Trade and the "Decline of the American Empire"

A recent column by a local minister compared the "decline of the American empire" with the decline of the Roman Empire. He said that a similarity is that Rome relied upon slave labor and we rely on cheap labor. However, the difference between slave labor and free but inexpensive labor is immense. Cheap labor reside in poor nations. Trade allows those workers to have a better exchange than they would have without trade. A recent report states that, for the first time in history, a majority of the world's population is in the middle class. Trade is an important explanatory factor. Trade is one way that we can show show love to our neighbors.