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Shanghaiist called it a long, long, looooong time ago: Senator Chuck Schumer is a blithering idiot.
Shanghaiist has asked (rhetorically) before: If America succeeds in raising a huge tariff against products manufactured in China in a market that is basically flooded with Chinese manufactured products, what happens to the prices of all of those products when American consumers go to Wal-Mart? Or anywhere else, for that matter? Unfortunately, Mr. Schumer has answered this question. And Stephen Roach, well-respected chief economist for Morgan Stanley, has experienced the incredible logic that is Schumer-speak -- proven to be a health hazard as Mr. Roach nearly choked on a piece of watermelon upon hearing what the senator had to say:
“I care deeply about the loss of US manufacturing jobs to China. If I am successful in cutting our trade deficit with the Chinese, not only will those jobs come back home but I will have succeeded in boosting US saving and cutting excess consumption. My bill can do all that and more." I am rarely speechless, but at that point, I started to choke on a huge bite of watermelon. "Let me get this straight," I gasped, "tariffs will boost saving?" Too late - he was already off to face the ever-present battery of cameras and microphones.
This excerpt comes from a longer piece called “The China Debate” found on Morgan Stanley’s website, which includes further comments regarding Schumer, and the senators’ agenda during their China tour. Prior to the passage included above, Mr. Roach also called Senator Schumer “smart” and “savvy”, but we presume he quickly realized these characteristics only pertained to political maneuverings rather than actual logical thought processes.
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Did you see where Caterpillar's CEO, Jim Owens, in a more diplomatic way, said essentially the same thing you are saying here? We need more CEOs speaking up.
undiplomatic? me...?? oh well. it's not like i have any clout with american legislators anyhow.
yes, actually, i did read with interest that someone as high profile as mr. owens was actually speaking up about the fact that protectionism is counter to america's interests. indeed, more big american companies ought to be speaking up, as it is so many of their products that are being shipped in from china into america's stores.
Is it just me or do none of the links work in this post?
All links should work now. Sorry about that.
We need an international trade policy that puts people before multinational corporate conglomerates.I support the US puling out of the WTO and returning to unilateral trade talks and will defiantly support Senator Schumer attempt to change discussion of trade in the American Democratic party and US politics.
Sen. Schumer/Grahma's proposal DO NOT put people aehad of multinataionals. Imposing a 27.5% tariff on Chinese imports will do nothing to bring jobs back home to the US, what it will do is
1. Fuel inflation
2. Kill consumer-confidence
3. Dampen Economic growth home and abroad.
The world isn't made up of just China and the US.
Manufacturing jobs lost/gained between the two countries isn't nearly as simplistic as it appears. If China gets wiped off the face of the earth, those jobs will still NOT go back to the US. They will simply flow to the next most cost-efficient labor market.(Vietnam, Burma, India, the Phillipines, etc.)
The worst part about all of these is that Sen. Schumer is a well aware these facts, which makes his current tactic all the more pernicious: drape himself in an American flag, whiling calling everyone else heartless profiteers.
Outside of a few selected areas, waged labor is never coming back to the US. I hope our gov't recognizes this fact(most politicians do), and not waste time/money(our tax dollars) grandstanding and playing politics. Help retrain those that have lost jobs to better compete in our service economy, that should be Sen. Schumer/Graham's priority.
Oh Jay spare me the Cato Institute, DLC Free Trade, "the world is flat" crap. It is that double speak that sold NAFTA and CAFTA.
Localized manufacturing will come back to American in the 21th century after the the Peak Oil crash according to DOE's Hirsch report ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirsch_report ). China's manufacturing boom and the Wal-mart economy will not survive the Peak Oil crisis.
I was trying to engage in an intelligent discussion/debate about a very serious issue. If you summarily dismiss any counterpoint as "crap", then I guess I need not to waste my breath.
I support Democrats, but the rabid irrational protectionists from both parties just suck.
I am not a rabid irrational protectionists I just don’t think that our government and economy should be pimped to multi-national corporations at the expense of the future of the American people. I am still a little bitter about the tear gas fired at me in the Seattle WTO protests.
We're all concerned for the welfare of our fellow americans. but, withdrawl from the WTO or going tariff slap-happy just doesn't work. What's happening today in the world labor/manufacturing market isn't the sinister plotting of a few greedy multi-nationals(no one has that kind of power). If it is to the collective detriment of consumers world wide, then it would never have happened in the first place. Capital flow always seeks the most efficient outlet. It's guided by that same invisible hand that has led the great American economy for the past 200 years. Of course we feel for the folks that have lost their jobs, and that's where gov't intervention/assistance comes in: not by blocking globalization(cuz it can't), rather helping ppl to become a prosperous member of this process.
I am all for high tariffs on tariff products manufactured in Red China. In fact I am in favor of absurdly high tariffs on anything from Red China or even better not letting anything from Red China in the US. The Chicoms need a revoluton to get their evil asses out.
And of course, Free Tibet!
I love that you get annoyed when someone dismisses your argument as crap, but you have no problem calling Sen. Schumer a "blithering idiot." That's utter hypocrisy.
The fact is, what Schumer and others are doing is called a "political ploy" They threaten higher tariffs to get what they want, which a loosening of China's monetary policy. For someone who thinks they are so smart, hard to believe that you don't understand such a simple political maneuver.
Maybe that's why Schumer is called "savvy" and you are, uh, not
That “crap” comment was a little petty, wish I hadn’t said that.
Now, that’s out of the way… we don’t think we’re smarter than everyone else. This is an open forum, and we encourage/welcome all form of debate/discussion/musing/griping, etc.
My personal objection to Sen. Schumer/Graham isnt so much their roles in the “good cop, bad cop” routine, rather it's to the substance of the issue they’re raising. I don’t believe a significant appreciation of RMB is in the US’ best interest: what it’d do to the 10 and 30 year bond, and its ancillary effects on the US economy; a cooling Chinese economy would dampen growth worldwide…b4 I lull everyone else to sleep. The beef here is definitely not over Sen. Schumer/Graham’s “style”, it’s the “substance” that have me really concerned.