Posted on 06/07/2019 3:35:31 AM PDT by Kaslin
Let's begin with a thought experiment: What if the Republican leadership in Washington had bothered to learn the lessons of the 2016 election? What if they'd understood, and embraced, the economic nationalism that was at the heart of Donald Trump's presidential campaign? What would the world look like now, 2 1/2 years later? For starters, Republicans in Congress would regularly be saying things like this:
"I'm deeply grateful for the opportunities America has given me. But the giant 'American' corporations who control our economy don't seem to feel the same way. They certainly don't act like it. Sure, these companies wave the flag -- but they have no loyalty or allegiance to America. ... These 'American' companies show only one real loyalty: to the short-term interests of their shareholders, a third of whom are foreign investors. If they can close up an American factory and ship jobs overseas to save a nickel, that's exactly what they will do -- abandoning loyal American workers and hollowing out American cities along the way. ... The result? Millions of good jobs lost overseas and a generation of stagnant wages, growing income inequality, and sluggish economic growth. ... We can navigate the changes ahead if we embrace economic patriotism and make American workers our highest priority, rather than continuing to cater to the interests of companies and people with no allegiance to America."
If you regularly vote Republican, ask yourself: What part of that statement do you disagree with? Here's the depressing part: Nobody you voted for said that or would ever say it.
Instead, the words you just read are from, and brace yourself here, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Yesterday, Warren released what she's calling her "plan for economic patriotism." Amazingly, that's pretty much exactly what it is. There's not a word about identity politics in the document. There are no hysterics about gun control or climate change. There's no lecture about the plight of transgender illegal immigrants. It's just pure old-fashioned economics: how to preserve good-paying American jobs.
Even more remarkable: Many of Warren's policy prescriptions make obvious sense. She says the U.S. government should buy American products when it can. Of course it should. She says we need more workplace apprenticeship programs, as four-year degrees aren't right for everyone. That's true. She says taxpayers ought to benefit from the research and development they fund. And yet, she writes, "We often see American companies take that research and use it to manufacture products overseas, like Apple did with the iPhone. The companies get rich, and American taxpayers have subsidized the creation of low-wage foreign jobs." And so on. She doesn't mention the role that overregulation has played in incentivizing American companies to leave our shores, but besides that, she sounds like Donald Trump at his best.
Who is this Elizabeth Warren, you ask? Not the race-hustling, gun-grabbing, abortion extremist you thought you knew. Unfortunately, Elizabeth Warren is still all of those things, too. And that is exactly the problem -- not just with Warren but with American politics. In Washington, almost nobody speaks for the majority of voters.
There isn't a caucus that represents where most Americans actually are: nationalist on economics, fairly traditional on the social issues. That candidate would be elected in a landslide. Yet that candidate is the opposite of pretty much everyone currently serving in Congress. Our leadership class remains resolutely corporatist: committed to the rhetoric of markets when it serves them, utterly libertine on questions of culture. Republicans will lecture you about how payday loan scams are a critical part of a market economy, and then they'll work to make it easier for your kids to smoke weed because, hey, freedom. Democrats will nod in total agreement. They're all on the same page.
Just last week, the Trump administration announced an innovative new way to protect American workers from the ever-cascading tidal wave of cheap third-world labor flooding this country. Until the Mexican government stops pushing illegal aliens north over our border, we will impose tariffs on all Mexican goods we import. That's the kind of thing you'd do to protect your country if you cared about your people. The Democrats, of course, opposed it. They don't even pretend to care about America anymore. Here's what Republican leader Mitch McConnell said: "I think it's safe to say you've talked to all of our members and we're not fans of tariffs. We're still hoping that this can be avoided."
We're not fans of tariffs either, but after both Republican and Democratic politicians have made virtually no effort to stem the flow of illegal immigration that has harmed low-wage American workers, at least Trump is trying. He's using access to our giant consumer market to persuade another country to stop taking actions that are hurting regular Americans. Why is that such a bad thing?
American workers or American workers who are unionized? It seems Princess Liawatha is pulling an Al Gore and jumping into the mosh pit just when the crowd disperses. Jobs and factories overseas are coming back to the US. 3% GDP proves that.
Now this idiot wants to do Americans what Trump stopped.
What is the 20% that is non Trumpian?
Unions are non factor. Only 7% of the private sector workforce is in a union. You know that because I’ve told you this 50 times already. You are living in the 1970’s.
We know. You are a good union anticapitalist
You will be a democrat voter.
You are probably a troll
“Donald Trump’s populism is deep, rational and durable but it is also attached to a shallow and unreliable political party.“
You nailed that. I’d like to say I can’t understand the lack of support for President Trump from so many Republicans. But I do understand it and it’s maddening. They’re far more loyal to the corporate donor base than they are to the actual voters who put them in office.
It’s easy to blame “corporations” for the destruction of American manufacturing but one must look deeper to find the root cause of it. They’re simply reacting to a Byzantine tax code and the vast regulatory State that very nearly mandates they act that way. After all they have a legal fiduciary duty to maximize profits any legal way that can.
And they’re powerless to pick and choose their shareholders. Foreigners want solid earnings, too after all.
What needs to be done is a wholesale re-writing of the tax laws to actually encourage corporate America to actually BE corporate America. President Trump is doing yoemans work on the regulatory side of things but the tax issue will require a solid majority of Trump Republicans in both the House and the Senate.
Corporate America doesn’t think beyond the next quarterly earnings report and truth be told they can’t really be blamed for it. That’s they way the system has been built. Changing that will require the changes in tax policy I mentioned above.
We simply must see President Trump re-elected or our Republic is finished.
L
The Nutty Professor and Pocahontas understand global economics and mercantilism more than the average Republican. Too bad both are lunatic leftists.
That statement is totally irelevant. There are still union stewards like you sponging off their companies espousing the kind of anti capitalist, anti buisness you continuously spew.
Hiding behind a graph is a lie if the statement is irrelevant.
Any candidate that ran on this platform alone, from either party would win.
OK, then switch incentives. WE need to be the people with the largest bribe - that's fairly easy.
Put a few lines on the back of income tax forms asking if we want to assign our 'free dollar' to A - Republican Party B - Democrat Party C - other... Each group lists what they want to accomplish that year...(For example: Republicans can say: "we will stop illegals from entering the country. etc) Citizens can 'bribe' the DC crooks with the dollar donation on the back of the form...
Gee, if union participation rate 0% would it still be a threat? LOL! You are a doddering idiot.
How does one hide behind a wall of fact and truth? Is that even possible?
I am glad you picked up on that, Warren, of course, is deflecting the blame for these misguided economic policies away from her party onto those whom she and her gang have forced into a race to the bottom. As you point out, corporate managers could actually be breaking the law not to act in the manner about which she complains.
While complaining, she would continue the very policies which compel the disintegration of our domestic economy and compensate for the dislocations created by more regulation, more legislation, less liberty, more socialism.
By way of illustration of Democrat socialism/populism, Sen. Cory Booker wants to federalize the apartment rental market by limiting rents to 30% of income. Booker is stupid, despite his privileged academic pedigree, but he is smart enough to count and he knows that there are more tenants than landlords. This is the kind of populism that we will get from that party: a Byzantine tax code and the vast regulatory State .
That’s nice, but the big evil corporations wouldn’t have kept sending our jobs overseas if we’d stopped buying their products.
It’s easy to blame them, but at some point, the buck stops and starts in our own wallets.
If we want to see more manufacturing jobs in America, then we need to support the few that we still have, but we won’t do that.
Because unions, and lazy skeezers in the Chrysler plant, and all that other stuff we complain about regularly.
So, we buy a Toyota because they know how to make a good car, and come around 40 years later wondering where all the jobs went.
Go figure.
“Money knows no allegiance
Money buys allegiance.”
With all due respect you’re both wrong.
Money RENTS allegence.
She’s one of the ones who swore and still swears that Trump is a Russian agent. I wouldn’t believe her if she told me that water is wet.
Other counties have tariffs ... they protect THEIR workers. We’re the only country that’s suppose to ‘follow the rules’ of free trade.
The way countries keep jobs at home is they make it cheaper to produce and sell at home than to produce abroad and sell at home.
Hmmm.. If this were true then, he with to most money would rule the world...
Allegiance is a question of morals.. Money cannot buy the heart and soul.. Unless, of course, one is corrupt.. Much like our politicians in DC.. Now THAT'S a town where money will get you all the allegiance and loyalty you could ever use... :)
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