[stupiduser]

"Free markets" are a disaster; without protectionist measures the United States would still be pursuing its comparative advantage against Great Britian--we'd be selling them beaver skins and acorns in exchange for their manufactured goods. All of the protectionist Asian countries have done gangbusters in the last half-decade or so; meanwhile all of the countries that have had "free markets" forced on them (which certainly does NOT include the United States) have in comparison done terrible (think Africa, Latin America).