[RiflemanSharpe]

ping

[Gunslingr3]

The cost of border freight security, which has gone up since 9/11 and will have to go up much further if this country is to be secure.

The security hobgoblin is the biggest one of all. Mencken was a genius.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

...The key issue here is the need to protect our strategic industrial base. The US is already in the position of having to contemplate war with powers, like China, upon which we are dependent for a wide variety of manufactured goods. This is a problem for extremely obvious reasons...

It's not just the manufactured goods we depend upon,which will eventually render us incapable of resisting, but our politicians are dependent on the Chinese cash that still lines the pockets of both parties.

When the war with China comes, they will have not only gained the advantage of denying us weaponry, but they will have our leadership firmly by the neck.

[Porterville]

rational trade, oh, like communism... always fails

[lelio]

Even free trade with China has not led them along the path of democracy as naïve capitalist romantics predicted, but has enriched and strengthened their existing hostile regime. Their growing military budget isn?t financed out of thin air: it?s financed by exporting goods to America. I loathe Mexico, for other reasons, but we?d be better off buying our cheap knick-knacks from them. And let?s not forget that Bin Laden is (was?) only a millionaire because of our trade with Saudi Arabia.

Good point. I expect in 12 years we'll hear a rallying cry from Republicans to "do something" about the Chinese military advances. Hey another political slogan to get them into office.

The current Clinton-established trade regime, despite the Bush administration?s clumsy but real concessions to reality, is a kind of free-trade extremism.

That's being too kind to the Republicans that have always support the trade regime.

[Snuffington]

A very good article.

But it is soooo much easier to try to polarize the debate between absolute free trade and absolute protectionism (neither of which actually exist out side of economics text books) that I seriously doubt this sort of trade model could gain popular support.