draft
When
I review my own thinking about Globalization, using that term very
loosely, and the various issues that it raises, I keep coming back to
the same question.
It
goes something like this. There is no doubt to anyone who has
studied economics that many of the negative issues of Globalization,
as discussed in other posts on this blog, were predictable in broad
outline. And there is no doubt to anyone who examines the evidence
that our government enabled Globalization but did not put in place
any of the sorts of programs that would help Americans who were
likely to be impoverished by these policies find a new way to make a
living. Nor was there any attempt by our government to address the
increasing income inequality that would be the natural result of
their policies. Furthermore, the record is clear that while many
economists went public with the likely implications of these
policies, they were apparently ignored, but even more important, our
leaders did not discuss these implications with the American people.
We also have to contend with the evidence that Washington is (maybe
was) completely unaware of the vast anger and distress that these
policies caused until it was shoved in their face, and even then I
think they were blindsided and do not really acknowledge the issues
even today. (See for example the incredibly stupid and egregious
defense of the deceptive undemployment index in the New Yorker,
reference to be provided eventually).
So
I propose to you that this leads us to ask the following questions.
Was
our government completely stupid, incompetent, and unaware of the
implications of their policies? Or were they deliberately following
a policy that was going to destroy the lives of millions of Americans
to increase the profits of the rich? A third possibility might be
that they were aware of the implications, but simply failed to take
the corrective actions that would be necessary to attempt to
ameliorate the distress caused.
The
reason I keep coming back to this question is as follows. If they
were merely stupid, then they are not competent to be running our
government, and we should have no hope for the future. If they were
cavalier about the well-being of so many Americans, then we should
not expect that to change and should have no hope for the future.
Either
way, the conclusion is that our government is fucked, is dangerous to
the people, and that there is no hope for the future.
None
of this will make the least bit of sense to you unless you understand
how well understood the issues and controversies of “free trade”
aka “globalization” are. None of this is new. It goes back to
the 19th century and the dawn of modern economics as we
know it.
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