June 26, 2016

FDR invented the multi-country trade agreement (ITO). republicans defeated it. JFK - Trade Expansion

Act of 1962 granted the White House unprecedented authority to negotiate tariff reductions of up to 50%. It paved the way for the Kennedy Round of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ("GATT&quot negotiations, concluding on June 30, 1967 ... . It is one aspect for which the John F. Kennedy administration was known.

LBJ - negotiated and signed the Kennedy Round of GATT.

The Kennedy Round was the sixth session of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) trade negotiations held between 1964 and 1967 in Geneva, Switzerland. Congressional passage of the U.S. Trade Expansion Act in 1962 authorized the White House to conduct mutual tariff negotiations, ultimately leading to the Kennedy Round. Participation greatly increased over previous rounds. Sixty-six nations, representing 80% of world trade, attended the official opening on May 4, 1964, at the Palais des Nations. Despite several disagreements over details, the director general announced the round’s success on May 15, 1967, and the final agreement was signed on June 30, 1967 ... . The round was named after U.S. President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated six months before the opening negotiations.

The main objectives of the Kennedy Round were to:

Slash tariffs by half with a minimum of exceptions
Break down farm trade restrictions
Remove non-tariff barriers
Help developing countries

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_Round

Like it or not, TPP is very much a continuation of FDR/JFK/LBJ's Democratic Party. They all cut tariffs and expanded trade.

You have to go back to Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover (from 1921 to 1933) as the last American presidents who raised tariffs and restricted trade.

June 25, 2016

The Left imagines a "more democratic EU". So do I. The far-right imagines no EU at all.

I could not agree more. And I am heartened that the Left campaigned for Remain. I agree with them on that, too.

The question is whether the victory for Brexit brings a "democratic EU" closer or whether it brings the far-right vision of no EU and a xenophobic hyper-nationalism 1930's-like closer. The fact that the Left campaigned for Remain answers that question but does not change the victory for the far-right. We need to deal with that.

A more democratic EU would lead to an open, liberal continent governed together in the long run. The far-right would hate that and will work for their own "Brexit" referendums in the near future. The momentum is now on their side.

June 21, 2016

What Trump and Brexit have in common.

How Donald Trump Explains ‘Brexit’

Let’s start with immigration. Among Republicans, Trump has tapped into a deep vein of anti-immigrant, pro-nativist sentiment, promising to seal the country’s borders and threatening to deport millions of people. ... Similarly, those voting for Brexit tend to worry about immigration making England less English, and about immigrants taking Britons’ jobs. “Citizens of regions where immigration is perceived as damaging are much more likely to vote for Brexit,” one study found.

Immigration is certainly fair game for a policy debate, but beyond the legitimate questions there’s a dark underbelly to the anti-immigrant sentiment driving both the Donald’s astonishing rise in the United States and Brexit’s surprising success. Trump is openly xenophobic and racist, intentionally riling up his supporters in the worst ways and encouraging them to embrace and express their own bigotries. That's a dangerous road for any nation to start down. Some leaders of Brexit are openly xenophobic and racist and are using the same tactics. It makes fair-minded observers wonder what the real point is here: modest changes in immigration policy, or the rejection of the values that allow for a pluralistic society?

Then there is the issue of antipathy toward elites. Trump is a rich and connected New Yorker, a Wharton grad, and the coddled inheritor of a real-estate fortune, sure. Nevertheless, with his middle finger raised to the Republican Establishment and to common standards of propriety, he has ridden a wave of distaste for the more buttoned-up masters of the universe. ... Similarly, the leave campaign has painted the remain campaign as urbane, out of touch, and beholden to a bunch of inept pencil pushers in Brussels, and has argued against trusting experts, elites, the powerful. “People in this country have had enough of experts,” said Michael Gove, the justice secretary and a leader of the leave movement.

Now, they might have a point on some of that. But in both cases, this anti-elite sentiment seems to have morphed into a blithe anti-empiricism. (Numbers are only for technocrats these days, it seems.) ... Trump’s policy proposals are the most banana-pants, math-challenged economic fantasy imaginable: He promises to pay off the national debt while also cutting taxes, insists a crippling trade war would help the economy, and so on. His supporters seem not to care. Be wary of political causes that are unfazed by facts that would seem to undercut their core assertions.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/06/how-donald-trump-explains-brexit.html

Facts and science have a liberal bias. Neither conservatives in the US nor 'Brexit' supporters in the UK base their cases on facts.

June 9, 2016

Interview with white nationalist Trump supporter (ex-delegate)

The white supremacist who became a Donald Trump delegate has some surprising thoughts on women

The epic battle from here on out is not the battle between progressives and conservatives, which has occupied the media and the politicians for the last 40 years. From here on out, the battle is between the globalists and the nationalists.

Donald Trump promotes a nationalist platform, and the rest of the mainstream—whether it’s the Mitt Romney Republicans, or the Hillary Clinton Democrats—they promote the globalist platform. That’s the epic battle everyone’s dealing with, and Donald Trump—Donald Trump is the herald, the leader, the founder of the resurgence of the nationalist platform.

Globalists promote multiculturalism and diversity, and that is killing the white race. Nationalism promotes a homogenous population. Globalism is empire-building by corporations. We’re past the colonial stage of empire building by governments, so we need to get past the empire building by big business.

And also, one big issue is that nationalism supports a strong, male leader. You want to have strong men in charge. And globalism promotes the touchy-feely, feminist approach we’ve had for so long. That’s why you have Angela Merkel, and Hillary Clinton. The issue of globalism supports feminism, and nationalism supports patriarchy ...

http://fusion.net/story/304083/william-johnson-white-nationalist-donald-trump/

This guy has some weird ideas about Trump, nationalism and patriarchy. Not that he is not correct that Trump is a patriarchal nationalist. But that nationalism necessarily promotes patriarchy and a 'homogenous population'. One example would be Marine Le Pen in France. She is the leader of the right wing National Front. I doubt she is patriarchal.

June 9, 2016

"... if Trump accomplished his most notable policies ... he would quickly send the economy spiraling

into another recession." Or worse!

Most economists agree that if Trump accomplished his most notable policies — mass deportations, getting into aggressive trade wars, slashing taxes for the wealthiest — he would quickly send the economy spiraling into another recession.

For a populist candidate who has sold himself as a common man fighting for Joe Average, preying on vulnerable, average Americans is certainly not a good look — which is why Donald is so furious that Judge Gonzalo Curiel ordered the public release of company records. This fiasco affirms what many people already knew: Trump is a snake-oil peddling charlatan for the 21st century; the lovechild of P.T. Barnum and George Wallace.

One of his most vocal advocates, Breitbart writer (and full-time troll) Milo Yiannopoulos, provided an insight on Twitter when he was asked what Trump policies he actually supports, and replied that Trumpists just want to “burn everything down.” In other words, the policies (or lack thereof) don’t matter, they just want to watch the establishment squirm. This may be accurate for his most dedicated (and privileged) supporters, but surely there are voters who believe that he will somehow bring back jobs, deport 11 million people, and so on — they don’t know how, and they don’t really care how, but they have faith (just like the students at Trump University).

One underlying theme of Trump’s presidential campaign has been his hostile, anti-intellectual attitude — he is almost disdainful towards facts and expert opinion. The billionaire seems to pride himself on his ignorance, and has no desire to learn or familiarize himself with the issues — even now that he is the presumptive GOP nominee. In many ways, he is a reflection of much of America. Proud, prejudiced, patriotic, ignorant, materialistic, belligerent.

"Trumpists just want to “burn everything down.”
"... he policies (or lack thereof) don’t matter, they just want to watch the establishment squirm."

That's a great explanation of the attitude of Trump supporters.

June 7, 2016

The multi-country trade agreement is not 'conservative ideology'. FDR created it, Sweden uses it

more than the US does. Neither FDR nor Sweden were or are unprogressive. I agree with Bernie that we should be more like Sweden.

Prior to FDR, the US trade policy was essentially "Trump-like" - high tariffs, imposed unilaterally with ultimate national sovereignty over the process. We imposed tariffs and other trade penalties whenever we wanted, for whatever reason we wanted and against whomever we wanted.

FDR (a 'phony progressive' perhaps?) did not like that. First he lowered tariffs with dozens of bilateral trade deals. Then he went a step further and introduced the International Trade Organization - a concept (a multi-country trade organization that would govern trade rules rather than national governments doing it) that had not existed before.

You may not like the concept. That is fine. But that does not mean that it is conservative ideology. It means that liberals can disagree about some policies and still be liberals.

June 6, 2016

"The Frenchman spoke negatively ... on mass immigration, the spread of Islam and globalisation."

His home in north-east France has been searched by police, who - according to media reports - found a T-shirt bearing far-right insignia. The Ukrainians say he was motivated by hatred of immigration and globalisation.

"The Frenchman spoke negatively of the activities of his government on mass migration of foreigners to France, the spread of Islam and globalisation. He also said he wished to stage a number of terrorist attacks in protest," Mr Hrytsak said.

If he is not a Muslim, he does not count as a 'terrorist'. A RW 'ultra-nationalist' who hates immigration, Muslims and globalization cannot be a 'terrorist'. There are too many of them!