I should not have used the "right and wrong" terminology in my [12], because that terminology has overtones of morality/immorality. 'Correct/incorrect', or 'accurate/inaccurate' would have conveyed my intended meaning much better.

And you're absolutely correct about the 'science' of Economics being riddled with politics, at least as it has evolved to the current state of the thing. Almost 100% of contemporary economists are actually 'political economists', far less concerned about how to achieve maximum outputs with minimum inputs than with how to (re)distribute such oudtputs as are available.

Agree with you that sociology is highly political, but i think economics is political as well. And at the risk of delving into philosophy, i believe "right and wrong" actually do exist at least somewhat independent of political factions. Not to say that it's always as simple as with Hitler or Gandhi, but not all political ideologies are morally equivalent.

You make valid points, but you're discussing Sociology, not Economics.

I studied Economics, but I try to avoid Sociology, because it's basically another word for Politics, where there ain't no "right or wrong", there's only personal ideology.

if the workers overseas had subsidized health care and food stamps, then maybe the comparative advantage would be beneficial. however, when 90% of the people who work at walmart or harbor freight depend on public tax money to survive, while their overseas counterparts work in sweatshops, the "free" market ain't all that free.

JL

Re the evils of "shipping jobs overseas".

There's a law of Economics that decrees that standard of living is maximized for all if every person, every region, every nation, specializes in producing those things for which they have a "Comparative Advantage" and then they all get together and trade.

Once means of transportation evolved so as to permit it, it became advantageous for everybody to ship a lot of American jobs "overseas" or even in many cases, just "over borders".

Even though that was short-term detrimental to a small group of Americans, (maybe steelworkers for example), it was far more hugely beneficial to all other Americans, AND to the foreigners.

If you've ever shopped at Walmart or Harbor Freight, you should be able to grasp the concept of the advantages of free trade.

I agree with you entirely. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party has not shown this talent since at least the age of Reagan.

I grew up in a small town in the Florida Panhandle and, even as a teenager, it astonished me how easily poor people could be convinced to vote against their own economic interests. The Republicans' platform for 50 years has been that they will "cut taxes". The Democrats *should* immediately respond with real-world examples of how much Rupert Murdoch will save vs "Joe Plumber". Sadly, Democrats are still running scared from the "tax and spend" label they were unfairly branded with.

Like the Tennessee Democrats who were expelled from the state legislature, the GOP's extreme actions against Ms Zephyr *should be* a wake-up call to any American who values our democracy, regardless of his/her/their political worldview.

These are just the latest examples of how fascist and anti-democratic the Republican Party has become. The real victims are the voters who elected these people to represent them. The "un-American GOP" should be a weekly talking point for every Democratic candidate throughout the land.

In late-breaking news, the Democrats in Colorado show once more how to get things done.
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/colorado-governor-jared-polis-signs-gun-control-bills/

Great. That's all we need, eh? A bunch of Democrats going around saying that the SCOTUS has no ethics at all - acting just like Trump, in other words.

Is there no hope left for the US, anywhere?

He has been making a habit out of letting bad things happen ...