Protectionism ultimately fails. Even the most redneck pro-American consumer shops at WalMart for imported products.

It's funny that within the fishing and hunting community, people scoff at lower priced but well made rods and reels manufactured off-shore, yet no one criticizes the purchase of what are perceived as high quality goods like fly reels from England and shotguns from Italy. Humans are weird.

Like it or not, if a manufacturer can hire the same quality labor he pays $35 an hour for in the US for $3.50 a day in Asia, then the forces of economics will cause him to do it, regardless of his preferences. The companies that don't have been dropping like flies. I suppose what this means is that the global marketplace will level the playing field. The standard of living in Asia will increase, while the standard of living in the US decreases. Is there really any alternative, and if so, what is it, and how does it work?

Sg