with your assaults on copyright, patent protection and limited liability corporate structure you seem to be very far to the right. I am sure that you are on the left on social issues but still I am surprised that the American Prospect publishes you. It seems to me that Democrats generally support government actions like copyright, patent protection thinking that they can be reformed.

@Anon

It's not that Dean is "far to the right", but rather he is demonstrating the hypocrisy and double-talk that goes into claims of "Free Trade." As far as the business lobby is concerned it is clear that the practical (if unacknowledged) definition of "Free Trade" is "whatever trade policies best make us money." In short, such arguments are just a cynical ploy meant to allow such groups to claim moral superiority even as they in fact push programs designed to serve their interests without concern to those of anyone else.

@Anon: You sound like a partisan. Thankfully Dean Baker is not a partisan.

Further, you sound like you might have stepped outside the bounds of what you are qualified to discuss. Might was to stick to Arianna Huffington's talking points in the future.

Dean,

Please show one iota of proof to back up your ridiculous assertion that medical professionals should receive a lower wage. Nurses? Sure, cap their salaries at 80k. But capping doctors' salaries is going to be tough even as an intellectual exercise.

You've excoriated Republicans for attempting to push agenda items not based on fact but simply repeatedly asserting them. So I invite you to back up your claims.

Please remember to include your statements on how you are personally going to remove all of their malpractice risk and their school debt. Also, I'm interested to hear your rationale for why doctors who have served nearly a decade's worth of 100-hour workweeks should receive the same pay as the nurses they give orders to.

Doctors don't start receiving "doctor" pay until after a minimum of 9 years of higher education. That's longer than it took you to complete your degrees, Dean - doctors *should* get paid more than other professionals because they have more training.

I disagree with your assertion that foreign professionals should be allowed to broadly enter America to work. I wouldn't want to force Americans to go to other countries to make a living. Doctors salaries are dictated by cost of medical school, malpractice insurance, and how much insurance companies are willing to pay them. Allowing more foreign doctors in America will not effect their salaries at all! BTW, a lot of the doctors in America ARE from foreign countries!!! I'm really disappointed that Mr. Dean is taking a stance for less job positions for Americans.

For those above who missed it...
Dean was just pointing out that "Mr. Kirk is not a supporter of free trade"
and why the term free trade is such a loaded piece of BS.

The medical system is a "monopoly" and that is why medical costs are impossible to control. Every little doctor with his little practice, complete with book keepers, x-ray machines, nurses, etc. Control of the medical education quota and licensing, provide a de facto monopoly with salaries and charges hurtling upward at 25 %/y.

The "education" that doctors recieve is questionably more rigorous than that of an $80k/y BS Chemical Engineer.

Dean,

Are there any developed countries without some copyrights and patents? And are there any developed countries without licensing of medical professionals? I'm not arguing that our level of either of these is efficient, I agree that they are not on both counts. But if these policies are efficient conditions for trade within a country, why aren't they efficient conditions for trade between countries?

Do you support real "free trade"? Or do you simply want to lend credibility to other protectionist policies by taking the mantle of "free trade" away from people who oppose pro-labor protectionism? In other words, if you had the power to remove all of our trade fetters, and become truly free trade, would you?