I apologize in advance as this is strictly a hit and run appearance.
Doug, you may remember that the demos in India against the WTO were against the threat of the WTO doing what the "anti-imperialist" folks in Seattle, with all their kind and mushy thoughts were demonstrating for.
Of course the piece in Slate that Carl Remick ridiculed so much is exactly correct. Anybody who thinks this is just an elitist argument should support tariffs by Kansas against Illinois so they can have a soybean industry. Illinois has an absolute advantage in wheat, corn, and soybeans. But any intelligent socialist central planner would have soybeans in Illinois, corn in Iowa, and wheat in Kansas, just as comparative advantage indicates.
For those who want to either nix or fix, let me note that the real threat is free capital mobility, not free trade. Nothing to do with WTO at all, sorry. One can help out one's own workers with adjustment assistance like the Swedes did for decades and have free trade and highly progressive internal policies, if one can get it together.
The debate between the nix it of fix it crowd is simply one of incoherence. "Fix it" implies even more power to imperialistically impose stuff on Third World countries not democratically since any democratic governance there is going to really put the kibbosh on any such moves.
Of course "nix it" doesn't care since the point is to oppose the WTO, period. Hey, we can have Unity! (wow!) with neo-fascists and all sorts of other proper thinking types.
Meanwhile back to wanking in the Shenvaleeeee !!! Barkley Rosser Professor of Economics James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA 22807 USA http://cob.jmu.edu/rosserjb