Jobless in the USA  Throughout history peoples have been
overcome by trends and forces that they were unable to
recognize. Could the US be losing its economy to forces
economists mistake for benevolent free trade?  Traditionally,
free trade has required a country's work force to compete
indirectly against the work forces of other countries in the
markets for traded goods and services. Fears in the post-WW II
era that U.S. wages and living standards would be undermined by
imports made with cheap foreign labor proved to be wrong. U.S.
labor was better educated and worked with more and better
capital and technology, which made American labor much more
productive. Higher productivity protected U.S. wages and
employment from cheap foreign labor.  The collapse of world
socialism and the rise of globalism have made U.S. capital,
technology, and business know-how highly mobile. Today it is as
easy - and far less expensive - for a U.S. firm to produce
abroad for U.S. markets. Instead of locating its capital and
techno