Protection? That’s one way of putting it.

Frederic Bastiat liked to use simple examples to show how protectionism impoverishes many people to enrich a few, such as the story of Stulta and Puera.

The ever-vigilant Scott Lincicome reminds us that the damaging effects of protectionism are not limited to instructional allegories. Protectionism hurts real people, and destroys real jobs, and the chicken littles who continue to use the falling sky as an excuse are simply ignoring the facts.

Government “protectionism” is about effective as mafia “protection”.  The surest way to maximum economic gain for all — to “raise all ships” –  is to allow free people to trade freely, without a government finger on the scale of every transaction.

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