Picture of Steve Suranovic

The Presidential Candidates on Trade

Originally published on 02/07/2008

There was an article in the WSJ yesterday by David Ranson about the presidential candidates’ stated positions on trade, both Democrat and Republican. It is worth a look. He concludes that McCain seems most consistently free trade oriented. However, one comment McCain made in a recent debate was a little troubling; namely pointing out that Romney’s work at Bain & Assoc. resulted in lost jobs. Jobs will always be lost when markets are free to adjust to changing demands …. and consumers demands are always changing. It would be great if politicians would stop using every job loss as a reason to criticize others or an excuse to do something about it.