Obama and Trade -- A Contrasting View
Spend Matters readers already know my views on Obama and trade. I believe that saying Obama is good for trade is the same as saying that Reagan was good for the unions -- you simply can't reconcile his philosophical beliefs, statements and Senate voting record with the openness required to embrace a truly free trade platform. Remember, he was the candidate who not-so-long ago championed the notion of "fair-trade" which as we all know, is not free trade at all. But there are those who disagree with my view on Obama and trade. Take Josh Green, CEO of Panjiva, who writes his company's blog. In a recent entry, Josh opines that "President Obama will be good for trade … President Obama will be far more pro-trade than his campaign statements would suggest … [and 2] President Obama will be more effective than his predecessor at facilitating new trade agreements." While I could not disagree more based on the special interests that put him in office -- not to mention his Senate voting record -- I certainly hope that President Obama proves me wrong.
- Jason Busch
- Jason Busch
Obama will be great for trade....that is the off shoring of US jobs, as the unions make US labor more uncompetitive.
Let's see if the bailout of GM goes through. If not then there may be hope.
As for special interests, exactly who do you believe this special interests to be? The guy or gal that gave $50 on the internet.
Believe that you should be concentrating more on what your blog is suppose to about Supply Chain Management and a whole lot less on the those in Washington, for that is what I originally thought this blog was about!
Thanks for chiming in. I believe that Spend Matters must get political. And when I refer to union self-interest, I am less concerned about wages than the "protection of jobs on US soil" or the familiar language we hear these days. That will lead to trade barriers, higher prices, reduced exports and a lot of other issues GE, CAT, Deere and many other industrial bellwethers are very nervous about given the situation in Washington starting next year. Moreover, these are issues impacting everybody that reads this blog, from those taking over outsourced procurement positions in India to those tasked with sourcing and selling globally. That's why I'm covering them. And my bias will always be towards free markets, not Democrats or Republicans. I've slammed Bush and I will slam Obama. But let's hope that he listens to the voices of the market and not those special interests that funded him. I suspect the economy is the one thing we have working in our favor -- if it was better, he would not have an excuse not to act on the pent-up Democratic protectionist fervor that's been simmering for years.
One is that the US (IMHO) is too far on the inequality side of the equality-inequality curve. Stronger unions give the less powerful more power and that currently is a good thing.
The other is that trade improves the standard of living of both countries if they specialize in what they do well.
Personally I think we (U.S) need to look inward a bit more, not by restricting trade but by reducing consumption and increasing investment in job-creating infrastructure improvements (or just infrastructure maintenance for heaven's sake.) We also need to learn to do more things better than anyone else. Biotech was to replace computer manufacturing and semiconductor manufacturing as our leading edge industry but has not proved significant yet. Something else needs to replace it as our center of excellence.