Butler - you are SO clueless that it's laughable. Do you know how broad "working in Finance" is? Do you have any clue how much of our society could be painted with this broad, clueless brush? Further - you're a hypocrite. Your excuse about not being able to avoid "buying Chinese" is bullshit. You could do it, you're just too lazy and cheap. You were looking at your retirement boat totally ignorant to the fact that it's now a Chinese brand. Nothing wrong with that except for your comments which proved that you're either ignorant or a total hypocrite. Define "unfettered trade" because without demand, there would be no need for the supply. If it's unfettered it's because YOU demand it.
Secondly, how do you think countries like Canada and the U.S. (and every other major country) operate with deficits without people like me who "work in finance" (LOL)? Think about it before you reply. Eg: The U.S. deficit is going to be in the $Trillion range. Do you know what that means? That means that $1 Trillion of NEW DEBT will need to be raised, priced, distributed and subsequently traded. That's NEW debt, not including refinancing maturing debt and trading existing debt. How do you think that debt is priced? I worked at a US Primary dealer early in my career. Do you have any idea how to make a market? Because a Primary dealer is obligated to quote a two way price - no excuses. How long do you think you'd last having to make second to second decisions, take a view, reverse that view, take a loss, hedge a position - all happening at once in 7 to 9 figure amounts? You can't even take a view on Trump without sitting on the fence. How do you think an investor (perhaps one of the CPPIB managers who are looking after the growth of your Govt pension) buys and sells this debt in order to grow your retirement assets? And that's just the Govt debt. It's the same with corporations raising debt, it's the same with hospitals raising money to fund a new expansion. Then there are equity markets. Money markets. Derivatives. Do you know how and why futures markets originated? To help farmers. Shall I go on? Unless you plan to literally keep your savings in an old sock - then you're a hypocrite. Don't comment on that which you have ZERO understanding.