Just got around to reading the cover leader in this week's Economist, and I don't think I've read an editorial condemnation of anything this strong in quite some time.
Note the cover, above. The prose is scarcely less lurid. This is from the leader:
argues for a different, indeed strident, response. Economic
nationalism—the urge to keep jobs and capital at home—is both turning
the economic crisis into a political one and threatening the world with
depression. If it is not buried again forthwith, the consequences will
be dire….
The Economist sees a number of causes for alarm, but the most immediate seems to be the "Buy American" provisions in the stimulus bill, especially the House version.
It notes that Obama has expressed his displeasure with the protectionist provision: "That’s good — but not enough. Mr Obama should veto the entire package unless they are removed."
The Economist believes that nothing less than the entire global economy is at stake:
When economic conflict seems more likely than ever, what can
persuade countries to give up their trade weapons? American leadership
is the only chance. The international economic system depends upon a
guarantor, prepared to back it during crises. In the 19th century
Britain played that part. Nobody did between the wars, and the
consequences were disastrous. Partly because of that mistake, America
bravely sponsored a new economic order after the second world war.
Once again, the task of saving the world economy falls to America.
Mr Obama must show that he is ready for it. If he is, he should kill
any “Buy American” provisions. If he isn’t, America and the rest of the
world are in deep trouble.
Related Posts
The Economist is not so much for free trade when it comes to getting government out of health care, retirement, Social Security welfare, and education.
I think it is good to buy American goods, on a personal level. I certainly would rather pay more for an American made item. I especially avoid tainted stuff from Red China, and anything I know to be made by illegal aliens.
In fact, I try to avoid buying anything new, or from a store, in order to starve the government of sales taxes. I have no problem buying a used foreign item like a car or firearm, but for new ones I try to buy American.
Lee,
The above comment about sums up our problems.
Is it just me, or is the thought of Lee with a firearm, like, really scary?
Sounds like the author has a job.
Me? I’d be happy with a ‘hire American’ policy…
Wrote this in 2005. Thought I would share. It is still relevant.
Trip Around the World
Ever think about taking a trip around the world without leaving your home? No, not by way of the internet or television. There is another way right in front of you that can reach out and touch at any time. Try your closet.
Last night, I was hanging up some clothes and I decided to check the labels on my shirts, slacks, shoes, belts, caps, and shorts. It was amazing and very enlightening to say the least. I have been aware of the outsourcing of manufacturing for a long time and know it has had a real impact on our local economy and the Southeast in particular.
The trip was swift and very educational. Some of the countries I traveled to, figuratively speaking were, but in no particular order the following:
Made in China
Made in Mexico
Made in Bangladesh
Made in Dominican Republic
Made in Taiwan
Made in the United Arab Emirates
Made in Honduras
Made in India
Made in Hong Kong
Made in Qatar
Made in Costa Rica
Made in El Salvador from fabric imported from China
Made in Philippines
Made in Vietnam
Made in Cambodia
Made in Sri Lanka
Made in Guatemala
Made in the Northern Mariana Islands
Made in Argentina
Made in Korea
My travels took me to 20 countries just for a start. In a short period of time, I was ready to come home. So, I went back to my closet and cap rack looking for a way back to the good Ole USA but it seemed as if I were hopelessly stuck in a foreign country. Finally, I located an old baseball cap with the Methodist logo on it and I thought for sure home was just a few feet away but alas, I was not home. I was still in “Made in Bangladesh”. Then another ray of hope shone across the room when I spied a baseball cap from another prestigious American. When I picked it up, my hopes were dashed again. I was still in “Made in Bangladesh”. But, hope springs eternal so I kept looking for a ticket home.
After much searching, I realized perhaps the best way home would be through the oldest members of my closeted international community. Levi 505 jeans finally came to the rescue. I picked up my newest pair and for a moment, I was still in another country, “Made in Mexico” but my older friends come through. My oldest pair of Levis was MADE IN THE USA!!!!!! I found some old ball caps with comforting logos that guided me through the fog of foreign travel and overcame the language barrier with names like “STEEL HEDDLE” and “GREAT SOUTHERN TRACTOR COMPANY” but most important, the label read, “MADE IN THE USA”. Then with some sadness and regret, I realized that my trip had not been so wonderful after all.
I realized most of us take the same trip each day when we go about our daily routine. Almost everything we touch at one point or another during the day is produced outside the borders of this country. When we go to J.C. Penney, Belk, Tomlinson’s, B.C. Moore, Wal-Mart or anywhere to buy almost any piece of wearing apparel or other goods, they are made in another country. Even good old friendly Charlie the Tuna is no longer canned in this country. The closest place Charlie is canned is in Samoa. But, how can you blame the stores because they must stay competitive to survive. Their survival provides much needed employment for the community but in order for them to survive, some local manufacturers must suffer and face potential closing because of foreign competition.
Unfortunately, we shut our eyes and turn a deaf ear to the plight of those who have been affected the most. The men and women who worked in the garment factories across the South did a great service for each and every one of us. Their sweat and sore fingers sewed together the clothes we bought at the same stores who now display a broad spectrum of clothes for sale made in other countries. There are a few “MADE IN THE USA” items available but they are usually more expensive and the average working man and woman cannot afford to pay the higher prices.
The good people in Marion County tried to make a difference with Wal-Mart but to no avail. You would think a company whose corporate philosophy is to help the working man would make an effort to keep jobs here in this country but they refused the offer made by those who tried to make a difference. Would it have hurt to offer a line of clothes made locally but costing a few pennies more per garment? Would it have hurt the bottom line to live up to the corporate philosophy and help the local working man and woman? Apparently it would have but how does a glass of water raise the level of the ocean? That would have been the impact on the bottom line but greed knows no boundaries.
In a recent Letter to the Editor, one contributor made a great point. He went to the heart of the matter with no detours. The main problem we have in this country is greed. Nothing more, nothing less. Greed for money, greed for power, greed for influence, greed for the sake of greed. When corporate greed overrides the best interest of the people they depend upon for survival, something is wrong. Exxon taking advantage of disasters named Katrina and Rita to rip the country off to the tune of $11 billion in excess profits for the third quarter. Local convenience stores keeping the price of fuel higher in this area by at least 10 to 20 cents per gallon after prices have fallen everywhere else. I guess it cost more to do business in Florence than Columbia, Norfolk, Raleigh, Fayetteville, and other larger cities in the Carolinas and Virginia.
Along with others, I wish I had the answer. I don’t. The only thing I can do is to look closer the next time I buy a shirt, radio, or any other consumable item. I can look for the label to see where it is made. I can try to patronize companies whose label has “MADE IN THE USA” on their products. I can try to be more selective when shopping and if it means buying one item at a slightly higher price rather than two at a cheaper price, it will be a start. The stores could assist by offering and advertising goods manufactured in the USA.
What’s done is done. It will be almost impossible to return to yesterday because our place in the world economy has changed and we are a consumer nation. Each of us must stop and think the next time we go out and become a consumer. Do I support American efforts first or continue to turn a deaf ear and blind eye to the plight of my neighbor?
Charity begins at home.
I subscribe to the Economist and saw the same article. I agree with them because of my essentially internationalist view of the economy. Industries that cannot survive here due to international competition should be shuttered in favor of what we really have to offer the world: producer goods, raw materials, financial services (until recently, at least), intellectual services (our universities and research labs), and, of course, computers, cell phones, and other advanced technological gadgets.
To do this, we need a well-educated workforce, and that means infrastructural and educational investments on a national level. It also means weaning Americans away from wasting four years in high school (and in weak college programs where they major in partying and sports) followed by dead-end jobs in factories and retail.
My students (particularly my white male students) exude an unfounded optimism about the future and a sense of entitlement not borne out by their level of academic achievement or their willingness to focus on schoolwork. On the other hand, I have noticed girls of all ethnic backgrounds being quite focused about the future (not all, of course, by any stretch).
We need a national economic regime that will shift the economy from consumerism and debt to production and international competition. This will mean government in control of the commanding heights of the economy and an end to unrestrained speculation on Wall St. looking for the quick buck, regardless of what happens.
Investment needs to be in profitable industries, not in commercial paper.
Rich, you are a believer in international government. And I do mean a “believer”.
You claim to be some sort of school teacher, though you demonstrate knowledge in no subject.
All investment is in some form of “commercial paper”, like common stocks or bonds. But you don’t know what “commercial paper” is.
If you ever get a job in the real world of business, you may encounter real international trade and competition.
How do you feel about opening up the teaching jobs to people with more subject matter expertise, and fewer educrat credentials? How about importing them from India, or exporting your former students to an offshore class where the costs are lower?
KP, it’s just you.
Liberals often have an ignorance of firearms which causes them fear. They don’t trust their fellow man to make decisions about what car to drive or food to eat, so of course they don’t trust anyone with the means of preserving their life and liberty.
“………government in control of the commanding heights of the economy……..”
Translation: socialism/communism.
No reward for individual achievement, no financial rewards beyond what is approved or allowed by the state, no incentive to invest in anything productive where returns may allow you to have more than your neighbor. A dead soul in a listless nation where dreams and ambitions are subrogated to the will of a “government in control of the commanding heights of the economy”.
When a government, no matter how benevolent it may be, is in control of the financial system in any country as Rich proposes, it will become the dictator of who, what, when, where, why, and how much is earned with no regard for individual effort.
The knowledge that Rich is a teacher in our public school system is bothersome to say the least. I have to wonder if he is in agreement with the Al Gore school of thought and teaches his students not to listen to their parents because they know more than they do especially after attending his class.
And I wonder just what his problem is with white people, especially successful white males. It gives cause to question whether the white boys in his class are treated fair and on an equal basis as the other students. Based on his latent racist comments singling out this particular group for emphasis of his criticism, I would seriously doubt it.
But, in spite of his blatant distaste for our system, the students, especially white males overcome or pay no heed to his propaganda and still have faith in our system and expect to do well after they leave the pseudo re-education center called a classroom.
Bart,
Your rhetoric shows that you’re not interested in rational debate, but just in trying to beat down your opponent verbally by repeating the same nonsense over and over–just as the racists did during the Jim Crow South.
Well, you lost the election. Never forget that because I will never tire of reminding you of it.
“My students (particularly my white male students) exude an unfounded optimism about the future and a sense of entitlement not borne out by their level of academic achievement or their willingness to focus on schoolwork. On the other hand, I have noticed girls of all ethnic backgrounds being quite focused about the future (not all, of course, by any stretch).”
Just a question for you, Rich, now that you’ve shown you know something about virtually everything, or at least you think you do:
When you characterized behavior by race and gender above, isn’t that the kind of behavior you normally rail against in other South Carolinians?
Shouldn’t you be judging each student individually, not by group?
Have you been able to differentiate the behavior of white students based on hair color, which side they part their hair on or whether they’re right- or left-handed or ambidextrous?
Or do you just focus on sex and color?
Rich,
I come back at you with your own words and as usual, you still have no defense. Jim Crow racism of the past? Is that the best you can do? In this instance, it is you who is guilty of racism, not me. It is you who continually repeats the same nonsense supporting and encouraging a socialist/communist form of government, not me. When you are called out, a response like this one is the usual reply.
Obama won the election and Democrats now control the majorities in both houses. I know you will never tire of reminding me and others about it. It is the only accomplishment you have to point to that I can tell.
If you were capable of debate, I would be more than willing to debate you but in every post you have made in the year plus since I have been reading this blog, your comments, rhetoric, have been nothing but one long repetitive ideological discourse with no deviation. When anyone points out or tries to engage you in any point – counterpoint, you always fall back on the same tired lines.
You refuse to accept the simple fact that both parties are responsible for the economic mess we are in now. You continue to engage in class warfare and show a disdain for personal accomplishment that does not meet your definition.
If for once, you would have the honesty to admit the truth, I would be willing to engage in honest debate with you but so far, I haven’t observed any indication you are capable of one.
There are many on this blog who hold completely different beliefs and opinions but are all intellectually honest. Lee, p.m., Doug, Birch, and many more but you and one other have no intellectual honesty. You are an ideologue to the core and have no room for a dissenting view or opinion other than your own.
Quite frankly, your obvious devotion to a socialist/communist doctrine is in direct opposition to everything I believe and stand for. I will never, repeat, never stop calling you out on that point because both have been dismal failures everywhere they have been tried. Systems that reward mediocrity and demand subordination of the will and ambition to the sole needs of the state. A capitulation of the freedom of choice and freedom to seek a better life other than the one assigned by the state. Systems that were propagandized as concern for the people but in the end, enslaving and slaughtering millions and millions while condemning the masses to live in abject poverty and want.
Our system may not be perfect because it was devised by man but it is still the best system known to man. We do the best we can and try to repair and correct the wrongs committed and reward the good. Our system allows and encourages every man and woman to be the best they can be. We are not afraid to go to the past, acknowledge our mistakes and make atonement when possible. That is the beauty of it. We understand this simple precept of responsibility even though at times, we forget. Slavery was and continues to be a dark stain on our history but we have recognized and acknowledged this disgraceful part of our past. The slavery of chains and body have long vanished from America but the slavery of the mind, soul, and spirit remain very much alive in the form of institutional dependence on the state and welfare system perpetrated in the name of progress without the demand for growth and accountability. Both essential to become an integral member of a functioning society where freedom and self determination are the basic rights of all.
In the end, without getting into specifics, I will compare my track record of being active in working with others to assist, train, support, educate, finance, encouragement in the real world of accomplishment, and assisting those less fortunate realize their dreams with yours any day of the week. I seriously doubt you have ever placed your personal finances on the line to assist a minority company to get started. I seriously doubt you have ever stood up for women’s equal rights to pay and promotions in the workplace to the point of placing your job on the line either. I won’t get into any others because they are private matters, not for public consumption.
As the old saying goes, I have put my money where my mouth is, have you? I have laid it all on the line and experienced successes and failures, downturns and come backs, have you? I lived in poverty conditions as a child without indoor plumbing and electricity, have you? I have been to bed without enough food, have you. I had to wait to start school as a child because of no shoes or adequate clothing, have you? I know what can be accomplished if you accept responsibility for yourself and your actions. I know how great the opportunities are for anyone in this country who wants to take advantage of them. Living in the world you support would never allow anyone like me to have the chances I did.
I don’t want to live where you want to live, ever.
Enjoy yourself for the next 2 to 4 years. I can promise you, it won’t last much beyond that. In spite of the problems we are encountering now, this country still recover with some changes but never to the degree of socialism/communism you seek.
So Spaceman Lee is a Hooverite (nothing neo about this knuckle-dragger)…Que sorpresa.
I like it. As long as the Repugnants keep moving Lee’s way, they’ll ALWAYS be the regional party of angry bubbas. Keep it up, Spaceman, and I’ll be happy with Democratic Party dominance for the rest of your life and mine.
The debate about socialism was settled among rational, civilized people in the 1930s, with the failure of the New Deal, and the atrocities of communist USSR, socialist Italy, socialist Germany, and socialist Japan.
Obama and the Democrats are not rational. They are gleefully looting the wealth of America at a rate which will not last.
The people who created this wealth are a lot smarter than the leeches who can only steal. $5 TRILLION in cash has been withdrawn from the stock markets. $1 TRILLION in cash was withdrawn from individual money markets in one day, until the Federal Reserve and FDIC halted the withdrawals. Personal savings are up to 3.6%, from zero under Clinton.
Real America can hunker down leave the Obamanites to print more worthless currency for bread and circuses. In the first Treasury auction under Obama, they were not able to sell as many new bonds as the amount they had to redeem. The rest of the industrial world recognizes the ineptitude which is now in power.
Bart, I appreciate your detailed thoughts here, even though I disagree with most of them. The thing that strikes me in the thread above is that you rail against the dangers of socialism, just a couple of comments after you identify the source of many of recent economic problems as greed.
The point is that greed is an inevitable part of human nature, and completely unchecked capitalism, total laissez-faire, allows the kind of abuses and distortions of the market such as we have witnessed in the last decade.
I’m a believer in the free enterprise system and capitalism, too, as the “least bad” of all possible political systems, but it’s a question of degree and checks/balances. To many progressives, like Obama, there is a middle way, where government (which at least is theoretically accountable to the people, voted in or out accordingly by the people) provides the oversight and corrective restraint where needed (the amount of which is necessarily to be constantly adjusted by the wishes of the populace).
If you feel (correctly, I believe) that greed is indeed at the heart of many of our recent ills, you cannot then also disparage some significant role for democratic government in the engines of our economy. Such a role is a far cry from true out-and-out socialism.
Speaking in economic terms, just as pure socialism or communism quashes the possibility of bringing out the best and most creative aspects of human nature, so does pure capitalism leave unchecked the worst aspects of human nature.
Lee, Lee, Lee…you really need to start taking your medication again.
NO ONE other than your delusional ilk think the New Deal failed. It was a success that could have been greater if Roosevelt hadn’t gotten cold feet and did some Hooverite back-sliding on balancing the budget in 1936.
Keynes rules and y’all drool. No reputable economist subscribes to your 19th century garbage. But, keep it up. I like the idea of a permanent Democratic majority with the opposition being you and the all white bubbas in your posse.
I think a problem we have in this country is that we want to have our cake and eat it too.
We want industry and the jobs they provide, but we get upset at the pollution they bring.
So we pass environmental laws and get upset when we lose jobs in this country.
We want good wages so we pass wage laws, but then we get upset when higher wages reduce jobs.
We want home ownership for all but we get upset when this leads to foreclosures of those who couldn’t make their payments.
Investors demand the high returns of the 90s and we invest too heavily in MBSs and we see where that got us.
We want cheap goods but we complain when industry moves overseas to make those goods.
We want to give everyone a chance at success here but we get upset when people in other countries come here to seek the same success and “steal” our jobs.
We ALWAYS want to cut taxes but we RARELY are willing to accept the spending cuts to go along with them.
The political culture in this country leads to this way of thinking. When was the last time you heard a politician admit that whatever they were pushing at the moment would have some negative implications to go along with the positive? To have an open and honest position you have to admit to all of the effects of your policies. But too often politicians act like salesmen and put forth completely one-sided viewpoints. Nothing is that black and white!
I think another danger here is that we have found a way to have our cake and eat it too — borrowing large amounts of money. Of course, this means we’re depriving our children of their cake. I fear America of the future will be like a really sad birthday party with little cake for anyone.
The failed businesses, farmers, ranchers and 17% still unemployed after all FDR’s failed programs KNEW the New Deal didn’t work. Neither do historians and economists who have studied it objectively, like those of England and Germany. Believing in FDR is for the ignorant modern liberals who were not there, fed a diet of Democrat propaganda.
Roosevelt was just another failed personality cult fascist, with a different style than Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin and Mao.
Herbert Hoover tried massive stimulus spending with huge deficits for two years and it made things worse. FDR ran against spending, for a balanced budget. Like Clinton and Obama, he was lying. He ran huge deficits and crushed the recovery with tax increases. He and his lieutenants were too bound to their various socialist ideologies.
The failed businesses, farmers, ranchers and 17% still unemployed after all FDR’s failed programs KNEW the New Deal didn’t work. Neither do historians and economists who have studied it objectively, like those of England and Germany. Believing in FDR is for the ignorant modern liberals who were not there, fed a diet of Democrat propaganda.
Roosevelt was just another failed personality cult fascist, with a different style than Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin and Mao.
Herbert Hoover tried massive stimulus spending with huge deficits for two years and it made things worse. FDR ran against spending, for a balanced budget. Like Clinton and Obama, he was lying. He ran huge deficits and crushed the recovery with tax increases. He and his lieutenants were too bound to their various socialist ideologies.
Good post, Birch.
Having worked on the development of computer hedging systems involving mortgage backed securities, I have to note that their rate of return is not that high. Only the subprime loans created by Democrats as part of Affirmative Action lending had high returns, and a higher risk. That is why they bought insurance on each bond package from AIG. The problem was the mortgage brokers and other originators falsifying the borrower incomes and other data. FNMA and FMAC then lied about the default rates and cooked their books. When Countrywide and others went down, the fraud was exposed, and took down Lehman Brothers and AIG next.
For all you free-enterprise zealots out there here’s a story of just how dangerous an unfettered market can be. This involves the peanut butter disaster. Apparently executives at the offending company knew about the threat of salmonella and shipped the peanut butter anyone. At least 8 people are dead as a result. Capitalism is a fine way to develop and distribute goods and services efficiently but if left alone severe negative spillover costs are allowed to enter into the marketplace. There is just not adequate profit motive to prevent these kinds of risks from being taken. This is yet another sad legacy for the Bush Administration. From USA Today:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-02-11-house-salmonella_N.htm
Only today’s Republican Party could be so stupid as to blame the last eight years on the Democrats! Who took us needlessly into two wars, alienated our allies, undermined our civil liberties (especially our right to comprehensive privacy), cut taxes, and then stupidly doubled the national debt.
Was it the Democracy that did that??
As for Bart’s screed, I find it just amazing that he would consider his list of ad-hominems to be rational argument.
Birch, great post and congratulations on expressing it in clear, concise statements/comments. Your analysis of the problem did this old analyst proud.
Phillip,
Thanks for your response. It was done as only a mature adult could do, not in the manner of an unyielding ideologue. I will respond to you and answer your questions. Right now, I must complete several work related tasks before calling it a day.
The FDA inspects food processing plants.
Obviously, the government inspectors failed to do their jobs.
An alternative, free market solution is used in most other industries – insurance. The manufacturers have their products tested and approved by Underwriters Laboratories and other bodies. The insurance companies send inspectors into the factories in order to protect themselves from losses.
The Democrats only needed two years of control to create this financial mess. They started their mortgage scams under Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, but it caught up with them in September 2008.
Unemployment went from 4.5% in August to 6.7% in December, as the Democrat’s banking scandal dragged down the entire economy. It won’t be over until some of Obama’s team, who collected big bonuses by falsifying the profits of FNMA and FMAC, go to jail.
Caterpillar will look to build on those markets by building three new factories in China for engines, wheel loaders and parts. It has also purchased factories in ….
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Caterpillar_(CAT)
Obviously, the government inspectors failed to do their jobs.
-Lee
Ding, Ding, Ding. And who exactly was in charge of the government’s food inspection program? THE GOP, that’s who. I’m sure Lee’s warped mind won’t understand this but for the rest of you this proves just how inept the Bush Administration (and the Republicans in charge at the state level as well) was at protecting us. They did not want to have a competent FDA. They were more interested in fighting wars against phantom enemies that were no threat. In the meantime the very real threats posed by unscrupulous peanut butter companies went undetected because the FDA was not sufficiently funded to do proper inspections.
Who took us needlessly into two wars
That would be the Republicans… and the Democrats
Iraq War Vote
undermined our civil liberties
That would be the Republicans… and the Democrats
Appreciate it Rs and Ds. (sarcasm)
Note Obama’s yea vote
Obama on Reauthoriaztion of Patriot Act
cut taxes, and then stupidly doubled the national debt.
That would be the Republicans… good thing Obama hasn’t promised tax cuts and won’t raise the deficit — oh wait, he has and will!
From The World According to bud, “Chapter 2: Things That May Be Blamed on the Republicans”:
1) The supernova of any star
2) Any unwanted pregnancy
3) Dinosaurs becoming extinct
4) The Crucifixion
5) All poverty
6) Most disease
7) Every Carolina loss
8) The death of any non-Republican
9) The break-up of the Beatles
The Democrats actually authorized war in Iraq back in 1998 by a near-unanimous vote.
Bill Clinton made over 80 speeches about Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction.