O Michigan, my Michigan

While most of the nation nervously ponders whether we're about to enter another recession, one state still hasn't recovered from the previous one — Michigan. Outsourcing has hit the state's manufacturing-heavy economy hard. The unemployment rate in November was 7.4%, more than half again the national average. Today came news that the state's population has slumped 30,500 in the past year; some say the number would be higher if not for a weak housing market, since many people who want to get out are unable to sell their homes.

Here's the question for the rest of the nation: Is Michigan uniquely unlucky, with its dependence on auto manufacturing? Or is it the canary in the coal mine, a sign of economic upheaval that will eventually affect the rest of the nation? Outsourcing and competition from imports have been facts of life in the auto industry for over two decades, but they're now starting to occur in high tech industries and even parts of the service sector.

Economists make a compelling argument that protectionism isn't good for anyone. It may become politically unavoidable, however, if the effects we see in Michigan begin to occur nationwide. If we want to continue down the road towards free and open trade, we need to have a national conversation about how to help workers who are displaced by outsourcing and the communities that rely on the economic activity created by their wages.