I've been asked by Hale Stewart to do a short trade presentation for the Yearly Kos economics panel. This is a broad backgrounder of the key problem - a freedom deficit.
Trade, energy and decency are the three economic issues of the next generation. It's easy to explain to people why energy is important, and decency has a powerful moral argument, in addition to having popular programs like Social Security and Medicare as its political face. Trade, however, is the poor step child - unloved by many who are loud in their hatred of corporations and commerce, and misunderstood by millions who depend on it, trade flies in the face of luddite populism and reactionary racism.
But let me boil it down to one issue - a world cannot long be half free, and half unfree.