General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Robert Reich: Why You Shouldn’t Shop at Walmart on Friday [View all]closeupready
(29,503 posts)I can't read anything he says without remembering how he championed NAFTA during the Clinton administration. Further, he has never admitted that he was wrong, as far as I know.
>>But, there is a reason that Reich needs to frame the argument that way: he himself is a so-called "free trader." In fact, he was a big proponent of NAFTA during the Clinton Administration. So, to actually give credence to a very legitimate argument--that "free trade" and Ricardo's theory cannot exist in today's world (an argument advances by so-called "Free trade" advocates Sen. Charles Schumer and Paul Craig Roberts in a New York Times op-ed a while back...because it's a gorgeous day and I have to get out in the sunlight I don't have time to find the link for you'all but, trust me, they said it!)--would undercut Reich's own worldview.
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Earth to Bob: don't you think it might have behooved you to point out that you played a central role in promoting NAFTA? The New York Times makes a big deal about making sure book reviewers don't have conflicts of interest--meaning that reviewers don't know the people who wrote the books. But, what about requiring intellectual honesty?<<
http://workinglife.typepad.com/daily_blog/2006/04/robert_reich_ca.html