SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Declining wages and the unchecked outsourcing of jobs are cause for concern in the United States. The doctrine of free trade, the core of US economic policy, is faltering. Has the age of protectionism begun?
A Toshiba employee from Tennessee doesn't have to travel far to see what happened to his former job. All it takes is a short flight to El Paso, Texas, and a ride in a taxi toward the US-Mexican border.
The border crossing, in its coarseness, is reminiscent of the East German side of the former border between the two Germanys, except that the face on wall posters is that of George W. Bush and not of the former East German leader Erich Honecker. It isn't exactly a welcoming sort of place, this border crossing with its posters cataloging the potentially dire consequences of breaking the rules -- including the illegal purchase of parrots ("You're buying yourself bird flu") and human trafficking ("Death is only one of the ways of losing your life"). Is America Slouching Towards Protectionism? >>> By Gabor Steingart
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
