I think you may have missed a few items in the news.
The Left has defined the very air we breathe as toxic waste, and the EPA have done their damnedest as co-conspirators to codify that into law. I bet China and India aren't about to enforce the use of multiple blends of engine-killing ethanol.
Obama publicly declared war on Coal in his election campaign - and the EPA have done his bidding on that too.
And let us not forget the Delta Smelt
15,000 California farmers, ranchers and their employees driven out of work by a small fish - and by the ugly insanity of the EPA.
I'm just scratching the surface with these examples. New stories of regulatory overreach in the name of Gaia come on FR every week.
And here's the thing. Those farmers and ranchers in California were comfortably competing against everyone on the planet, no matter how poorly paid. The one entity they couldn't compete against was their own Government.
Did you forget farm subsidies? Surprised you used agriculture as an example of competition when it’s so heavily subsidized.
The Obama overreach is new. We got high unemployment before Obama’s Coal and Carbon insanity. We know we have to change administrations, but that won’t fix the fundamental problems affecting our economy.
I don’t know the issues with regard to the Delta Smelt. Wikipedia says the job losses were closer to 5000 with most of the job losses coming from drought and not a change in pumping.
I’m sure you can find isolated instances, where wildlife protection acts have hurt jobs. But that’s a political choice. If we are going to choose to have a clear environment where wildlife is protected, then that’s just all the more reason to protect our market from countries that don’t have similar protections for their environment like China.