always respect your work... but something suddenly feels funny...
you speak of the American worker losing so much in pay and benefits...
on other occasions you are a free-trader.
isn't the loss of the American worker coincident with the rise of globalization?
could it also have a causal relationship? as increased pressures are put on the bottom line, and as opportunities for outsourcing are enhanced - well, isn't the American worker destined to lose?
sure, in the pie-in-the-sky world I'd like to live in, we'd have trade agreements contigent on equal or near equal labor, environmental and social standards... but since that isn't a priority for corporate chiefs or the politicians they buy, shouldn't you be questioning your economist's blind allegiance to "growing the pie" through globalization? especially since "growing the pie" requires increased exploitation of (mostly non-renewable) resources? and increased pollution (how much coal is China burning, anyway? how much mercury and sulfer from that coal is poisoning aquifiers)
ugh... I like your honesty and your politics... but I fear you suffer from "Economist's myopia" when it comes to globalization.