Quote from AAAintheBeltway:
The purpose of capitalism is to ensure the most efficient use of resources through competition and self interest.
It has nothing to do with "stakeholders' ( a term invented by liberals to make meddling seem appropriate), the economy, jobs or anything else. Growth in the eocnomy is a side effect of efficient use of resources, self interest, ie greed, and competition.
As Pat Buchanan has observed, economic efficiency is not the only value at stake however. A government has the obligation to do what is best for its citizens. I would argue, as does Pat, that globalization and the resultant loss of manufacturing jobs is nto in our self interest, event hough it may be more efficient from an intellectual stand point.
Liberals however basically painted themselves into a corner. Through excessive regulation, litigation, taxes and unionism, they made it nearly impossible for domestic companies to be competitive. Globalization seemed a way out and the right thing to do, as it meant ceding our sovereignty to the WTO, something liberals are always eager to do. Also, the corporate statists who ran Bill Clinton saw outsourcing as a way to have their cake and eat it too.
The working class is too dumb to realize that their own champions sold them out.