To: craig crawford who wrote (252716 ) 5/3/2002 4:11:40 PM From: Neocon Respond to The working class is a lot better off too. If the overall pie is colossally bigger, how it is cut matters less. Now, it may be that the main driver of prosperity is technology. On the other hand, that in itself has benefitted from free exchange. Many of our leading inventors and engineers have been persons of foreign extraction, and scientific and technological exchange among countries has promoted the development of key industries, like film, computers, and video games. Additionally, this country was largely built on foreign capital, primarily from the British, who largely financed the railroads, for example, and were the primary consumers of cotton. (One of the issues between the states, interestingly, was the tariff, which the agrarian, conservative South despised, because it disfavored them, and favored Northern manufactures). Finally, part of our post- War prosperity derived from our relative position in the world economy. Because of the need for reconstruction after the war, we had an unusually high market share in the world, and thrived on it.
