Why politicians worry about free trade, outsourcing, and the death of US manufacturing (and why you shouldn’t)

While watching some cable news program showing both Hillary and Obama claiming to be in favor of free trade - except when it’s politically expedient to be against free trade - I had a thought: Globalization, outsourcing, union attrition, technology, and free trade are all contrary to the interests of government. The government wants you to:

• Work in a factory - Immobile companies that make tangible products are easier to tax, regulate, and demand campaign contributions from.
• Be in a union - It’s a lot of work for politicians to pander to disparate groups. It’s much easier to count on and make promises to homogeneous blocks of supporters.
• Own a home and not move around a lot - Again, it’ a lot easier to count, tax, and gerrymander people that stay put.

Now, let’s look at global economic trends:

• Nobody works in factories anymore - That’s not to say that there isn’t a lot of manufacturing going on, it’s just that machines are doing most of the work. Politicians love to appeal to anti-foreign sentiment and say that “all our jobs are going to China!!!” but in reality HAL and Johnny5 took those blue collar jobs a long time ago.
• Intangibles like software, data mining, services, banking, advertising, and media have eclipsed old school manufacturing in value and importance - All of these industries are much easier to move to the next city or the next country if local or national governments get too grabby with taxes and regulations.
• Workers are going to the places with the most opportunity in person or via telecommuting - Immigration to countries with more freedom and lower taxes will continue, whether the countries on both ends of the deal like it or not.
• Everyone works with their brains instead of their hands, and we’re all better for it - I for one am glad that I don’t have to pick cotton in Arkansas or bail hay in Indiana like my grandfathers did when they were children. Yes, now we all have to compete with software developers in India, but the flip side is that your local employer has to pay wages competitive with other local employers AND whoever is hiring anywhere in the world.

You (and probably your parents) are already part of the post-industrial economy. Certainly the children of any remaining blue collar union workers have no intention of working blue collar union jobs, just as farmers' sons left to build those fancy horseless carriages. It's OK to stop worrying and love the information economy.