Who knows what Art Woolf is really saying? Except that he doesn't like or understand the concept of Local First.
Mainstream economists, like Woolf, tend to believe that the basis for prosperity is simply to maximize "free trade." They assume that maximizing imports and maximizing exports, if that's what the market leads to, is just dandy.
You're right that not a few politicians are happy to talk free trade and then restrict imports to benefit domestic industries. President Bush certainly claims to be a free trader, but has had no qualms about protecting steel and other industries. I would not put Art Woolf in this category.
Buying USA is not at all the same things as Local First. Most of the reasons for buying local -- the higher economic multipliers from local business, for example -- simple disappear in a country as large as the United States. I'll elaborate this distinction in a future posting.
Who Knows?
Who knows what Art Woolf is really saying? Except that he doesn't like or understand the concept of Local First.
Mainstream economists, like Woolf, tend to believe that the basis for prosperity is simply to maximize "free trade." They assume that maximizing imports and maximizing exports, if that's what the market leads to, is just dandy.
You're right that not a few politicians are happy to talk free trade and then restrict imports to benefit domestic industries. President Bush certainly claims to be a free trader, but has had no qualms about protecting steel and other industries. I would not put Art Woolf in this category.
Buying USA is not at all the same things as Local First. Most of the reasons for buying local -- the higher economic multipliers from local business, for example -- simple disappear in a country as large as the United States. I'll elaborate this distinction in a future posting.