For the last eight years, critics of the Bush Administration would often contend that the U.S. government acted unilaterally abroad and that its policies made the nation a pariah rather than a beacon of hope and prosperity. Perhaps that is why it is so surprising that in the Bush retirement years, Congress is fully fanning the flames of protectionism. Foreign producers are to be punished simply because they are, well, foreign. The same holds for foreign consumers.

I remember first reading about the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in high school and wondering what it would have been like to live in such a time; clearly, we would never engage in such destructive and counter-productive behavior again. Alas, it seems that my morbid curiosity may soon be satisfied as even the ever-optimistic economist Russ Roberts is starting to lose his faith in our ability to turn things around. Just one week ago, Russ offered an Obama speech that many of us would have readily embraced.

On a positive note, at least we will be able to track the progress of the stimulus spending. It is highly encouraging to know that there will be “an unprecedented effort to root out waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary spending in our government.” If only we’d known all along that we needed to spend another trillion dollars before government had the incentive and ability to spend our money wisely!