Ah, I remember this thread. I never participated because people were linking to things they themselves probably didn't even understand, posting a graph they probably can't explain, and beating everyone else over the head with their Econ textbooks. Good stuff.
(For the record, protectionism is stupid. But there's a middle way between FREE TRADE FOREVER, FREE TRADE PREVENTS WAR and NO FREE TRADE EVER, RAISE ALL TARIFFS. People always need to remember the human impact, and that good economic numbers don't translate into a good economy for all.)
The human impact is obvious. People in certain sectors of the economy, the ones that America is not relatively good at, suffer, while the inverse is true for sectors of the economy that America is relatively god at. If you've been making expensive socks all your life and we open up trade with China, which can make socks far more cheaply relative to everything else they can make, you're going to be out of a job.
Are people who support restrictions on free trade thinking of workers in sectors of the economy that would be hurt by such policies whatsoever? Or is their empathy narrow minded?
You live in Ohio. Repealing NAFTA and such would benefit Ohio, but at a greater cost to the rest of the world. Not like anyone who benefits necessarily should care since it's not that easy to go back to college and move to Texas or what have you. Well, they should care, just like Iowans should care about the damage to the common good that ethanol subsidies create
