that simply a race to the bottom - in order to remain competitive for jobs, our environmental, labor, and living standards should fall to the lowest level in the international community. it won't work. you can't have balance when you compete with third world nations who are willing to move to the absolute lowest possible level.
My husband & I had this discussion at lunch today. One reason the Confederacy lost the Civil War was because they had failed to adequately industrialize, and failed to build a substantial rail infrastructure (the interstate highways of the day.) They thought it was sufficient to grow the cotton, haul it to the ports by oxcart, and ship it to England. It wasn't.
We're putting ourselves in the same boat as the antebellum South. Is this really where we want to be, re: our national defense?
As I have mentioned on other threads, the current dual trends of exporting jobs and importing cheap labor, if it continues will make the US a European style welfare state by 2010. The liberal voters, plus the votes of displaced workers + the votes of immigrants and minorities will produce a country that is a European style welfare state that has the social problems of Brazil.