Trade IS good! But not for everyone in all places and times. Sadly, U.S. Trade policy is currently being decided by a man, who seems to only hear echoes, doesn't read, and obviously understands little at a cerebral level. He's not helping.
Globalization is inevitable. We can't stop it, nor should we want to. For nations, the trick is to participate in the natural course of globalization so as to bring aggregate benefit to an entire economy. That's difficult, but I'm confident it's doable. Although we have made mistakes, with good leadership we won't repeat them. We can, and will, do much better going forward. We must anticipate which components of our economy will be affected adversely by trade agreements and prepare in advance to mitigate adverse effects.* Going forward, we can continue to participate in globalization and do it either badly or well, but attempting to create a closed economy in a world of open economies will not only be impossible but a disastrous mistake as well.
________________
*This implies that there will be necessary changes in public education. Change doesn't come easily to most of us; highly competent leadership is needed to to overcome inevitable resistance.
Recognizing that, with notable exceptions, the most competent to lead in technical matters often have no appetite for the political arena, we won't succeed in making the necessary changes without the forming of effective political and technical alliances.
[Two excellent examples of "notable exceptions," referred to above, would be: a) Daniel Patrick Moynihan (deceased), an expert in history and sociology, and in particular on the Soviet economy; b) Elizabeth Warren, an expert on U.S. bankruptcy law, and certain areas of finance. Moynihan was also a consummate politician, as is Elizabeth warren today. Another two excellent examples, drawn from earlier times, would be John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.]
