Welcome to FR.
There are a good number of ideologues here who will bristle at your assertions. Ready to blow themselves and everyone else in the country to bits at the altar. One thing they ignore - “Free Trade” as currently practiced is not free - not a tiny bit.
Even if it were, we’d be nuts to embrace it. The Law of Diminishing Returns does not favor overdeveloped nations. Lower trade barriers, and capital flows out of the country like water through a broken dam.
The only thing we’ve actually done is lower barriers to competition from overseas without removing any of the burden that comes from operating within US borders. The results have been nothing if not predictable. Our industrial and GDP growth have slowed to a crawl or reversed. Deficits are skyrocketing.
Our economy and national defense capability have been comprimised. Our technological edge is being blunted by piracy and outright surrender. We are rapidly ceding our bargaining power when it comes to foreign policy and resource markets. Thanks to porous borders and non-existent immigration enforcement, we’ve become a welfare sugar daddy for Mexico and Central America. Deficit spending just accelerates things. We’re financing China’s ascendancy from our own Treasury.
This is a bad joke that’s gone on long enough.
I’ll try to check the book out.
Beautiful well thought out answer.