Do What You're Good At

The full-page, four-color ad in this week's New Yorker is headlined, "Security and Jobs For Decades to Come". Could it be touting Michele Bachmann's plan to build a double electrical fence with alligator-filled moat along our borders? America is made safe from all those anchor baby moms-to-be plus we get plenty of work for gator wranglers.

Actually, the ad touts the F-35 "Lightning II". It "is more than an innovative leading edge fighter. More than an aircraft with unprecedented capabilities that will help America and its allies defend freedom. It is an advanced technology program that is a cornerstone of our nation's industrial base. Creating direct and indirect jobs for 127,000 Americans...The F-35 Lightning II program. Securing freedom, Securing jobs. Securing America's future."

Macroeconomics tells us that free trade is the optimal condition for everyone. Why spend millions to grow bananas in Alaska when Alaskans can import tropical fruit more cheaply from Honduras? Why spend millions to develop fisheries in Honduras when they can import Alaskan salmon at half the cost? Nations should stick to what they are good at and trade for the rest.

America is no longer good at making automobiles, clothing, or Barbie dolls. Our highways are clogged with Hondas. Try finding "Made in the USA" tank tops or Wii games. But, by God, we lead the world in weapons manufacturing. You don't see nuclear submarines coming out of sweatshops in Sri Lanka.

Some might say that spending billions to develop an aircraft "with unprecedented capabilities" is not the most cost-effective way to protect our shores against a terrorist with a bomb in his shoe. Some might say that those billions might be better spent developing energy-saving technology and upgrading our infrastructure. We would not only get those 127,000 good-paying American jobs, but we would have a reduced dependence on foreign oil and bridges that don't fall down.

Fortunately, our far-sighted Congressmen saw through that fallacy and approved the 2012 Defense Budget which includes the F-35 program. They were not influenced by the New Yorker ad or by "campaign contributions" from Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, but by macroeconomic theory. Do what you're good at, America.