In the name of “free trade,” we have lost millions of middle-class manufacturing jobs.  Our economy is dying, and for many of us, our standard of living is in free-fall. What people have been calling free trade is not free trade. David Ricardo, the “father” of free trade, assumed that (free) trade would benefit both trading partners.  He further assumed that it would tend to stay more or less in balance. We have a huge trade deficit with China because China is cheating.  China is not practicing free trade.  China is practicing mercantilism, which is the opposite of free trade. While we are practicing free trade in good faith, China is taking advantage of our well-meaning ignorance to bolster its economy at our expense. Our public economists have given our policymakers bad advice.  That bad advice has cost millions of us our jobs, our homes, and our retirement.  Whole communities have been devastated as...(Read Full Article)