Galbraith on Trade

I had kind of thought that now that I've left the Prospect I should reposition to the center by writing more about how the trade-skepticism and talk about the need for labor and environmental standards may make for good politics but doesn't really make sense on the merits. But, then, bam, here's James Galbraith making just that argument in TAP, so I guess it's not a good repositioning device any more. But it's still true! This links up nicely with this discussion of different approaches to trade from Will Marshall and Ed Gresser. Galbraith and I are adhering to what Marshall and Gresser call the "social democrat" position -- namely an open economy with a strong welfare state -- as against "populist" trade skepticism and the DLC's "progressive modernizers" approach which as best I can from their description is focused on . . . doing what big business wants and then hoping for the best.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2007/05/galbraith-on-trade/42537/