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You seem to default to the Economist's position quite often Tom Send a noteboard - 11/05/2016 09:38:58 PM

Trump's foreign policy is not as "incoherent" as you claim. It essentially stresses several points:

  1. Strong national defense as a deterrent (nothing shocking or new there)
  2. US self-interest as opposed to nation-building, ideological moves or imperialism, which has a few corollaries:
    2a. Our allies need to pay their fair share of collective defense obligations (NATO, South Korea, Japan)
    2b. We should avoid getting involved in other peoples' problems (Syria, Iraq - 2003, probably Ukraine)
    2c. If we do have to get involved, we do what it takes to win and get the hell out (Iraq now probably)
    2d. Sometimes the dictator is better than the alternative (Syria, Iraq, Libya)
  3. We shouldn't pull the rug out from under our allies (Egypt, Israel)

While Item 3 may at times seem to clash with some of Item 2, it's a fine balance.

If you don't believe that millions of lives have been destroyed by free trade, you haven't visited a lot of small towns in America. I lived in many of those small towns. The poverty has risen, health has declined, suicide rates are up dramatically, families are disrupted as a result, and a smart trade policy can fix it.

Your statement that the problem is "not free trade itself but the way its rewards are distributed inside the USA" is a truism. It's like saying that gun violence is not a problem "with guns themselves but the way people use them to kill others". However, the very fact that you say "the way its rewards are distributed" betrays a Leftist approach to the issue. Trump is offering a free-market style solution that essentially will likely involve carrots and sticks to encourage more production in the US. This whole "retraining" bullshit was started under Bill Clinton and I see you're parroting it. But what do you retrain a Carrier air conditioning factory worker to do? Flip burgers? Mindlessly process mountains of useless medical records generated due to Obamacare? We can't sustain an economy on service jobs. We need to make shit too; in fact, the reason why the minimum wage is an issue now is because people realize that most service jobs are too fungible to pay a good wage (I'm obviously excepting licensed professional services).

We need more engineers, scientists, researchers, high-tech factories, and probably a bunch more semi-skilled factory jobs in low-tech areas too. While some industries were already doomed in the US 30 years ago, like low-quality steel, there are plenty of places where we could have saved jobs but didn't.

If Trump has the right people in place, and I firmly believe he does pick the right people and knows how to delegate, I think we can strike the right balance between free trade benefits and a bit more protection of US jobs. It's not an either/or dichotomy.

Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.

ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius

Ummaka qinnassa nīk!

*MySmiley*
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He's hardly the first on point 3 - or very different from Sanders in that regard. - 10/05/2016 07:07:33 AM 714 Views
You seem to default to the Economist's position quite often - 11/05/2016 09:38:58 PM 648 Views
Well, great minds think alike and all that? - 12/05/2016 12:24:25 AM 580 Views
I said it was a truism. - 12/05/2016 03:45:39 PM 484 Views
And you don't think doctors and lawyers should be licensed? - 12/05/2016 03:53:51 PM 466 Views
I have zero knowledge of the tax code. - 19/05/2016 03:22:47 AM 571 Views
Both terms imply error. - 19/05/2016 05:15:20 PM 560 Views
A Democrat will sell you the shirt off my back. - 10/05/2016 12:45:13 AM 517 Views
vote republican -- it's easier than thinking! *NM* - 10/05/2016 09:34:16 PM 234 Views
Vote Democrat - because we say so! - 11/05/2016 08:13:10 AM 477 Views
And Trump things default on your debt such as Greece is a good thing. *NM* - 11/05/2016 03:50:18 PM 188 Views
You think America is not going to default on its debt ? - 11/05/2016 04:54:13 PM 489 Views
Of course it's possible. - 11/05/2016 06:29:31 PM 578 Views

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