Why protectionism is a good idea

Reading all about how damaging protectionism can be, I’ve been wondering how that applies to my own preference, in every instance, for local products and services.

I believe that the world will fairly soon run out of cheap oil, with devastating effects on anybody, anywhere, who has not prepared for the worst by establishing or re-establishing every essential form of provision locally.


In practice, this means that I’ve been buying local (and therefore necessarily seasonal) food for several years, and moved as much as possible towards buying and making clothing that has been substantially produced relatively nearby. Perhaps more controversially, I’ve also moved away from prior tendency to employ cheap Polish plumbers in favour of employing somebody very, very local (in my street, in fact,) who is unlikely to head overseas as soon as the pound loses value against the zloty. That way, with a bit of luck, there’ll still be a few skilled and experienced trades people in England when the oil runs out.

Times Online