The two major presidential candidates, incumbent Obama and challenger Romney, must spend their final weeks of the campaign appealing to
- Members of their respective parties disappointed enough to stay home on election day — or vote the dreaded “Third Party” ticket;
- Independent voters apt to find something distasteful about both candidates;
- The apathetic and the uninformed.
How to appeal to all three groups simultaneously? Well, go for the old standby: fear and hatred of foreigners.
This year, it’s the Chinese.
Romney started the China-bashing by calling our Chinese trading partners “cheaters.” Apparently he is much vexed about how the Chinese don’t respect established intellectual property rights, “stealing” our technology, “everything from computers to fighter jets.” Of course, this mainly happens after “we” set up manufacturing plants for that technology there. He charged that President Obama has not deigned to “stand up to China.”
Earlier, he had accused China of manipulating its money in its favor. He seems to have dropped that, perhaps out of embarrassment — our own Fed’s monetary manipulations, after all, dwarf China’s.
The Obama campaign responded by avoiding the intellectual property issue just as Romney now avoids the monetary one, calling Romney himself a “cheater.” You see, in his Bain Capital days, Romney invested in firms that relocated jobs to “low wage countries like China.” Romney, we are told, has “never stood up to China.”
By which is meant: Romney engaged in globalism and opposed protectionism.
Is Mr. Obama really suggesting that prosperity will come if we shrink from global competition and enact barriers to international trade in goods and services?
The biggest problem the U.S. economy faces isn’t Beijing; it’s Washington.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
4 replies on “China Syndrome, 2012”
Exactly. That’s why me, my family and my friends are voting for the dreaded Third Party candidate, Gary Johnson.
Very well stated, pointing out, that generally the problem is the government is the problem. Sadly, neither of the present candidates understands that principle.
The Chinese “cheat” by manipulating their money supply (as we do), and by taxing their citizens to subsidize politically favored businesses (as we also do).
In both cases, the Chinese government essentially steals from its citizens to make products they sell to us, lower priced (as we also do).
The right response, is to take advantage of it. Eventually the Chinese citizens will recognize what’s going on, and revolt.
Hopefully US citizens will start voting out our “representatives” who do the same. Note that less than 30% of the 2010 House Tea Party candidates voted to eliminate corporate welfare in the form of funding for the Import/Export Bank, the EDA, and the Dept. of Energy “green investment” loan guarantee program that’s given us Solyndra, Abound Solar and other waste.
Beware of RINOs who call themselves Tea Party fiscal conservatives. Most are not, and just say so, to get elected. Look to their records, rather than their rhetoric, before giving them your vote.
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