[Citizen Tom Paine]

I have great conceptual difficulty with grasping the concept of "free trade". I recall a discussion from high school about making steel many years ago. (I grew up in Pennsylvania in a steel making region.) The question was could the existing steel industry in Pennsylvania (which paid higher salaries) compete with countries that paid lower salaries?

The answer was not how much a worker was paid, but how productive he was. A more productive higher paid worker could produce more goods that a lower paid one. The hooker in the reasoning was (is) that the industry with the higher paid workers had to invest more in their production methods to cancel out the difference in the cost of production.

I have never studied it, but I will give you odds that the capital spending in our heavy industries has decreased over the years putting the US at a competitive disadvantage.

[1rudeboy]

I have never studied it, but I will give you odds that the capital spending in our heavy industries has decreased over the years putting the US at a competitive disadvantage.

Don't be so sure. Our current account deficit indicates that overseas money is flowing in. Where it is going is another matter.