> rather they were pointing out the interconnected nature of the economy. Less importing hurts the workers in those industries. Well I agree with that phrasing

> rather they were pointing out the interconnected nature of the economy. Less importing hurts the workers in those industries. Well I agree with that phrasing however the OP said it as: > to be so cynical [...] that would mean a lot of dockworkers/longshoreman are out of jobs or not working right? That leads to a different interpretation and sounds like something else than what you said (which I agree with).