Is there anyway we could trade Obama for Mugabe? I’d like to have an experienced socialist economy wrecker than a noob.

You still fail to grasp that the problem is government favoritism.

You have already completed your book about globalization. If competition from foreign authors Johan Norberg, Martin Wolf, or other scribes have diminished sales of your book, feel free to visit this URL apply for trade adjustment assistance.

http://www.fas.usda.gov/ITP/TAA/taa.asp

"Could you explain to me again just how we're supposed to do interpersonal utility comparisons?"

I completely agree. The only reason I was using that argument because it seemed to be the only one that made sense to the kind Mr. Rustbelt — measuring the "hurts" here and there.

If that argument itself isn't even consistent, then he doesn't really have much else.

So, in response to my question, that's a "no, not I", then?

Incidentally, interpersonal utility comparisons are made all the time. Search, for example, on "quality-adjusted life years".

It seems to me that the not-completely-on-board-with-free-trade-rs' arguments come down to this: a large negative impact to person A is more important than a similarly large positive cumulative impact (to A, B, C… Z).

I suppose you could get to this point on the basis of marginal utility – though I doubt most not-on-boarders' do, or that they would accept maximization of the integral of total utility over time as an acceptable alternative to simple job preservation.

I'm interested in the "maximizing the integral" notion, however, and I'm wondering if anyone can point me to any theoretical or practical work in this area, or comment on the idea from their own knowledge/powers of analysis.

These sums are only for "trade-adjustment assistance" to agriculture in the U.S. By no means are they the full amount of U.S.-government subsidies and support for American farmers.

Are you trying to be funny, or are you just openly contemptuous of blue collar workers [who compete with the blue collar workers you feel should receive preference]?

You should apply right after your house is foreclosed and you get the bankruptcy release [because you can't compete with the protected industries].

Maybe you spend a sabattical out in the real world [where you may encounter the radical ideas of unintended consquences], could be good for you!

———-

If trotting out aggrieved parties is the same thing as making a real argument, what do you have to say to the equally blue collar workers who are competitors to these protected industries? Or perhaps the blue collar workers who work in industries whose raw materials are more costly due to protectionism? Or to the blue collar workers who have to pay more for these protected goods?

If your argument can be summed up by "but some people are worse off because of this," then I can equally point out people who are worse off because of what you support. To start your argument, you have to prove that free trade is a net negative, not just a local one. If you can't prove that, then you have to show that free trade is immoral because, whatever its benefits, forcibly deprives your specific blue collar workers.

When cars were invented and went on to become common consumer goods, many makers of horse-drawn carriages and their accessories, stable proprietors, horse breeders, and city-street manure shovelers lost their jobs.

There is no difference between this, and the loss of jobs due to foreign competition. Therefore to argue that domestic industry needs protection from foreign competitors is to argue that archaic industry needs protection from advances in technology. It is so easy to see that the latter impoverishes us, why is it so difficult to see that the former does as well?

bla bla bla ignorant class warfare comment with no basis in fact bla bla bla.

Now, being that I am in the real world, where should I spend my sabbatical, maybe in your utopian paradise of protected trade and planned economy. Where is that again? North Korea?

You should apply right after your house is foreclosed and you get the bankruptcy release.

Maybe you spend a sabattical out in the real world, could be good for you!

But lychee nuts – can't live without those!