Thus, every trip I wonder why the American politicians--especially the demagogue who won with substantial support from mainstream Republicans--beat up on the "competition" from India. Have any of these politicians ever been to India? Have they ever tried to understand the everyday life of an average Indian? Do these dirty rotten scoundrels even know--let alone understand--that more than half of the homes in India, and a larger percentage in the rural areas, lack toilets? Toilets! The demagogue with a golden toilet surely cannot understand that. But even his very sanctimonious supporters?
It is a shame, a disgrace, that the demagogue and his adopted party now are all out to gut international trade in order to "compete" against the likes of India? While their focus is on China, a change in the way we think about trade is bound to affect more than merely the US-China relationship. We have already seen the effects on Mexico, for instance.
A Morning Consult poll indicates that Republicans overwhelmingly feel the U.S. has suffered during the last two decades of globalization. As Vice President-elect Mike Pence put it: “[T]he free market has been sorting it out and America’s been losing.”Imagine that! The Republicans have lost faith in the free market! The same Republicans who complain that Democrats are socialists. The same Republicans who cheered on the criticisms that Obama is a communist. Dirty rotten Republicans!
And, oh, how was Pence until very recently?
Pence has consistently backed free trade deals over the past 15 years, and in 2014 he called for swift passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Obama trade deal that Trump repeatedly savaged on the campaign trail. On the campaign trail, Pence argued that he and Trump were both free traders.The joke is not only on the Republicans, but on all of us. Even the poor women selling flowers for livelihood outside the temples in India!
3 comments:
Hello Nutcase
The Republican Party per se is in favour of free trade. Pence, as you observed, and the others have consistently been backing freer trade.
What really has happened is that the party has been hijacked by this colourful character. His rants (we can't dignify them with classifying them as policies) are completely at odds with what the party's priorities are. In the pursuit of power, the party, shamefully is bowing to the claptrap that its supposed leader spews.
For people like me who largely support the economic view of Republicans and the social views of Democrats, the current incoming administration is a combination of the worst of both worlds.
Whether or not the ranter has hijacked the party or the party has itself transformed, one cannot claim anymore that "The Republican Party per se is in favour of free trade." That party does not exist today.
Yes, the worst combination of screwed-up economic thinking and a highly messed-up social thinking. A nightmare on Pennsylvania Ave.
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