Politicians Prevent Cooperative International Exchange

From today's Open Europe news summary:

Speaking in the Bundestag this morning, Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that due to the complexity of the negotiations over the EU-US free trade agreement, the risk of failure had to be taken seriously, although she added “It must be possible to achieve it."

Note the presumption that private German and American citizens may not engage in mutually beneficial, cooperative exchange without the authorization and, one may presume, proper tribute being paid to politicians and their sycophantic bureaucrats.  If Merkel really wanted to help her people, she would simply declare Germany to be a free trade nation, willing to accept any goods that its citizens wish to import and not standing in the way of its citizens exporting any goods that its citizens produce.  This is such a simple concept that only a politician cannot understand it.  But I say that in jest, for politicians DO understand that they are nothing more than shake down artists.