Count the Washington Post’s chief business writer, Steven Pearlstein, among the disciples of “Dobbsonomics.” In his column today, Pearlstein writes:

There is a reason that, when it comes to trade and globalization, more Americans believe Lou Dobbs than Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke — and it’s not because they’ve been bamboozled. The reason is that Americans perceive, correctly, that in recent years liberalized trade has not delivered as promised…(emphasis added)

Exactly what were those promises, Steven? Since 2001, the year of our last recession and the year China joined the WTO, U.S. GDP has increased 32 percent and about eight million net new jobs were created in the economy. Today’s unemployment rate stands at 4.4 percent. And don’t tell me that those 3 million people who lost manufacturing jobs at the beginning of the decade are flipping burgers or just stopped looking for work. The median salary in the services sector recently surpassed the median manufacturing salary.

A lot of the criticism of trade these days seems to be nothing more than expressions of self-loathing. As uneducated, unsuspecting, indebted sloths, Americans are living on borrowed time. Surely there will be hellish consequences to pay for our present profligacy.

Next time, let’s see the facts supporting the conclusion that U.S. trade policies have not delivered.