They Warp and Mislead Themselves as Much as They Confuse Everyone Else
In his latest NYT column, the normally astute Thomas Edsall is confusing an already tangled set of issues with his focus on "trade" and his misuse of that term.
It's extremely important to recognize that VERY few people (rich or poor, from red states or blues states) object to trade when it means exporting "our" goods and services. This has simply never been the case. US policy, going back even to before there was a US (which means before there was an Alexander Hamilton), has always been about promoting exports and blocking (to the extent possible) many forms of imports.
But the fake "trade" deals (NAFTA, TPP, etc) are only marginally about reducing barriers to US exports. As Edsall points out, the "Blue" areas are already doing very well.
The situation with "imports" is where everyone's thinking gets more discombobulated. The US is still highly protectionist in many areas (one of the privileges of imperial firepower). But these so-called (actually fake) "trade" deals are more concerned with a special kind of "import" which is more like an internal corporate transfer of goods (or their components) between different locations of one business that "coincidentally happen" to be on different sides of the US borders (or on different sides of the Pacific Ocean).
Thus these "trade" deals are really about facilitating the export of JOBS and PRODUCTION. The majority of people who live in "Blue States" are only temporarily insulated from the corrosive effects this will eventually have on their well being, incomes, and security. And their major benefit from these high powered scams is the temporarily "low everyday prices" made possible by the beggaring of their relatives in "Red States" and the grinding exploitation of workers (often children or prisoners) on the wrong side of the borders/oceans.
We all need to be more careful about our terminology. What we (too often) call "trade" deals are really part of a long term, well-financed, highly propagandized program to reduce the bargaining power of US workers and to dilute the political power of US voters.
It's extremely important to recognize that VERY few people (rich or poor, from red states or blues states) object to trade when it means exporting "our" goods and services. This has simply never been the case. US policy, going back even to before there was a US (which means before there was an Alexander Hamilton), has always been about promoting exports and blocking (to the extent possible) many forms of imports.
But the fake "trade" deals (NAFTA, TPP, etc) are only marginally about reducing barriers to US exports. As Edsall points out, the "Blue" areas are already doing very well.
The situation with "imports" is where everyone's thinking gets more discombobulated. The US is still highly protectionist in many areas (one of the privileges of imperial firepower). But these so-called (actually fake) "trade" deals are more concerned with a special kind of "import" which is more like an internal corporate transfer of goods (or their components) between different locations of one business that "coincidentally happen" to be on different sides of the US borders (or on different sides of the Pacific Ocean).
Thus these "trade" deals are really about facilitating the export of JOBS and PRODUCTION. The majority of people who live in "Blue States" are only temporarily insulated from the corrosive effects this will eventually have on their well being, incomes, and security. And their major benefit from these high powered scams is the temporarily "low everyday prices" made possible by the beggaring of their relatives in "Red States" and the grinding exploitation of workers (often children or prisoners) on the wrong side of the borders/oceans.
We all need to be more careful about our terminology. What we (too often) call "trade" deals are really part of a long term, well-financed, highly propagandized program to reduce the bargaining power of US workers and to dilute the political power of US voters.
Columnists, politicians, and corporate mouthpieces who (through their mischaracterizations) collaborate with the predatory global 0.1% against the interest of the US population should be called out - or educated.
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