After roughly 2000 years of isolationist policy, China has joined the economic big leagues. Tuesday, Congress passed a bill to permanently open trade with China. Groups ranging from the Human Rights Network to the Farmer's Union have already loudly criticized the bill, championed by Montana's own Max Baucus, for some very valid reasons.
China has a horrid human rights policy.
Free trade with China will take away American jobs and only benefit faceless CEOs. More populated than the United States, China has 1.3 billion people, constituting 20 percent of the world's population. But you're forgiven if you've never realized exactly how big China is. Mostly barred to outsiders, few Westerners ever realized the economic potential of China. In the 20th century, capitalism created more wealth for more people in places like the United States and Japan than the world has ever known.