I commented a few days ago, but it seems like it never showed up. Anyways, I wanted to say great paper, and that it's very organized and well thought-out. I like the threat on Professor Moglen's job.

My question for you is whether or not you think there is ever a time when increased protectionism is warranted.

For instance, given the current economic downturn, I might make the following arguments: (1) saving a few dollars and jobs here and there will result in large returns in the future, both in terms of profits and saved welfare. (2) if we can save money anywhere and invest it, it will grow quite large when this country recovers (3) if we allow protectionism to slip, we might lose a lot of things (e.g. jobs to other countries) in the short run (due to the recession) that we can't fully recover in the long run

My instinct is that despite all this, we really do need to get used to dropping our history of protectionism, even during the recession. What do you think? Are there better or worse times to lose the protection?

-Steve

-- StevenHwang - 10 Dec 2008