   Mantraic incantations and brainwashing propaganda as a distraction from important fundamental questions! The German population is drugged with unsustainable incantations. "Germany benefits "particularly" from the EU, the euro and globalisation," it says at every possible opportunity. Even our unfortunate dependency on exports is being debunked by untrustworthy opinion makers and abused for propaganda purposes. Instead of calling a spade a spade a spade and finally renouncing global wage dumping (this would be quite simple), silly ideas are being sold as successful deliverers of salvation (agenda 2010, education offensive, more Europe, more immigrants, pension cuts, Riester pensions, pensions with 67, more redistribution, minimum wage, etc.). But all these "programmes" are eyewashes - at best, they can be used to divert attention from the real source of the disease and to alleviate a little bit of the fatal consequences of global dumping competition.   Why do German representatives of the people want German workers to face wage competition with Poles, Romanians and Chinese? There's no need for that! It would only be necessary to progressively increase customs duties - or VAT (with a simultaneous reduction in social security contributions). There could also be targeted pressure on global players. For example, the importation of goods produced under exploitative conditions (which cannot be properly documented in the supply chain) is subject to a special tax. There would be so many ways to resist the "Capitalist Empowerment Act"! Our star politicians and journalists, however, apparently have no guts to question old dogmas and prejudices. PS: Since the 1970s, the USA, icons of free trade, have prohibited the export of cheap oil produced in the country (in order to secure a competitive advantage for its own industry). Gas reserves in the USA alone gave the American economy a cost advantage of about 100 billion dollars in 2012. So free trade is only ever one-sided, as long as it is in the national interest. No sign of equal opportunities.   Excuse me! There is no equality of opportunity - even when it comes to forming opinions. While the capital (corporations, speculators, lobbyists, media, governments) can afford the best translators, I have to settle for a simple language program for financial reasons. I hope, however, that the text is nevertheless reasonably understandable and that no major mistakes have occurred. Thank you for your understanding. Manfred Julius Müller, 24939 Flensburg (Flensburg has approx. 90,000 inhabitants and lies on the German-Danish border)   Background & Analysis: A list of the currently available translations into English can be found here. Unpopular truths from Germany. The capitalist world by no means functions in the way that the human being is brainwashed. The hottest political taboo topics. The tough fight against false doctrines and prejudices.   Impressum © Manfred Julius Müller, Flensburg, 2013 Current books by Manfred Julius Müller (unfortunately currently only available in German): Manfred Julius Müller has analyzed global economic processes for more than 30 years. He is the author of various books on the topics of globalization, capitalism and politics. Some texts by Manfred Julius Müller also found their way into textbooks or are used for teacher training. The analyzes and texts by Manfred Julius Müller are non-partisan and independent! They are not, as is often the case, sponsored by state institutions, global players, corporations, associations, political parties, trade unions, the EU or capital lobby!