Free trade is being scapegoated for the failure of laws violating contract liberty to empower unions, and social democracy. Giving unions a stranglehold over in

Free trade is being scapegoated for the failure of laws violating contract liberty to empower unions, and social democracy. Giving unions a stranglehold over industries, and redistributing 30 percent of national output for formulaic social welfare programs administered by central authorities, is not conducive to economic development, and guarantees that the country becomes uncompetitive on the global stage in most industries. Since the 1960s, social welfare spending has increased on average by over 4 percent per year. The last 50 years have seen a dramatic shift to a more centrally managed economy that favors social safety nets provided by governments over market forces based on private property and individual responsibility. The labor laws passed in the 1930s and 50s meanwhile guarantee that any industry that does start to become a significant contributor to national output, whether it's the Big Three Auto Makers and the big steel manufacturers in the 1950s, or Tesla, Amazon and Google today, becomes the target of rent-seeking unions who are impossible to effectively resist thanks to the free-market undermining labor laws in place. The decline in productivity growth, particularly in globally competitive markets like manufacturing, is a predictable consequence of that.