College Visit

I was visiting a college this weekend and realized a few things about college life that I never realized before. I met with a professor in the business school and he explained a lot of things to me I didnt really expect to hear when I talked to him. He talked about long term and short term abalysis and used the specific example of a switch for a fan. The switch had five buttons each corresponding to a different amount of time to leave the fan on for. He was impressed by this particular switch and wanted to buy some more for other spots in his house. He made great efforts to find the switch and finally he called the company who in turn told him they no longer made it. He asked why and was told by a representative of the company that a cost/benefit analysis was conducted on every product the company produced and that particular product did not check out. He was maddened by this and did his own research, at least he claimed, and found that the short term profit would not have been very good, but in the long run the product would have been worth keeping. Im not sure what I'm trying to say other than it was interesting going on a college visit and getting a lesson in economics.

Barack Obama Free Trade

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAFTA
http://www.ontheissues.org/Barack_Obama.htm#Free_Trade

The two articles above show Barack Obama's stance on Free Trade and specifically a treaty called the Central American Free Trade Agreement. I think this agreement is a good idea as it will allow all economies involved to become more efficient, as free trade always does. Barack Obama does not support this agreement saying that it will affect the labor and environmental standards. He makes a valid point, and creates a good argument on what is more important. On one hand a stronger economy can be built with more free trade while on the other hand there is poor labor laws and environmental problems. What is the solution?