“Mercantilism is economic nationalism for the purpose of building a wealthy and powerful state. Adam Smith coined the term “mercantile system� to describe the system of political economy that sought to enrich the country by restraining imports and encouraging exports.� (The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, Mercantilism by Laura LaHaye)“Adam Smith earlier called Capitalism “the obvious and simple system of natural liberty� (Wealth of Nations). Economic individualism’s basic premise is that the pursuit of self-interest and the right to own private property are morally defensible and legally legitimate.� (The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, Capitalism by Robert Hessen)There is a problem with American Capitalism. While I fully believe that competition creates a better product, and also Work Ethic, than any other Economic Philosophy, I feel it has 2 major flaws:1.The motive to make money has far surpassed fairness to workers, and good to America. What once manifested itself as an investment in child labor, sweatshops, and abuse of a workforce, has been made to evolve in America due to Labor Unions, fairness laws, and Minimum Wage. In response, Multi-National Companies have moved their jobs overseas, which is called outsourcing. Recent studies by the Peterson Institute for International Economics estimated that 15 million to 20 million jobs might be vulnerable to outsourcing. The current Labor Market in the U.S. is 140 million. That's almost 14 percent of American production at risk. A study by the Labor Department found that almost 10 percent of yearly layoffs in 2007 were due to jobs being outsourced. On top of that, the Commerce Department found that around 5.3 million Americans were employed by overseas firms in 2006, the latest data available. Those are American workers who are not helping the U.S. Economy, but could be. While useful, the Capitalistic urge to find the cheapest way to make the most money has pushed it from American shores.2.I feel the ability to produce in America has far surpassed the ability to buy, no doubt in large part due to the above outsourcing and loss of jobs. In 2005, Athens, Georgia reported a housing surplus of about 2,000 units, just in single-family permits. Similar situations have occurred across the country, and it has only gotten worse from there. These housing surpluses are at least partially and/or indirectly responsible for the failing of the Banking Industry in America. Banks would either loan building companies money to build houses they later couldn't sell, or they loaned money to people who bought houses outside their income, and who couldn't sell their previous homes due to the flooded market. When the economy worsened, and those loans needed to be collected, they couldn't be paid, resulting in the Banks failing. The same instance is occurring in the car market. Americans cannot afford a new car with the economy like it is, (because they either are losing their job, or their place of business is having a hard time) As a result, car manufacturers are going bankrupt, and require government assistance.I have no doubt that after some tough times, our country will right itself economically, but if changes are not made, this situation will fulfill the old saying, “History repeats itself.� We will climb out of this hole, only to fall in again at some future date. I think that our problem could be solved by a, for lack of a better phrase, combination of Mercantilism and Capitalism. Now I do not mean the fully evolved form of Mercantilism rampant throughout history. I mean the basic idea, as stated in the qoute above. While we need to allow the economical Darwinism inherent in Capitalism, we must also find a way to cut down imports by a huge margin, and at the same time increase American production and jobs. Another way of putting it would be to say that America needs to be able to stand on it's own. For example, according to the Energy Information Administration, Canada provides the U.S. with 13 percent of it's natural gas. Almost as much comes from Mexico. By contrast, there are 448,641 producing natural gas wells in the United States, with almost 4,000 in Arkansas alone. Unfortunately, almost ¼ of the produced gas will be exported to other countries over the coming year, instead of being used to cut down on imports.As another example, American food imports have jumped 70 percent since 2003, according to CNN. In fact, according to the USDA, 78 percent of the fish and shellfish consumed in the U.S. are imported, up ten percentage points from 2000. Imported wine had 27 percent of the U.S. marke in 2003 compared with 21 percent in 2000. Everything from lamb and avocados to spices, beer, flowers and bell peppers increasingly is imported. By August of 2004, food imports were $156 million higher than exports. Now, this itself is bad, but consider that we are not even using our exports. If we simply stopped all exports, and used that food, we would neeWhy is it stupid, and how does it "fly in the face of liberty"?

You are describing economic independence, which is stupid, and also flies in the face of liberty.Economic independence, created presumably by tariffs, quotas, and subsidies, don't work. They raise prices and lower employment. That explains the stupidity.Also, they restrict my freedom to trade with anyone I choose. That flies in the face of liberty.