[Hawthorn]

>> Today, trade can happen overnight if necessary, changing the dynamic of what can be traded <<

Well, sure, the speed of change is definitely faster, and the resulting temporary disruptions may be more noticeable and sometimes more unsettling that they would have been a century or two ago. In the contemporary world, severe political pressures do sometimes result, especially when we’re in an Obama-induced period of subpar economic growth.

But I think the underlying logic of the matter doesn’t change. And it’s not all just “theory” — since the empirical data still show that nations with open trading economies do better than nations that live under relatively autarkic conditions.

[Political Junkie Too]

My point was that the speed of trade changes what can be traded. We can trade so much more today them could have been traded 200 years ago. Theory aside, there are more opportunities today to trade one's self out of a job than 200 years ago.

-PJ