The New York Times (today's edition, editorials) is in George's corner when it comes to the myth of Free Trade. They actually believe that the massive loss of high quality US jobs to cheap labor sources like India and China is a good thing, arguing that such moves actually create new jobs back here. Tell that to the over 750,000 technology workers who have lost their jobs since 2000. You can point directly to the lost jobs, where they went, and who benefits from the movement. It ain't us benefitting, folks. It may be Mega Corp, but it ain't us. We lose the jobs, the disposable income, the homes, the stability, the tax revenue, and ultimately hope. So why is moving quality jobs to low-price countries so bad?

Let me ask a better question: why do we trade with India on the same basis as we do England? Or Ireland? India's salaries for high tech jobs are much lower, indeed. But let's make a checklist of things we should consider when trading with another country, just for fun:

--human rights record (India knowingly allows 10,000 children to be sold into sex slavery every year. England enforces its sex slavery laws).
--democratic practices (England follows rule of law; India selectively enforces and corruption is rampant).
--basic quality of life through government action (England has clean water; India only has clean water in certain neighborhoods, mostly favoring the rich; India has high rates of preventable disease; England has national health care and low rates of disease)
--security threat (India continues to test nuclear weapons in violation of international law and has implicitly threatened to use them against Pakistan; plus India is a conduit for terrorists travelling through the region; England does not violate international agreements, does not test nuclear weapons, and does not destabilize the region with threats of violence against its neighbors).

So I'll ask again, why do we do business with India on the same basis as England? The time has come for the US to introduce (gasp!) real standards to its trade agreements, ensuring a level playing field and good behavior so US companies and workers can truly compete in a fair market. The "free" market clearly isn't free. It's just freely abused by the wealthy few at the expense of the rest of us.