Ohio and NAFTA

In their Ohio campaigning, the Democratic candidates have decried NAFTA as having cost a whole bunch of Ohio jobs and generally serving only the rich.

Displaying typical Democratic powers of analysis, they have ignored one tiny fact: The unemployment rate in Ohio in December of 1993, the month before NAFTA took effect, was 6.5 percent. Since that month, it has never been that high.

Free trade causes dislocations, there is no question about that. We as a society need to do better at helping people who suffer the downside of free trade obtain new skills in more productive avocations. Having a wealthier society makes that a lot easier. We can only tax what someone makes.