The free market system that we have is not really a free market. Government regulation is needed to keep the economy viable and is necessary in order to have a middle class. In a true free market, a few people at the top end up with all the money. Without government protectionism, the middle class would not exist. Protectionism was used after the great depression and as always, the short term fixes have long term implications. The corporate taxes used to cause American companies to reinvest the profits into the business and the people that worked for it so it didn't get taxed as profit. Regan "fixed" this to jump start the economy and the corporations were allowed to put all that money in their pockets. Now with the open trade its not the foreign companies flooding our markets with cheap products, its American companies. Its a balancing act and was upset when we gave it all away. Now we are taking it back.