Economics Made Easy
In announcing his administration's commitment to a strong dollar today, our so-called president offered some deep insight into his grasp of economics, foreign trade, and globalization. It turns out that there is a simple solution to the trade deficit, and he has it for us: ``That's easy to resolve, people can buy more United States products if they're worried about the trade deficit.'' Thanks W., wouldn't have thought of that. Any suggestions about the apparent lack of interest most people have towards the trade deficit? Or ideas about how to find products made in America? Didn't think so. Truth is that if we leave the solution of hard economic problems to be solved by the buying patterns of those people who both care about the issues and have the resources (both money and time) to change their behavior based on those concerns, the problems will not get solved.
W's statement is an example of a classic conservative justification for doing nothing. Environmental devastation? No problem, the market will decide whether or not consumers are okay with buying products made in a non-sustainable way. Labor issues? Of course consumers can choose to shun products made in sweatshops. This would all be true if consumers actually had access to both information and choice. When one is left to choosing between products all of which are made in China, and with no information at all about labor or environmental issues at the point of sale, those issues will not affect consumer behavior.
In today's global economy there really are only two types of organizations that have a say in how these matters get addressed: corporate leadership and governments. Both of these groups seem to be strongly committed to strengthening the power of multinationals while removing as many restrictions on their behavior as possible. Relying on the actions of individuals to change the behavior of these behemoths can be easily construed as a casting down of the gauntlet. The best hope is to change government so that it can be used as a tool to change corporations. Remember that when conservatives talk about 'deregulation' they really mean freeing corporations to behave badly. When they speak about 'smaller government' they mean less protection for ordinary people. When they say 'frivolous lawsuits' they mean legitimate checks on corporate malfeasance. And when they say 'tax reform' they mean starving government to prevent it from interfering with corporate subjugation of everyone.
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