Well, we're still waiting for the RedChinese consumer marketplace to emerge.
Might take another 50-100 years, but THEN the US will prosper, right?
Except by 50 years out, the knowledge of tool and die making will have completely evaporated in the US.
When Nixon went to China, it was with great hopes for openning up the "China market" to America exports. What has happenned is openning up the "America market" to Chinese exports. That has to qualify as one of history's all time greatest goofs.
The point I see none of the free trader ideologues addressing is the extremely pertinent one Buchanan makes about the decline of the GOP. With the decline in living standards for most Americans due to free trade, the age of GOP landslides is over. As he wisely notes, Hillary is realizing that there is more political capital in an economic populism that talks about preserving American jobs and industries than in sodomite marriage. Kerry backed off from running on economic populism and that is why he lost Ohio (Guess what ? The Democrats understand that now.). If the GOP in 2008 continues the Bush open borders free trade policies, get ready for New Deal II.
The best metaphor in my mind for the drop in American living standards, is the fact that adjusted for inflation, a category of car pretty much costs the same as it did in 1970. Only then the car loans were three years. Now they are six. And those were cars build entirely by high paid unionized factory workers, not low paid Mexicans and Chinese as now.