Who's "Blind"?
18 January 2007
Editor, The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10281
To the Editor:
Attempting to discredit free trade, Sen. Byron Dorgan resorts to tired rhetorical tricks (Letters, Jan. 18). For example, he complains about the loss of manufacturing jobs. In fact, though, most of these job losses are due to automation that increases workers' productivity. As economies advance, the loss of manufacturing jobs is no more surprising or regrettable than was our loss over the past few centuries of agricultural jobs or our earlier loss of hunter-gatherer jobs.
Sen. Dorgan calls free-traders "blind." It is much closer to the truth to call protectionists antediluvian.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10281
To the Editor:
Attempting to discredit free trade, Sen. Byron Dorgan resorts to tired rhetorical tricks (Letters, Jan. 18). For example, he complains about the loss of manufacturing jobs. In fact, though, most of these job losses are due to automation that increases workers' productivity. As economies advance, the loss of manufacturing jobs is no more surprising or regrettable than was our loss over the past few centuries of agricultural jobs or our earlier loss of hunter-gatherer jobs.
Sen. Dorgan calls free-traders "blind." It is much closer to the truth to call protectionists antediluvian.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Monday October 1, 2007 at 5:46am