In his book The Black Swan, author Nassim Taleb makes the argument that increasing globalization in many ways makes our economic and political systems more fragile. Essentially, as dependency on and linkages to other countries/economies grow, so do the consequences of a breakdown in one of the economic links. That theory was exemplified today by Chile’s decision to forgo hosting the November APEC summit, which has now left the U.S. and China with no place to sign a trade deal. Chile, which is experiencing massive social unrest, was the anticipated site where U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators would sign the Phase One deal. With Chile bowing out from hosting APEC, and neither the U.S. nor China likely willing to sign a Phase One deal i...

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