The U.S. economy is about 65% driven by domestic consumer spending. That's huge and doesn't even include domestic commercial spending. In total, it represents a

The U.S. economy is about 65% driven by domestic consumer spending. That's huge and doesn't even include domestic commercial spending. In total, it represents a pretty self-sufficient economy. Not to mention the benefits of having oil largely denominated in dollars for so long, It makes me earnestly wonder how the U.S. would have fared had we taken a protectionist stance like China (or even moreso). I get that cheap labor/manufacturing makes stuff cheaper for us, but of course it also creates downward pressure on domestic wages. I also get that trade opens new markets for our corporations, but we do run pretty massive trade deficits with our larger partners, meaning that, on-balance, this benefit is oversold. With higher wages and near full domestic employment, corporate profit margins would have likely been lower, though real-income may have been higher due to steady demand from high income consumers. Anyway, just a thought exercise. Seems hard to go back from here, but I do wonder what the net result would have been.