Barack Obama's win doesn't bode well for the region.
By YING MA
From today's Wall Street Journal Asia
To be fair, President-elect Obama is not President Clinton. He is worse. He is even more inexperienced in the foreign policy arena than Mr. Clinton, and unlike Messrs. Clinton or Bush, Mr. Obama has adopted all the wrong positions on free trade and free markets, issues crucial to Asia's past success and future prosperity.
President Clinton, remember, was an eager and effective advocate of globalization, the lowering of trade barriers and the promotion of foreign investment as necessary ingredients of economic growth. After his early flip-flop on China's most favored nation trading status, he consistently pushed for the mainland's integration in the global trading system and even offended many in his own party by supporting China's accession to the World Trade Organization. Closer to home, he lobbied for and signed the North American Free Trade Act, promoting trade with America's neighbors, Canada and Mexico.
Mr. Obama, on the other hand, publicly disdains free trade and free markets in a way that no modern American president ever has. On the campaign trail, he denounced corporations for doing what they must in today's competitive global marketplace: search for lower-cost labor alternatives overseas, such as in Asia. Complaining about the U.S. job losses created by Nafta while ignoring its benefits, he pledged to unilaterally renegotiate the free trade pact. He voted against the Central American Free Trade Agreement in 2006. As a presidential candidate, he opposed congressional approval of free trade agreements with Colombia and South Korea.
As president, Mr. Obama will be aided by powerful protectionist forces in the Democrat-controlled Congress, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the House of Representatives who, in a much less significant position in the 1990s, ardently opposed U.S. trade with China. The president will also enjoy the support of the Senate's Chuck Schumer, who just a few years ago proposed a 27.5% tariff on Chinese imports. Mr. Obama himself has called repeatedly for China to stop its "currency manipulation" -- a clear signal that trade fights are on the horizon.
A self-proclaimed "citizen of the world," Mr. Obama has refused to recognize that while numerous challenges remain, the success of Asia in the past half a century tells a story far more favorable for the free market than the one he has offered. Since 1978, China has implemented market liberalization policies that have led to three decades of explosive economic growth. Other Asian countries in the post-World War II era adopted market-oriented policies and gave the world the modernization of the Four East Asian Tigers -- Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong. Vietnam has recently followed suit, and achieved an impressive transformation of its economy.
Asian capitals could look on the bright side and hope that Mr. Obama's hostility toward free trade and free markets is, as supporters have hinted, just campaign rhetoric. Or Asia's policy makers could hope that Mr. Obama, in his youthful inexperience, simply did not understand the issues. Much like the last young Democratic president, Mr. Obama could learn in office and change his stance when confronted with strategic realities. Perhaps the Communist regimes in Hanoi and Beijing can teach the U.S. president-elect a thing or two about the power of the market. Until then, America and Asia will simply have to wait and see what price his inexperience will exact.
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there is no doubt that Obama is not known for mastery in foreign policy but then we must remember that US foreign policy has been manipulated by interest groups,in carter era there was this pole brezinski with a vested interest in hating Russia USA's best ally in world war two,then there is the brainy jewish lobby forever manipulating the naieve americans,there is an armenian mafia cancelling loans for pipelines bypassing armenia,there is the military industrial complex....it appears that the jews will run the obama puppet show....all said and done US foreign policy will remain indecisive and irresolute....wet pussies as my friend doug scherer called his state department bosses....hiding behind e mails
ReplyDeleteYou what the problem is, the reasons jobs are cheaper in china is because living conditions are worse and they can undercut workers. Protectionism won't work in this globalized world. The solution is simple and complicated at the same time. What the world needs now is United Nations type Economic Body that actually has power. This way there would be no need to outsource jobs and underpay people, but of course this means giving up some national sovereignty which I doubt anyone is seriously willing to do. What this article is advocating is true and messed up at the same time. So its Okay for Walmart to outsource their jobs to Asian sweatshops that pay them 13 cents an hour so they can stay competitive and keep billionaires richer while most Americans lose their jobs anyways. Look protectionism is clearly not a good strategy, just look at Latin America and China a couple decades ago, look at the Soviet Union, look at the old Japan. It just doesn't work, like communism (which essentially is a protectionist society) it just makes everyone equally poorer. While Free Markets for the most part makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. So the logic here is, if your the poor, your screwed either way, why not just be bitter about it and say fuck everyone, your going down too, that's the logic of protectionism to some extent. What needs to happen is a power International Union of economist, sociologist, and scientist that represent the world and can have major powers in creating economic policies for the world.
ReplyDeletemr JDR i have liked your idea expressed on your blog that this is a fucked up world...yes badly fucked up with beards and moustaches and clean shaved guys...all representing different vested interests...too much religion to hate and no sanity.....i would like to add you to our blog so that you can contribute something useful and constructive......as you rightly say in this badly fucked up world
ReplyDeleteu remind me of my brother when i visited him at Clarkes University at Worcester Massachussets in October 1997, ...later he went to george washington...young like u and bitter about this stupid IMF etc,
ReplyDeleteman cannot be happy , whether poor or rich ..thats the absurdity of human nature...we never learn to thank our God for all that he has given us and be happy in trying times......as they say in farsi...if u dont get the river be hapy with a drop....may be u even did not deserve this
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