Lew:  One thing that could be said about the Luddites — who resorted to machine-breaking riots in the early days of the Industrial Revolution — is that they were at least willing to pursue their protectionist ends through their own violent means.  Today, those who cannot keep up with  competitive changes call upon the state to conduct the violence on their behalf, be it in the form of government regulations, taxpayer bailouts, or, in the FTC proposal, having successful competitors  forced to subsidize those unable to respond to change.

And to think that there are still otherwise intelligent men and women who cannot understand why the American economy has lost so much of its competitive resiliency!

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