What happened to the economy when we tried free trade? What's happened politically is a result of the Government interfering in the economy, essentially stunting free trade and capitalism. Government influence unbalances the situation.
Obama was elected because of the economic melt-down of the mortgage markets, which was a direct result of Governmental meddling. That's about as far from free trade and capitalism as you can get!
You are kidding us of course.
And the gov't forced AIG and others to get into the derivatives market?
No, what happened is everyone got greedy, instead of building better mousetraps so to speak - everyone said screw it, let's go to offshore production. We got away with it for a while, thanks to a national VISA card and HELOC's and a bogus real estate market - much of which the .gov is responsible for. But now the bill has come due.
So add in the cost of Zero's spending to the cost of all the imported goods. Don't look like we got a bargain does it?