This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Monday, December 13th, 2010. I'm Caleb Brown.

Convincing the public of the simple fact, all voluntary trade is fair trade remains a challenge.

Myths abound with the help of people who gain by reducing your freedom to exchange with anyone you want.

Sally James Trade Policy analyst at the Cato Institute exploded more than a few myths about trade when she spoke at the Cato

Institute's city seminar in New York at the end of October.

The media by enlarge does not do a good job of reporting on trade another factor in attitudes towards trade policy I think.

My colleague Dan Eichinson keeps a constant vigil on Cato's blog about misleading, simplistic,

or just flat-out wrong media analysis on trade and there is a steady drumbeat of talk about the destruction of American manufacturing and how China is responsible and it's reported as a matter of fact it's almost kind of parenthetically slipped

into the analysis.

We know that's false.

American manufacturing is thriving according to every measure except for employment

and the job losses are largely driven from productivity, improvements and automation and yet

the beat goes on

Dan makes an excellent point that this sort of thing is worth being vigilant about

because and I quote a nation that has strong misgivings about trade is less likely to stop a conspiracy of

politicians and special interests from taking away their right to do so.

That is why we must confront these false statements about trade head on, what the media says matters apparently.

So we're here just pausing a little while to reflect on the real message politicians are sending when they rail against international trade.

They're essentially saying, and this goes to something Ed was saying earlier, that they have the ability

and the pure intentions of course to discern what is best for each person when it comes to international transactions.

That is just one more example in my view of presumptuous politicians making decisions that we would rather make ourselves and that

properly belong in a private sphere.

...