I shouldn’t have been as surprised as I have been that more Americans do not better understand how awful global trade – as constituted for decades – has been for Americans and America.
I thoroughly understand how anti-knowledge our government schools and colleges are. And our nation is chock full of victims of these institutions – so their ignorance is certainly understandable.
But as I write this, I realize the knowledge divide yet again seems to exist – at Washington, D.C.’s city limits. The Amercian people in the hinterlands are their usual good-common-sense-selves. It is the DC “experts” who are yet again struggling with Reality.
The Donald Trump Administration incursion into our nation’s capital – is injecting some American know-how into DC’s know-nothingness. Hence all the disruption and discontent we’ve seen amongst The Elite.
The Swamp’s #Resistance to the clean-up is angry, screechy and often violent – but in a sense understandable. They’ve been living high on our hog for decades. When We the People finally call for an end to the Gravy Train – its passengers aren’t going to disembark quietly.
One thing Americans understand – and DC doesn’t – is that America is a nation with an economy…not an economy with a nation. The nation is more important than the economy. Because if you don’t lead with the nation part – you’ll end up with neither part.
America’s awful trade deals – have cost tens of millions of Americans their jobs. But these deals did have a few American beneficiaries. Because that’s how Big Government-Big Business cronyism always works.
Big Businesses want to get out from under American taxes, laws and regulations by moving overseas – so Big Businesses bribe Big Government to cut trade deals that allow them to do so.
Which is awful for those tens of millions of subsequently-unemployed Americans – but great for Big Business executives and their wallets.
Once freed from America, these corporate pirates then go looking for the most welcoming international harbors. And that’s when the foreign bribes kick in. Oops, I mean subsidies.
Foreign governments bribe once-American Big Businesses – to relocate upon their shores. And that government bribe money – ends up killing even more American companies and jobs.
Every penny once-American Big Businesses get from foreign governments – is a penny less they can charge when they sell their goods and services back into America. And of course America is still (barely) the world’s largest economy – so it remains the Holy Grail of international trade destinations.
So US Mom and Pop shoppes – who can not afford to leave the country the way Big Businesses can, and don’t want to do so anyway – are now competing against once-American Big Businesses.
Big Businesses that are paying exponentially lower wages, facing exponentially less regulations – and have behind them the price-lowering power of foreign-government-money-subsidies.
This isn’t a competition. It’s an America Last rout.
This utter inanity is for decades what has passed in DC for “free trade.” This ain’t free. And it certainly ain’t fair.
The foreign-government-money-subsidized imports undercut American businesses – and incept round-after-round of additional American job losses.
Because Mom and Pop – can’t possibly compete with the price-cutting power of the government likes of China. So all over America – they’re forced to close their doors.
Again, thankfully, the Trump Administration eminently gets this.
Doud Rips China, India Farm Subsidies:
“The Chief Agricultural Negotiator for the U.S. is attacking both China and India for blowing past their World Trade Organization spending limits on farm subsidies that distort trade.
“‘We think China has done in excess of $100 billion more in subsidies to its farmers than it was allowed to do,’ Gregg Doug said….”
Get that? China is subsidizing – just agriculture – $100+ billion…more than they are allowed to subsidize under current trade deals.
First: Why did DC cut ANY trade deals that allowed China to subsidize farmers AT ALL?
Second: How huge must China’s agriculture subsidies be – if they feel free to vault over them by $100+ billion?
I did a several minute Web search for the Chinese ag subsidy amount – but, shocker, China isn’t terribly transparent about…anything. And the media probably doesn’t want to report these sorts of things – because that would <GASP> help the Trump Administration.
The Trump Administration is taking on this China subsidy nonsense in (at least) two ways.
One: They are challenging the subsidy overages in WTO court.
Two: They are (re)negotiating MUCH better trade deals with China – than the awful ones to which we have for decades been subjected. Almost certainly to allow MUCH less Chinese subsidies – than the current awful deals allow.
This China agriculture subsidy nonsense – is just one of nigh limitless examples of foreign governments giving their companies unfair trade advantages over US companies…by subsidizing the daylight out of all sorts of their goods and services.
The Trump Administration – is the US finally calling all of them on all of it. Their subsidies of their stuff – and their tariffs and import limits on our stuff.
And the Trump Administration – is working to shore up and make better all of these awful trade deals.
Because they’ve cost us tens of millions of jobs – and that is more than enough already.
This first appeared in Red State.