 In grade school we used to do labs with these plastic bags called dialysis tubing. The experiments were much like the one described here.
Basically, it showed us that two systems of unequal concentrations on either side of a porous membrane will equalize themselves if they are allowed to. If the inside of the membrane is more concentrated
than the outside environment, then it is hypertonic to the outside. If it is less concentrated, then it is said to be hypotonic.
If the particles of the solution can fit through the membrane,
then it will equalize itself. This is called osmosis.
Life itself depends on being able to maintain an unequal concentration in a cell as opposed to the surrounding environment. When an organism that is used to being in fresh water is suddenly placed in salt water, the environment inside the organism seeks a balance with to make the environment on the inside match the outside environment. Water leaks out until the two environments match and the organism soon becomes dehydrated and dies.
Here in the U.S., our “Standard of living” is way out of equilibrium with the rest of the world. In terms of wages, social services, clean environment, worker safety and human rights, we can say that the U.S. economy is hypertonic to the rest of the world. I see the United States economy as being just like a bag of dialysis tubing immersed in the surrounding world economy. As the border between our economy and the world economy becomes more porous, our higher standard of living must leak out to come to equilibrium with the rest of the world.
We can’t sit in the global economy and not see the system try to right itself just like my experiments with dialysis tubing. I get the feeling right now that we are experiencing what the bag on the far right has experienced. For us it means fewer jobs or wage cuts, gutting environmental laws (or not enforcing them), scrapping OSHA laws (or not enforcing them).
The key is not to make the borders less porous. Protectionism of the George W. Bush/Pat Buchanan/Dick Gephardt variety is not the way to go. If we can’t artificially maintain our environment, we must try to make the outside environment more like our own. That means supporting workers in other countries as they fight for the rights that we here in the United States take for granted. The only real leverage we have is on the companies that manufacture products in third world countries. They have images to maintain and work very hard to dissociate themselves from conditions of the workers that make their products.
8:05:04 AM 
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