A guest post by AAM intern Whitney Stack:

Stan Sorscher, a physicist who holds his doctorate from Berkeley and a representative of the Society for Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), explains in a blog on the Huffington Post why free trade has faile Stan Sorscher, a physicist who holds his doctorate from Berkeley and a representative of the Society for Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), explains in a blog on the Huffington Post why free trade has failed. The premise on which it is based, Sorscher says, Comparative Advantage, “is highly idealized and fundamentally flawed. It ignores the real-world conditions of 21st century globalization.” He explains in detail why “Comparative Advantage is discredited in terms of logic, experience, policy, and common sense,” and why it survives only in the land of punditry.” As a solution, Dr. Sorscher calls for a new trade policy and creation of an American industrial policy. He concludes: “We need a new trade policy. No country in the world is pure free trade or pure protectionism. Countries around the world have found middle ground including an industrial policy to guide their development. If we intend to rebuild our middle class and re-industrialize our economy, we will need a national industrial policy that recognizes the interests of environment, labor rights, human rights and public health, in balance with investor and business interests.” ##