The Vapid Punditry of "Free" Trade

Matt Yglesias says the debate over "free" trade is essentially unimportant. His claim that bad trade deals only mean marginal job loss shows how incredibly vapid some writers can be about economic issues. "Free" trade deals do more than just eliminate jobs, they depress wages and benefits, and create pressure to eliminate environmental, workplace, and wage laws. And politically, the issue is already a key issue in many "red" states.

Either Yglesias doesn't know about these real-world effects of "free" trade policy. Or, from the confines of his own life as a Washington pundit, he simply doesn't care, because it has no real effect on his life. Whichever it is - he's sadly walking down the same path blazed by increasingly irrelevant pontificators like Joe Klein and Tom Friedman.