Clyde Ingle's Public Library

there’s the claim that protectionism is always a bad thing, in any
circumstances. If that’s what you believe, however, you learned Econ 101 from
the wrong people — because when unemployment is high and the government can’t
restore full employment, the usual rules don’t apply.

Let me quote from a classic paper by the late Paul Samuelson, who more or
less created modern economics: “With employment less than full ... all the
debunked mercantilistic arguments” — that is, claims that nations who subsidize
their exports effectively steal jobs from other countries — “turn out to be
valid.” He then went on to argue that persistently misaligned exchange rates
create “genuine problems for free-trade apologetics.”

Detroit and its environs are suffering the agonies of the economic damned
because of policies, crafted at the highest national and corporate levels, that
resulted in the implosion of crucially important components of America’s
manufacturing base. Those decisions have had a profound effect on the fortunes
not just of Detroit, or even Michigan, but the entire U.S. economy.

“We’ve been living with the illusion that manufacturing — making things — is
so 20th century,” said Mr. Shaiken, “and that we could succeed by concentrating,
for example, on complex financial instruments while abandoning the industrial
base that sustained so many American families.”

We’re at a period no less significant to the U.S. than Mr. Chapman’s early
years at Ford. We need a revitalized industrial policy, including the creation
of whole new industries, if American families are to prosper in the coming
decades. If there is any sense of urgency about this in the hearts and minds of
our corporate and government leaders, I’ve missed it.

Smith said Thursday night that he had gotten approval not to bill his
campaign from the Board of Elections. Board staff told him that because he owned
the plane he could treat it as he would his car, he said.