"Free Trade" has been a resounding disaster. It's replacement is bubbling forth from South America, where they're creating the most progressive commercial model on the planet.
Commerce - The Future is Local
Even during our earliest times as humans on Earth, commerce has been key to providing us with food, shelter and clothing. It could be argued that little has changed in 10,000 years, since that's still the case today.
Most simply, commerce can be described as the exchange of goods and services. There is no doubt our civilization(s) would have been far poorer without robust commerce. Indeed, commerce has been the great uniter of different cultures.
There is evidence of trade in ancient times between Egypt and the Americas, and from China to England, all before the Age of Colonialism. Later currency was introduced as a standardized money to further the wider exchange of goods.
With Colonialism, trade became a huge player in world culture. Tied to government interests, the desire for goods from exotic places was a key excuse for much of the European expansion.
Today commerce involves a complex system of companies that try to maximize their profits by offering products and services to the market , which consists both of individuals and other companies, at the lowest production cost . There is a system of world wide or foreign commerce , which some argue has gone too far. I would be one of them.
The government/commerce connection has grown into a dinosaur. The bloated state of multi-nationals, the corruption of government and the disinformation and distraction in corporate media have placed all of us inhabitants of Planet Earth in serious jeopardy.
The near future portends chaos due to the instability of the current state of affairs. How chaotic we cannot know, but we can consider the kinds of things that improve our chances for a quality life in spite of the current downward spiral.
In the face of our US Federal Government, we have to reverse the trend of globalization and embrace the trend of localization. This is especially true for a few key areas of our lives, like food production. There are a host of reasons why this is true, from strengthening our local communities to the added security of locally grown food. And the migration to organic methods can't come fast enough.
Working with local energy resources is also important. Solar, wind, water, wood and crops are all potential energy resources. For the entire country to be plugged into a grid with centralized power stations is inefficient and again, less secure.
The same is true for building resources, commerce and education. We have far more control over our lives in a situation like this than in today's mega market mania. Oh yea, another thing. If many of our needs are met locally, maybe we barter and tear up those damn credit cards. Because it's clear both the government and we, the people have overspent dangerously. A very unsustainable development.