Yanno, one of the biggest mistakes we ever made was granting most favored nation status to China

[Stinky The Clown]

We've made them rich.

They keep flipping us off.

[Selatius]

1. It wasn't a mistake. Many corporate executives are globalists. They wanted that to happen.

And they run the country. The biggest mistake we are responsible for is letting them take control.

[ryanmuegge]

3. They wanted a billion customers, not a billion low-wage workers.

That's what they said at the time. That was the hype. It was, of course, the complete opposite.

[Lifetimedem]

4. Exactly !

The politicians are owned hook, line and sinker by the multi nationals and so today we have a repressive government owning our national debt.

[iamahaingttta]

10. Actually, the biggest mistake...

...we are responsible for is buying the stuff they produce.
It would all have been irrelevant if you, me, him and her "just said no" to all that cheap, plastic crap that we don't need anyway. Just as we are responsible for allowing the globalists to take power buy borrowing their money to buy said cheap plastic crap and then paying them back with interest.

Nobody to blame but ourselves, and we'll never get out of this mess until we recognize that fact.

[ryanmuegge]

2. Both parties talk about being the party of optimism.

Both of them cynically gave up any idea of competing with China and signed our whole economy over to them.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. "The capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them." V.I. Lenin

The irony of a "Communist" nation beating the hell out of us at our own game is delicious.

[Lifetimedem]

6. I often quote

Lenin on that...ends up he was right

[The_Casual_Observer]

7. There seemed to be a naive belief that it would open markets for

US goods. There was no reason to believe this, but it was the excuse.

[Blue_Tires]

8. i remember when that happened

about that time, i also remember serious discussion over normalizing trade relations with Cuba, since people thought the decision on China opened the door...As you know, all the fierce 'kill a commie for your mommy' congresscritters mobilized and laughed at the notion of that EVER happening...

the mental disconnect was strong enough to bend time...

[Stinky The Clown]

9. "the mental disconnect was strong enough to bend time..."

Meanwhile the only actual bending is us ...... over ..... and getting fucked.

[Greyhound]

11. Ya think?

I seem to recall a whole bunch of people trying to stop, first the continual MFN status, and then Clinton's permanent status to remove the last veneer of trying to reform those thugs. All so our major corporations could abandon these shores.

[Occam Bandage]

12. Isolationism totally rocks. We should build a wall across the International Date Line.

We can connect it to our southern border wall and make a Great Wall of Denial. Then we can pretend we don't have to compete with the Mexicans or the Chinese in the international market. Hell, we'll just close our eyes and act like the developing world is never going to develop. It'll be totally great!

[Stinky The Clown]

14. Nice leap

The critique was MFN status ..... you comment as if someone wanted us to stop talking to them.

Whatever floats your boat. :eyes:

[Occam Bandage]

15. I didn't say anything about talking to them.

China's economic rise is going to happen whether you like it or not. China is going to directly compete with America's economy whether you like it or not. You can erect trade barriers, you can impose higher tariffs, but sooner or later you're going to have to face the fact that they are becoming a central hub for the world marketplace. American industry cannot survive if it cannot import or export, and American industry cannot be competitive in the world if it can only draw on a fraction of the intellectual wealth and resources foreign industry can, or if it is artificially and temporarily shielded from economic pressures.

[Stinky The Clown]

19. So you favor the free (one way) flow of our jobs, too?

The jobs would not have gone were it not for the fact that they can import back here at will .... and get away with making pure crap.

A little government regulation (including reasonable protectionist laws) is a good thing.

[brentspeak]

21. "American industry cannot survive if it cannot import or export..."

Apparently you weren't aware of this, but 98% of American industry can't export to China. Or to India. Know why? Because those nations have erected huge trade barriers against us.

If you want to complain about "higher tariffs", take your complaint to the Chinese or Indians.

[tkmorris]

22. You have completely missed the point

Or rather, to be more accurate, you have utterly ignored the point since it doesn't suit you.

China's economic rise can be a good thing. The problem right now is that is occurring at the expense of skilled workers elsewhere in the world, including here in the United States. Competition with China is one thing, but it must be FAIR competition, and currently it is not. This will eventually change on it's own, but in the meantime we are taking a beating and there is nothing we can do about it.

Get back to me about competition when China's laws governing the workplace, from wages and benefits to safety and so on, more closely mirror our own.

[The2ndWheel]

13. With the trajectory we've been on for a few thousand years

I doubt you could avoid it.

[Virginia Dare]

16. One of the fiercest fighters against it was, wait for it..

Nancy Pelosi. Just sayin cause I know you aren't a big fan.

[Stinky The Clown]

17. Funny thing is ..... I used to be one her biggest fans and cheerleaders

And I hung on a lot longer than many around here.

She's a hometowner for me, too (Baltimore, not SF).

And she's Italian.

But her seeming willingness to let the CRIMINALS walk free is completely baffling.

[Virginia Dare]

18. I think she gets bashed too much..

because realistically it really isn't solely in her power. I agree with a lot of the criticism of not being bulldogish enough with the Bush Admin, but the vast majority of it has become crude and gratuitous.

[Stinky The Clown]

20. She could stay as anti impeachement as she wants ....

.... but don't stop the hearings. That's what frosts me. Let the moron population hear the whole story and **then** decide what's 'on the table'.

That's all I ever really wanted ..... honest, in depth hearings and REAL investigations.

[Virginia Dare]

23. Understood...n/t

[ryanmuegge]

24. That's pretty cool. Very commendable.