Protectionism is bad. It doesn't benefit an economy. It can benefit the protected industries short term as well as the people they bribe to get the protection.

Protectionism is bad. It doesn't benefit an economy. It can benefit the protected industries short term as well as the people they bribe to get the protection. But overall it is bad. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage for instance.