"Even though it has gone virtually unreported
by corporate media, Breitbart News has extensively documented the Clintons’
longstanding support for “open borders.” Interestingly, as the Los Angeles Times observed in 2007, the Clinton’s praise for globalization and open borders frequently comes when they are
speaking before a wealthy foreign audiences and donors."
"Because globalization has led to a global redistribution of wealth and in the U.S. to unemployment in some enterprises and to reduced wages for blue-collar workers, the U.S. has needed to provide safety nets and government investment in job retraining. Candidate Trump on June 27, 2016 held that globalization made the financial elite very wealthy but left millions of U.S. workers with nothing but poverty and heartache."
One may be forgiven for believing that Hollywood has moved to Washington, D.C. Instead of James Bond, the political scene is full of heroes and villains; allegations of international spies; contacts of officials of the Trump administration with...
February 18, 2017
Globalization and President Trump
One
may be forgiven for believing that Hollywood has moved to Washington, D.C.
Instead of James Bond, the political scene is full of heroes and
villains; allegations of international spies; contacts of officials of the
Trump administration with Russian intelligence operatives, if not with
President Vladimir Putin himself; and illegal intercepted phone calls.
Though the scenario is amusing, so far it lacks evidence of collusion
between the two sides to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election or any
aspect of policy.
It is
less amusing but more important for the political and media worlds to turn
attention from obsession with the reporting on publicly unrevealed phone calls
to more sober topics such as global trade, the possibility of a trade war, and
the tax agenda of President Donald Trump that may effect that trade war.
At the
heart of the issue is the process of globalization, theoretically the
interaction of economies, capital, investment, societies, cultures, and
migration of people through greater communication and trade among the countries
of the world. It was present at the end of the 19th century with
free trade, mass migration, and capital flows. More pertinent,
globalization has stemmed after World War II with new institutions such as the
IMF and the World Bank, with the thought that global interaction was more
likely to lead to peace and prosperity than to economic nationalism.
Elites
thought free trade and globalization would raise all living standards, as well
as bring a more peaceful world. No doubt, gains have been realized by
globalization, free trade and financial flows, and part of the gap between rich
and poor countries has been reduced, but the gains have not been equally
shared. It has raised incomes of the world's poorer economies at the
expense of the West.
Globalization
is disruptive, destabilizing, and
unfair since the global market is highly
competitive. Some countries – Japan, China,
South Korea – have benefited,
while others have
not. One consequence in defense is protectionism
and
rules ostensibly based on factors such as food
safety and intellectual
property.
The
Trump administration is now facing the problems of globalization and has begun
to take action. Trump has announced policies including preventing U.S.
companies from shipping jobs abroad by various means, including border taxes.
He argues for bilateral trade agreements but also for tariffs on imports
to protect US manufacturing.
Is
this sufficient? Globalization can work only if all countries abide by
the same set of rules, but most countries, as the economist Dani Rodrik has
argued, cannot allow for all three factors – democracy, national sovereignty,
and globalization – to coexist.
Because
globalization has led to a global
redistribution of wealth and in the U.S. to
unemployment in some enterprises and to reduced
wages for blue-collar workers,
the U.S. has
needed to provide safety nets and government
investment in job
retraining. Candidate Trump on
June 27, 2016 held that globalization made
the
financial elite very wealthy but left millions of
U.S. workers with nothing
but poverty and
heartache.
His
response is to reject the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and to call for
withdrawal from or renegotiation of NAFTA. It is highly likely that
utterances of this kind contributed to his electoral victories in states such
as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Many U.S. citizens believed
that the existing political and cultural elite were more concerned with
foreigners than with U.S. citizens, especially the unemployed working and
middle classes.
In
developed countries, income has shifted from labor to capital. The share
of income going to the top 1% of the wealthy has increased in countries such as
the U.S. and U.K. Workers with higher education and better skills have
benefited more than others. Globalization has eroded job security for
middle- and lower-income families and made some jobs obsolete. There has
been a decline in well paying
manufacturing jobs, while low-wage competition
has benefited
Mexico. Today, the U.S. has a $60-billion trade deficit a
year
with Mexico.
In the
current world of rising nationalism, increasing attempts at immigration into
the USA and Western Europe with the consequent
fear and resentment of foreigners, and spread of fundamentalist religion and
terrorism, globalism has become suspect politically as well as economically.
In multiethnic societies, people seek cultural security.
The
U.S. political world is divided between globalists believing that globalism is
good and natural and, like "Davos man," that national boundaries are
obstacles and should vanish, and those maintaining the priority of the
nation-state for the benefit of citizens.
It is
an open question whether open borders hurt the poor. Trump is one of
those who believe that the nation-state still matters. If jobs are
outsourced, they may not come back. The nationalist stance is not only
economic in nature, but also based on social and cultural factors – mainly
immigration – that affects schools, workplace, and daily life, as well as fear
of terrorism. In this regard, it is populist, even nativist, which may be
at odds with principles of democracy and equality.
In
this view, free trade and protectionism, if necessary, will lead to greater
prosperity and strength. Slower economic growth in the world has reduced
support for globalization, since growth is the most important factor reducing
extreme poverty. At the core, the U.S. must succeed in maintaining or
getting jobs in industries vulnerable to automation or imports.
The
U.S. is facing the downsides of globalization in trade and migration. It
must seriously consider the desirability of the Trump agenda: bilateral trade
agreements plus tariffs on imports to protect U.S. manufacturing, plus a
border tax on companies that move jobs out of the U.S. Chinese currency
manipulations cannot be ignored. A related problem is whether the Trump
agenda will undo the growth benefits from his projected tax cuts and proposed
spending on infrastructure.
Nor
can the main issue of globalization be ignored. The country needs a
healthy debate on the issue not only in itself, but also in the context of
whether the loss of manufacturing jobs is due more to the process of
automation than to trade globalization. A conversation on these issues
may not be as enticing as James Bond, but it will be better for the economic
and physical health of the U.S.
BILLIONAIRES FOR BORDERLESS AMERICA
….It’s all to keep wages DEPRESSED.
“The principal beneficiaries of
our current immigration policy are affluent Americans who hire immigrants at
substandard wages for low-end work. Harvard economist George Borjas estimates
that American workers lose $190 billion annually (DATED FIGURES) in depressed
wages caused by the constant flooding of the labor market at the low-wage end.”
--- Christian
Science Monitor
GEORGE SOROS: GLOBAL LOOTER, GLOBAL PLUNDERER, GLOBAL TERRORIST and one man fascist
movement!
FOR THE SUPER RICH:
“The terrorist suspect’s most recent efforts through
"open
society” foundations he funds are bringing
globalist gunpowder plots to places
like Poland
and Armenia, in the long march to make the
world safe for plutocracy.”
world safe for plutocracy.”
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