Discussion
Economist Steven Landsburg (New York Times, January 16, 2008 p. A23) made the point that "bullying and protectionism have a lot in common. They both use force (either directly or through the power of law) to enrich someone else at your involuntary expense. If you're forced to pay $20 an hour to an American for goods you could have bought from a Mexican for $5 an hour, you're being extorted." He also argued, "Surely we have fellow citizens who are hurt by those [trade] agreements...What do we owe those fellow citizens?" The United States has programs to educate and retrain workers displaced by free trade agreements. Do we even owe them that? Why or why not?