Put these individuals all together, and you get a group that can be easily mobilised. But, whatever we do, we should take care not to throw out the baby with the bathwater: Trade and technological change are both catalysts for tremendous welfare gains in our society.
There is, however, a price to be paid for this protection, and that is huge losses on the forward book that are now being carried by the Reserve Bank for account of the Treasury. Future premiums on the insurance policy will, hopefully, go some way towards the recovery of part of these losses.