We've talked before on this blog about whether job losses from trade deserve greater compensation than job losses from other things. Here is a real world example of the latter that I came across:
Polaroid Corp. is dropping the technology it pioneered long before digital photography rendered instant film obsolete to all but a few nostalgia buffs.
Polaroid is closing factories in Massachusetts, Mexico and the Netherlands and cutting 450 jobs as the brand synonymous with instant images focuses on ventures such as a portable printer for images from cell phones and Polaroid-branded digital cameras, televisions and DVD players.
My question is, how are these Polaroid workers any less deserving of assistance than the Maytag workers discussed during the Presidential campaign? This story make me wonder whether we need to re-think the idea of "trade adjustment assistance," replacing it with a broader program of "adjustment assistance."
