Free trade insight, wow!

I just read a great example of the ridiculousness of protectionist arguments and can't wait to try it out on a real, live liberal (sadly there are too many in DC). It sounds silly at first, but illustrates the folly of thinking in zero-sum terms.

'So you oppose free trade. Do you think it would be bad or good if imports simply washed onto our shores? Would you send out the Coast Guard to prevent *free* barges of scrap metal and rafts full of sugar from reaching our coast?'

Make no mistake- enough of these barges would displace some American workers. It would sure suck for sugar farmers if boats full of refined cane sugar were just showing up without a price tag.

But in this example it's even easier than in the real world to see the benefits of free trade to society. Consumers pay less and therefore divert disposable income to other goods, raising their standard of living. Being able to collect these goods and sell them would certainly create other jobs (in fact, the economy would create more jobs than would be lost) and the wages in the secondary markets that used steel, sugar and reduced-priced inputs would rise.

Most of all, this example shows how protectionism ultimately boils down to xenophobia, ironically what ill-educated liberals are fond of calling Republicans.

I'm highly indebted to the WSJ's Econoblog for the best example of free trade economics I've seen yet.

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Hey, you should check out a great four minute video of the tone of the debate during Clinton's nomination of Ginsburg to the Supreme Court. It really shows the depravity of the Kennedy-MoveOn-NARAL coalition.

When you think about it, though, it's probably in my best long-term career interest (not to mention the public interest!) to donate as much as I can afford to MoveOn or NARAL or whatever.....I'm certainly not opposed to giving them enough rope to hang themselves.

http://judgeroberts.com/epresskit/testify.shtml