Today, Stephen Roach said something obvious that I haven't heard put quite this way: Insecure and scared workers tend take out their fears and frustrations on incumbent politicians.
Indeed they do. So if these bunch of half-wits we call a world-class legislature want to get re-elected, and we know they do, they will pander. The pandering will involve attempts to punish various countries that are seen to be "stealing" jobs from the United States. This time, the jobs cut during the recession aren't coming back, as we all know, so someone must pay.
Roach goes on to point out:
Third, China bashing has taken an ominous turn for the worse. The Japanese fired the first rhetorical salvos in this trade battle well over a year ago, accusing China of exporting deflation and hollowing out the Japanese economy. America has taken the blame game to a new level. The Bush administration has just imposed quotas on imports of selected Chinese textile products, and legislation has been introduced in both houses of the Congress...The most worrisome aspect of these legislative threats is the broad bipartisan and ideological support they enjoy in the Congress.
The government is prepared to give us not what we need, but what we think we want. I present the Medicare act, recently passed, as another fine example of this. Too few of our elected representatives are willing to tell us the real cost of our wishes. If they don't pretend they are possible, after all, they don't get re-elected.
Posted by nicole at November 24, 2003 09:33 PM