Wall Street Protesters, Protectionism, and Deregulation

Wall Street Protesters

An “Occupy Wall Street” activist posted a list of demands on the internet, sparking debate among advocates and critics of the protest.

Fellow in Regulatory Studies Ryan Young responds.

“Like almost any list of demands, there is good and bad here. Two common themes animate the list. One is that the writer clearly hasn’t studied economics. Free trade promotes wealth and peace, and has almost zero net effect on employment in the long-run. High minimum wages price the lowest-skilled employees out of work, and hurt them. There is no free lunch. Nobody will lend money if they aren’t going to be paid back.”

Protectionism

In a Washington Examiner column this week, Michael Barone calls attention to stalled free trade agreements.

Labor Policy Analyst Ivan Osorio comments.

“In the new CEI OnPoint, ‘Free Trade without Apology,’ CEI Adjunct Fellow Fran Smith and former CEI Research Associate Nick DeLong document how efforts at appeasing organized labor — in the hopes of blunting union opposition to trade deals — have been not only ineffective, but harmful.Union leaders have taken all concessions they’ve been offered only to ask for more. This has led to trade agreements becoming weighted down with provisions governing labor and environmental issues (to appease environmentalists) which have nothing to do with trade. And those provisions have only gotten longer and more onerous in each subsequent agreement.”

Deregulation

CEI Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews released a new study this week on how Congress can better calculate and disclose the costs of federal regulations. Read more here.