[Schneed10]

Yeah this is about making the most money possible for our country. Some of what I say in this post may hit home for those in manufacturing positions, but skirting around the issues only serves to inhibit our understanding of the economic principles involved. Here's what happens with free trade:

Country A has highly skilled and highly educated workers, and thus the cost for their services is high. To make a widget in this country, it costs $20 per widget.

Country B has workers with few skills and little education, thus the cost for their services is low. To make a widget here, it costs $5 per widget.

Anyone making a widget would choose to make it in Country B and market the widgets to Country A. So Country B benefits by:
- Having plenty of jobs available that pay more than what they're citizens are capable of earning now.
- The increased wages in Country B means improvements in standard of living, greater investment in education, and the further development of skill sets in Country B's children. So because of these jobs, the children of country B's workers will get a better education, and add skill sets, allowing them to compete for even more jobs in the future.

Benefits to Country A:
- Cheaper widgets. Much, much cheaper widgets. In our modern economy, this plays out in the form of low inflation (we've managed to keep inflation at historically low levels for the last 15 years).
- The money we save on our widgets means consumers have more money to buy and invest in other things. Standard of living improves. More money is available to invest in education. Etcetera.

Country B is where America was during the 1800s and early 1900s. Country A is where America is now. Reason? Our workers have gained skill sets and education made possible by making a good living as a developing nation. In a nutshell, Americans are too highly skilled to be wasting our time manufacturing widgets. Our skills can be better used by managing the Widget Factories overseas, or as lawyers, doctors, researchers, accountants, insurance adjusters, salespeople, teachers, media distributors, etcetera.

Our country has moved ahead when it comes to skills. To live in this country and miss the boat when it comes to developing your skill sets to meet changing demand for services is a tough way to live. If your skills aren't keeping up with our country's progressing economy, I can see why that's a very emotional problem. But that's what economics is all about: competition.

Manufacturing is on the decline in this nation. It's a tough deal. But that's the direct result of our collective skill set developing. To inhibit that competition only serves to put us at a disadvantage. You want to keep the manufacturing jobs here? OK, it will cost our companies $20 per widget. Widget prices will go up, and we'll have no extra money to invest in education and our standard of living will stall. In the meantime, Country B is SOL, they don't get the manufacturing jobs. They're stuck in their crappy standard of living, with no new money available to invest in skills and education.

And the end result is the world makes no progress.

Free trade and competition are necessary for the world to make progress. The tough thing is some people naturally don't compete and get left behind. And that's sad because they struggle. But it would be even worse if our entire nation struggled to find ways to fund a good education for our kids.