What to Expect When You’re Free Trading

[closeupready]

IN the days before Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary in Michigan, Mitt Romney and John McCain battled over what the government owes to workers who lose their jobs because of the foreign competition unleashed by free trade. Their rhetoric differed — Mr. Romney said he would “fight for every single job,” while Mr. McCain said some jobs “are not coming back” — but their proposed policies were remarkably similar: educate and retrain the workers for new jobs.

All economists know that when American jobs are outsourced, Americans as a group are net winners. What we lose through lower wages is more than offset by what we gain through lower prices. In other words, the winners can more than afford to compensate the losers. Does that mean they ought to? Does it create a moral mandate for the taxpayer-subsidized retraining programs proposed by Mr. McCain and Mr. Romney?

Um, no. Even if you’ve just lost your job, there’s something fundamentally churlish about blaming the very phenomenon that’s elevated you above the subsistence level since the day you were born. If the world owes you compensation for enduring the downside of trade, what do you owe the world for enjoying the upside?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/opinion/16landsburg.html

Easy to promote outsourcing when you have tenure.

[Vincardog]

1. All economists are full of shit if they say "All economists know that when American jobs are

outsourced, Americans as a group are net winners." I call BULLSHIT. THE MEGA Corporations and the wealthiest 1/2 of 1% benefit. The rest of the world suffers for their greed.

[Demeter]

2. Training for WHAT Jobs? And How Do You Eat In the Meanwhile?

Who is this idiot, anyway?

According to his listing in Wikipedia, he sounds like the lunatic fringe of the lunatic fringe.

Bookmark that name, folks--there's bound to be a real juicy scandal with his name on it in the next decade, or maybe even sooner!

[MsMagnificent]

3. This piece is beyond disgusting

"net winners"?!
What about American individuals who have no jobs?!
And aw, these poor poor "net winners" who are asked to foot the bill for the retraining of jobs for their fellow American!
My keyboard is awash in tears -- but not for that stated reason!

The "Me Generation" was certainly not misnamed, that's for sure.


And this is in the New York Times, no less.
I know they have gotten low, that they have long lost their way... but this is so bad, so low, it's
simply incredible!