Every worker, factory, shop and office that sits idle represents resources not being used, because there’s no one out there that believes they can make money using them. We shrug our shoulders and blame capitalism, or we blame the bankers, or we blame international competition, or we insist that it is those evil business owners who abandoned such resources in the first place. But if you really want to point the finger of blame, I recommend looking in the mirror. It’s almost impossible to do anything without the government having something to say, charge, or demand of you. We’ve done this, every time we’ve demanded “something must be done”. What’s true in the world of personal freedom versus security is true of economic freedom, too. We’ve gifted politicians enormous control over our economy and the nation’s wealth.

I understand why it’s happened. People crave security and stability, without really comprehending what they’re giving away to get it, or who specifically pays the price for it, or what it ultimately costs us in terms of opportunities lost – such as millions of people wasting their lives on the dole.

Before the last century, economic liberalism, especially free trade, used to be the great cause of the left – because it championed the rights of the people to live free of the tyranny of an establishment that assumed too much control and caused so much harm in doing so. It is a cause, however unfashionable, that needs fighting again. It just needs the left to remember it doesn’t exist purely to divvy up the spoils collected by the Treasury for its friends, and to remember, once again, that liberty is more than just free speech and privacy.

Making a loan that subsequently defaults is known as a Type I error. Turning down a loan that will subsequently be repaid is a Type II error. In the past, the Congressional harpies have gone nuts over type II errors, accusing lenders of denying loans to minority borrowers and ruining the American dream. Now, they are going nuts about Type I errors. I would love to pass a law saying that mortgage underwriters will no longer make any mistakes, but that is like passing a law saying that heavy objects dropped from ten-story windows will no longer head toward earth.

A couple is deciding where to dine on their 10th wedding anniversary. They settle on the Ocean View Restaurant because that is where the beautiful, hard-bodied people go. On their 20th anniversary, they discuss where to celebrate, and they agree again on the Ocean View because the wines and the food are superb. For their 30th, they return to the Ocean View once more, having agreed that, as they sit there in silence, the view from the terrace is second to none. On their 40th anniversary, they agree that the Ocean View is just right because it has wheelchair access and an elevator to get them to the porch overlooking the ocean. On their 50th, they want to do something truly special to celebrate. So they decide to go to the Ocean View … because they have never been there before.

Henry Hazlitt has said that good ideas need to be re-learned every generation. That’s now easier than ever.

So to recap: trade with China has spurred economic growth, domestic demand and job creation. Combined with China’s demographics and some government policy, these things have caused upward pressure on wages, a reduction in income inequality, and a move to higher-value (and cleaner) production. And such dramatic changes are causing even an authoritarian government like the one in China to contemplate - gasp! - permitting labor unions. Oh, and these market-driven events are accomplishing what years of top-down, diplomatic yammering between the US and Chinese governments couldn’t.

Obviously this is a case of a divergence of interest between the unions (which want to deter any Democrat from opposing card check) and the Obama administration political strategists (who want to maximize the number of Democrats elected no matter what their position on substantive issues). Which brings to mind the old saying about honor among thieves. When you’re trying, in different ways, to plunder a once productive private sector economy, you won’t always agree on how to do so. As you watch the videotape of Blanche Lincoln’s rather shrewd victory speech, you might want to keep that in mind.