Not so Subtle

I read the New Yorker less frequently than I used to. I had to admit at a certain point that I didn’t understand half of what they write about, and their fiction section is as thrilling as moon pie on a paper plate. Occasionally they still write something that grabs my attention and today yielded this article on the so-called paradox of free trade:

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2008/05/26/080526ta_talk_surowiecki

The author plays into an age old fallacy of believing that political candidates (in this case, Clinton and Obama,) actually plan to follow through on the promises they make during the campaign. They compare the primary contest to a “who hates free trade more” competition and then chastise the Democratic candidates for not understanding the “paradox” that free trade represents.

That paradox: raising tarriffs on China to help middle Americans will eventually hurt middle and lower class Americans because it will effect their buying power. Buying power that is used to by cheap clothes and shoes made by Chinese children who earn less than a dollar an hour in a sweatshop.

The logic is the same that has brought us the (Still waiting for my) economic stimulus package. Ordinary Americans will quickly spend the money that is being sent to them, and thus will help the economy. If you read between the lines, the administration is saying that poor people are stupid and will give the money right back to us by purchasing useless shit.

I may benefit from cheap goods made in China. In fact, I’m wearing a pretty cheap button-up shirt right now that was made there. But you know what I would benefit from EVEN MORE? A real job that pays well, is protected from outsourcing, and has the backing of a union. Then maybe, just maybe, I could afford to stop buying cheap goods that don’t last very long, and enjoy the luxuries of travel and education like the wealthy.

The anusless masses who subscribe to the New Yorker and the National Review should be smart enough (because of all that expensive education) to understand that lower and middle class Americans wouldn’t make such supposedly stupid buying decisions if they could actually afford to make good ones.

Obama has played the populist card as well as anyone, while nobody (except the middle class people who refuse to vote for him) seems to notice that he thinks free trade is the greatest thing since the wheel. It says so on his website.

Meanwhile, nobody was more responsible for the unleashing of free trade than Bill Clinton. Is it not painfully obvious to anyone that the Democratic party doesn’t give a fourth of a flying fig about average Americans’ interests? (Which is still twice as much as the Republicans.)

Don’t buy the hype. The benefits of free trade for average Americans (and Chinese) are far outweighed by the costs.

I really would love to list a full 365 ways to bury your head in the sand, or up your ass, but I don’t have that much time. Instead, I will explore the 3 most common and politically infamous ways of ignoring reality or lacking any grasp on the way things work here in this country.

1. Be a conservative who supports the free market but wants a border fence. These two ideas are about as incompatible as it gets. Opening up the market means opening up borders to anyone who wants to participate in the global economy; and the global economy depends on the cheap labor that immigrants provide, especially here in the States. The same people who talk about big government interfering with hard-working Americans generally use the same tone of disdain when talking about Mexicans who come up here and take away (white) Americans’ jobs. I’m sorry folks, but you just can’t have it both ways. The free market ensures that labor costs and immigration policies will be linked.

Today thousands of immigrants and their families and friends are marching through Chicago and other cities, because they want to participate in this great American experiment of democratic voting and markets. Are you going to deny them that? Well, you can’t anyway. A border fence cannot stop the flow of immigrants into this country anymore than it can stop the thousands of tons of drugs that come across as well. You’re just going to have to accept the notion that you won’t be fulfilling your life-long dream of being a bus-boy. The Mexicans have just as much of a right to be here as the Jews, Asians, Irish, and Germans that came before them. They’re not going away. Just accept it.

2. Believe that the surge is really working. I myself have fallen into this fallacy. But a temporary decrease in spectacular attacks do not prove that the strategy can work. There is no way that the surge can work. And for the inevitable idiot claims that I am somehow disrespecting the troops by saying this, I have no reason to even answer you, but the fact is that the surge is yet another impossible burden that has been placed on our troops. The reason I was opposed to this war from the beginning is because I support the troops who fight it. End of story.

The reason that the surge cannot work is because, just like the entire Iraqi mission, it is a flawed idea to begin with. Democracy cannot be forced upon people with a gun anymore than political reconciliation can be achieved through massive troop buildups. The violence has lessened since the surge began, but that’s not the question here. Without a permanent, comprehensive solution that is worked out by the IRAQIS there will be no end to this war. To expect the American soldier to keep carrying that burden while the corrupt, inept, illegitimate Iraqi government works towards “peace” is the true meaning of not supporting the troops. And for those of you who claim that we just need to give them more time, let me remind you that 5 years ago today, our President stood on the deck of a naval vessel in front of a giant banner that read “Mission Accomplished.” Don’t believe it for a second; then or now.

3. Believing that Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, or John Mccain will truly change things. The very fact that these 3 candidates have come as far as they have proves that their interests lie with the wealthy elite, not with the average American. For all his talk of campaign finance reform, John Mccain has taken millions from PAC’s and corporations and hasn’t apologized for it. Barack Obama claims that he has stayed away from this dirty money but it’s only a twisting of terms; the truth is that he has taken far more money from corporate America than any other candidate. Hillary Clinton is about as entrenched in the Washington power structure as you can get, and all her talk about health care is hallow as hell; in 1994 she may have really meant it, but since she has taken millions of dollars from the insurance and pharmaceutical industries.

For hundreds of years people have been running on the platform of change and hope, and very very few of them have actually followed through. In order to affect any real change in America, we need to change the way campaigns are funded, and stop voting for a pack of bloated elephants and jackasses.