Free Trade

It is impossible to argue with any semblance of honesty that Hillary Clinton is telling the truth when she claims to "have been a critic of Nafta from the very beginning." Her statements over the last 10 years - including one just 3 years ago - declared her strong...

I'm frankly unmoved by the arguments circulating that so-called superdelegates have to vote one way or another. The system for political primaries is broken and the superdelegate issue -- discovered mainly by people who never objected to their status before -- is just one problem. But, since the superdelegates may...

Senators Obama and Clinton are competing in the Senator Edwards sweepstakes to prove who can be more hostile to free trade and critical of NAFTA - although neither has been notably critical in the past. Obama says he is going to bring jobs back to Wisconsin; Clinton is making protectionist...

Fareed Zakaria, as his Newsweek biography is happy to tell you, is a Very Important Person looked to as an "expert" on international issues. Somehow, he retains this billing despite advocating for the worst foreign policy disaster in a generation, hiding his dual role as simultaneous "journalist" and...

I've finished watching the twentieth, and possibly final, Democratic candidate debate. For someone like me who follows economic and jobs issues closely, the debate was both fascinating and frustrating.

First, the fascinating. Both Senator Obama and Senator Clinton said they would renegotiate the job-killing North American Free...

Yesterday, I wrote that neither Sens. Clinton nor Obama are reliable on the issues of trade. Today, there is a bit more evidence to support that notion. It would be helpful if partisans of both camps stop pointing fingers so that we can have a clear-headed debate about...

Tonight, the Democratic candidates for president will debate in Cleveland just one week before Ohio's pivotal primary. Most analysts expect America's lobbyist-written trade policies to take center stage in the Buckeye State -- a place hit hard by trade-related job losses and wage cuts.

In the lead-up to this...

This is just so utterly silly and insulting. Yes, Hillary Clinton is saying "shame on you" to those who point out the historical record showing she strongly supported NAFTA.

Oh, and I love this:

"Bill Clinton has told me personally that Hillary was not in favor of...

The Wisconsin primary featured the first-ever presidential campaign competition of who opposes the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) the most.

The candidates sparred on a daily basis to distance themselves from NAFTA and the United States' soaring trade deficits, loss of more than 3 million manufacturing jobs and...

No one likes being lied to by politicians, and not just because being lied to is insulting, but because when a lie comes from a politician, it suggests that none of their promises should be believed. As my new nationally syndicated newspaper column shows, this is precisely what is...

How did a U.S. trade agreement with Peru of all countries become a political hot potato in the recent Congressional Black Caucus CNN debate? With repeated polls showing that strong majorities, including a majority of Republican voters, consider our current trade policies to be damaging for themselves and the nation,...

The new science of neuroeconomics offers new insights into old political problems

The 19th-century French economist Frederic Bastiat expressed a principle applicable in the 21st century: "Where goods do not cross frontiers, armies will."

In my new book, The Mind of the Market, I describe in detail how in the...

My colleagues in economics (and many others, including quite a few liberal ones) tend to scoff at the majority of the public that is troubled by globalization. Never mind the false medications, poisoned toys, and pirated goods, you just don't understand -- these economists say -- free trade is good...

It's now confirmed: economic issues will drive both the Republican and Democratic primaries until the presidential nominees are determined. Exit polls in New Hampshire showed that pluralities of Democrats and Republicans rated the economy as the most important issue for them, outpacing Iraq, immigration, health care, and terrorism.

From The Drum Major Institute's Year In Review (read our full round-up of the year in politics and policy online here)

1. Selling Out Consumer Safety
As headlines about the recall of millions of children's toys coated with highly toxic lead paint dominated the newspapers this summer, many...

Reporters often heap scorn upon the rigid views of social conservatives and evangelical Christians, but very few of them acknowledge their own overwhelming religious bias: too many reporters worship unflinchingly at the discredited cult of "free trade," even in the absence of facts to support their beliefs.

They...