Wave Goodbye to the Invisible Hand

An economic era centered around globalization could be fading away, argues columnist Steven Pearlstein for the Washington Post. Developing nations will continue benefiting from trade agreements, albeit without the frenetic fast growth, while developed nations will see fewer cost savings based on low wages in far-off lands. “It is not the protectionists of the AFL-CIO or CNN who are primarily to blame for the erosion of public support for trade in the United States, as bone-headed as they may be,” Pearlstein explains. “The blame lies squarely with a business community that continues to support Republican politicians who refuse to raise the taxes and spend the money necessary to provide the economic safety net for American workers that a free-market economy has not, and will not, provide.” Politicians that opposed government intervention to regulate excesses in the home-mortgage, energy and health industries or apply taxes to building a solid infrastructure now must perform costly patchwork rescues. Current trade and low-tax patterns eliminate inequality among but not within countries. – YaleGlobal