There is every reason to believe that the current state of the economy has, in fact, been substantially contributed to by a net trade imbalance and the reliance on consumer debt to offset the loss of manufacturing.

FORBES: Joe Stiglitz's Story on Why We Won't Bring Manufacturing Back

Even the relatively tangible repercussions such as the loss of indigenous industrial capability and the attendant, increased reliance on foreign suppliers for components of key weapon systems are typically dismissed, or at least subordinated to the perceived greater good of developing globalized relationships with trading partners.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Trading With The Enemy

Even the relatively tangible repercussions -- such as the loss of indigenous industrial capability and the attendant, increased reliance on foreign suppliers for components of key weapon systems -- are typically dismissed, or at least subordinated to the perceived greater good of developing globalized relationships with trading partners.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Trading With The ��Enemy��

Defeat at the next election, the likely loss of many centrist MPs with marginal seats, and the party's reliance on union money (74% of donations in the first half of 2008 came from organised labour) may well make Labour turn left.

ECONOMIST: The trade unions are not as fearsome as they look

Reliance on market forces and models led the SEC to challenge the judgmental approach to establishing loan loss reserves and to the creation of procyclical models that understate reserves in good times and overstate them in bad times.

FORBES