free trade should be valued above protectionism

My opponents case: Her value for this debate is societal welfare, first i wanna tell the voters mine is also societal welfare however my opponent does not provide this; i will later go on about this. For now however lets look at her criterion which evidently is free trade. She goes on to say it enhances competition and this is good for the economy. I object to this, we as the united states have not even benefited from it, isn't this so called free trade what cause all these companies to go overseas? Free trade no restrictions lets move all our companies to China or Korea its cheaper. The free trade allows this to happen, companies to move over the U.S loses jobs increased unemployment yes shes provide societal welfare alright but not for the U.S for those people who work for pennies an hour. Yes all this free trade is so good, we got american companies going under , now a days you would see a man in a Honda rather than a Ford or Chevy. Yes thats great money going to the other countries so were are we making our money? all the companies move over less exports more imports bad economic situation. Not providing societal welfare. Free Trade Enhances Competition "Free Trade brings competition to a global scale it brings companies that might not have competed with each other together to create products that are beneficial to us the consumers. Ok let's think for a minute, we have only one company in the United States that has a known gaming system and that's Microsoft with the Xbox, now with out free trade this would be the only gaming system creating a monopoly, they could raise prices to larger amounts for lower quality products but because we have free trade we have competition between Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo each creates a well known product by having this by having free trade we enhance competition, so that there aren't monopolies. We create this competition with Free Trade which in turn is better for the consumer and the economy." I would like to say this is not the case, Yes shes bring competition but the thing is they are beating us badly and companies are moving over. The xbox 360 in my opinion is a better system than all of them however more expensive, in our economic down slide an average unemployed/ maybe minimum wage job will look towards whats cheap. An xbox 360 is $300.00 and a PS3 is now i believe what $200.00 as well PS2 has free online multiplayer. Which one is the poor consumer going to buy? The whole fact of the matter is the U.S is getting the shaft in sales, and they are beating U.S companies are going out of business or moving over sea's the rich get richer the poor get poorer. Free trade decreases unemployment. "According to Professor Andrew Bernard of Dartmouth College , "about 40% of American workers work for firms that export. These exporting firms are vital for American jobs, especially at a time of slowing job creation. The falling dollar makes American goods more desirable abroad, creating more jobs for Americans. And foreign firms have headquarters here, employing 5.3 million American workers." May 2009. According to Organization for international investment this year currently foreign companies have 5.6 million people employed. This is jobs that are being created and with out free trade we wouldn't have more and more foreign companies are employing Americans to work for them and for good pensions and wages." Nice statistics but they are bia's when their are statistics from people there are always opposing statistics. One angry complaint is that more than three million U.S. jobs with middle-class wages have been outsourced to foreign countries since 1994. The New York Times observed in 2006: "Globalization is tough to sell to average people. Economists can promote the very real benefits of a robustly growing world: when they sell more overseas, American businesses can employ more people. "But what sticks in our minds is the television image of the father of three laid off when his factory moves offshore." -Estimated that 406,000 jobs were outsourced in 2004 compared to 204,000 in 2003. -Estimated that since January of 2001, 2.7 million manufacturing jobs have left the country. -It is argued that buying foreign products doesn�t support American jobs. It is argued that money made in the United States should help support jobs in the U.S. and not support companies to send jobs overseas. -American workers can not fairly compete with cheap labor because the costs of living in these other countries are so small compared with the U.S. -71 % of Americans are concerned that with current trends of outsourcing jobs will affect their job security or earning potential. (BH Careers International) -66% of Americans say biggest worry is if they will have a job tomorrow. I could go on, but i think you get my point lets stick to the arguments and not statistical battle. (http://www.rose-hulman.edu...) Free Trade is beneficial for the consumers. "In contention one I gave an example of how free trade is beneficial, it helps make prices lower and gives us the consumer's better products. According to the bureau of labor statistics a free trade economy pays 4.9% less than a protectionist economy. Doesn't that say it all right there that free trade lowers prices so there for it's beneficial to society. But not only does it bring lower prices but better products as well. Its common sense that if you have varieties of the same product that a consumer is going to choose the product that is the cheapest but best product so with a free trade economy companies can not afford to make bad products where if there wasn't those varieties and there wasn't that competition then companies wouldn't be as innovative. And that wouldn't be beneficial to the economy free trade is in the best interest of the economy and what's in the best interest of the economy should be in the best interest of society." I completely and utterly disagree, as i have provided unemployment is rising, U.S jobs are moving over to other countries, yes the products are cheaper but with no jobs they can't afford it. Free trade upholds societal welfare. "Societal welfare is the well being of society as a whole. It is common knowledge that the economy affects the welfare of society. When unemployment goes up people stop buying products and more people apply for social programs, like food stamps, and unemployment. So since I have proven that free trade is beneficial to the economy then isn't beneficial to society, doesn't it uphold societal welfare. Even according to the American Heritage Foundation free trade promotes a higher standard of living. Meaning that it does promote society as a whole and if it promotes societal welfare than it should be valued and you must vote for the affirmative." Yes and unemployment is caused by free trade as well as the oversea's companies which doesn't improve or help more likely worsen's that society. Her last statement : Actually in her case she states all these points about free trade she never says a word about protectionism and how it will erode society. Never in her case does she state this. Now further more free trade does not improve society, it creates a way for the rich to get more rich while the poor can't even get jobs. We have at least 12 million people that are unemployed in the U.S this doesn't include those looking for work either. These company owners moving over is bad for business, at least with protectionism we can make restrictions on these companies to not move over so many jobs. Oh competition, and improvement free trade does not these things but moves over jobs for Mr. ching chong to work, its ok competition remember these americans who had jobs no longer have them and competition this so called competition isn't helping our society but weaking it. This is why you should vote for my side if not for me but for those 12 million unemployed in america today.