Despite the series of interest-rate cuts in store from the Fed, the U.S. economy is slowing down.
New figures show unemployment rising and industrial production falling.
As conditions deteriorate, suffering industries will look to the government for help. But if the response to tough times is to build new walls to keep foreign goods out, then the inevitable result will be a decline in trade overall, which, in turn, will mean higher prices, less efficient production and a much lower standard of living everywhere. In fact, a resurgence of protectionism would almost certainly plunge the world into a deep recession, or worse. It's happened before, when the tariff wars of the 1920s and 1930s helped precipitate the Great Depression. The ingredients are there again.