Phil Gramm and I continue, in this new piece in the Wall Street Journal, to champion free trade. A slice:
In a free society, consumers determine what is produced by choosing where to spend the incomes they’ve earned through hard work and thrift. Consumer sovereignty directs labor and capital to create the mix of goods and services that consumers want. Businesses either produce them efficiently or fail.
Politicians who advocate focusing on jobs propose that we allow government to direct how labor is employed, how capital is invested, and which goods and services are made available to consumers. That concept isn’t exactly novel: Allowing the “best and brightest” to choose such arrangements has been tried and rejected for eons. The idea of letting those who earn their incomes by the sweat of their brows decide how to spend their own money is relatively new and revolutionary.
