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Reality Check: Rolling Back Globalization Is A Really Stupid Idea
One of the great tragedies of populism anno 2017 is the extent to which the politicians pushing it on the masses have sought to scapegoat globalization for all of society's ills.
The idea that globalization is responsible for the demise of the middle class in developed economies fits nicely with the nationalistic message that spews ceaselessly from the would-be populist "saviors" who have tried, with varying degrees of success, to upend Western democracies over the past two years.
The Marine L
I take issue with a couple of points. One is that Muslims leaving oppressive countries are fine to let come into our countries. There is no way to screen them to tell who has extremist views and who doesn’t. Extremists can easily pose as moderates. Even moderates carry crazy notions that don’t fit with the West like anyone trying to leave Islam or even talk someone out of being Muslim should be put to death. Polls of Muslims in the UK regarding the Mohammed cartoonists show 78% of them favor prosecution and a high % think the offense is punishable by death. Each extremist being assumed to only kill 5 people? Bah Ha Ha. How incredibly naive. 2nd: Americans who have had their jobs outsourced by greedy corporations and now have to work at McDonalds with a college degree or new graduates who can’t find a job should be content because we’re contributing to the overall wealth of the world and bringing Indians out of poverty? The middle class has been decimated by globalization and the never-ending push for double digit EPS growth is to blame. A corporation can never be satisfied by massive profits that have plateaued ie. Apple or Gilead. All the wealth created by Central Bank QE trickle down economics has made the 1% so rich they now run the country and write the laws. And subsequently corporations will only go further and further until they squeeze the consumers to the point that capitalism literally implodes due to all the wealth being at the top and not having enough consumers to buy what they produce in low cost countries. Then we’ll have a real life global revolution against plutocratic oligarchies and “The Purge” will not be such a far-fetched concept.
do not get kidnapped in the jungle with tom.
“Americans who have had their jobs outsourced by greedy corporations and now have to work at McDonalds with a college degree or new graduates who can’t find a job should be content because we’re contributing to the overall wealth of the world and bringing Indians out of poverty”
and the answer to that, from a purely utilitarian perspective, is “yes, absolutely.”
In April, 1945, Jews were liberated from Buchenwald and Bergen Belsen concentration camps, among many others camps. Many Jews then waited there turn and proceeded with the slow process on the long road to immigrate as refugees to America. Now imagine it’s March, 1951, and Trump is running for President with Bannon sewed to hip and lip. The Rosenbergs are on trial for committing espionage for the Soviet Union. Trump jumps aboard the hate of the day: attacking the ‘commies,’ via the leaders of the pack: the House Un-American Activities Committee, Walt Disney, Ronald Regan, et al. At Trump’s rallies his crowds applaud his opinion that there are too many Jews known to be commies in the US, that America can’t tell which Jews that have come in are commies, that many of them are already working in the US and Hollywood, taking away jobs from others, and lots more are immigrating every day from Europe. Trump promises that when he gets elected he’ll put a stop to all Jewish immigration from certain European countries until he and his administration can figure things out what’s what. It’s not that he has anything against Jews he says, “my daughter married a Jew and my lawyer and accountant are Jewish,” but it’s just that we must protect the homeland.” November 1951, Trump is elected. …
Timing is everything, sometimes. How lucky are the Jews.
When it comes to racism, tribalism, nationalism, xenophobia, and the like, people tell themselves all kinds of stories to make themselves feel better or rationalize why their frame of reference makes so much sense or why polices designed to foster racism, tribalism, nationalism, xenophobia, and the like are designed for benevolent reasons.
Such stories can be or are very powerful. Quite persuasive.
For example, while African men and women remained slaves on American soil on July 4, 1776, the day Americans declared freedom for white men and strict-quasi freedom for white women, white folks told themselves all kinds of stories to make the incongruence seem moral, just and right. And in the years that followed, when slaves bore the children of their white owners, and the owners beat those slaves or sold those children at auction, more stories were told to make it seem moral, just and right. And generations passed and the owners and their kin could see their likeness in the faces of their slaves and the children of those slaves, and thus perhaps one can infer where a cause for the white man’s hate arises.
Often, self-told stories are very powerful and quite persuasive.