Category Archives: Globalization

Is the Push for Greater European Integration a Mistake?

The assumption among policy elites that more European integration will heal the union’s ills may be misguided.

Give the Democratic Trade Turncoats Hell Over Fast Track Vote

The real fight against Fast Track authorization will take place in the House. but the Senate sellouts should be made to feel the wrath of their constituents.

Sovereignty For International Investors (Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP))

Why the investor state dispute settlement panels in the Trans-Pacific Partnership are a Trojan horse for enriching multinationals and gutting national sovereignity.

Branko Milanovic: Income Inequality and Citizenship

Dave here. This is a readable discussion of inequality between nations, but the conclusions suffer from the conceit that people – particularly people in poor countries – have universal freedom, wherewithal and mindset to pick and choose what country to which they want to emigrate. But other than that nitpick, worth a read. By Branko […]

First Quarter GDP Likely Negative as Trade Deficit Soars

By David Dayen, a lapsed blogger. Follow him on Twitter @ddayen. Because of the blinkered way we talk about the economy in this country, news that the trade deficit widened in March well above consensus expectations will undoubtedly be met by cries that we must create more free trade deals to counteract that. Of course, […]

Matías Vernengo: On Free Trade and Economics Consensus

Mankiw tells us in his most recent NYTimes column that economists agree that Free Trade is good. He links to a poll in which, essentially, mainstream economists of different persuasions, some Keynesian and some not, and different political views, some liberal and some conservative, say that trade agreements are good. He backs his argument by suggesting that theoretically the argument is at the heart of the economics profession since the beginning; I guess an argument of authority.

Wolf Richter: China Containerized Freight Index Plunges to Multi-Year Low, Shanghai-EU Rates Totally Collapse, US Rates Morose

Weak demand in the Eurozone; inventory build-up in the U.S., and free money meant carriers added more and more ships. How does the movie end?

Obama Bribes Abe to Support the TPP by Unleashing Japanese Military

Obama’s bribe to Abe, of a more muscular Japanese military, has won him over but won’t play as well in Japan and will go down worse in China.

Ridiculing Concerns About TPP Tyranny

Yes, Virginia, the TPP is at least as bad as its critics say it is.

The 23 Count Indictment of the TPP

This post will serve to remind you: call your Representative (contact info here) and Senators (contact info here) today and tell them in no uncertain terms that you expect them to vote against Fast Track authority.

Bill Black: Obama & TPP – Every One That Doeth Evil Hateth the Light

President Obama wants the world to know that he takes it personally that the Democratic Party’s base opposes his latest effort to sell out the people of the world to the worst corporations through the infamous Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal.

Greece Talks With Eurogroup Hit “Complete Breakdown”

The Greek negotiations with the Eurogroup are exemplifying the saying, “Things look the darkest before they go completely black.”

Joe Firestone: Another Danger of the TPP: It Sacrifices Monetary Sovereignity

Yet another reason to hate the TPP.

U.S. Trade Rep Office Helpfully Explains that Only 28 Trade Unionists Were Murdered in Colombia Last Year

I said on the last post on the TPP that there was one more thing I wanted to point out. It was ably covered by Michael McAuliff of The Huffington Post, and it reminds me of one of those famed Monty Python “letters to the editor,” written after a sketch portraying British seamen as cannibals.

Dear Sir, I am glad to hear that your studio audience disapproves of the last skit as strongly as I. As a naval officer I abhor the implication that the Royal Navy is a haven for cannibalism. It is well known that we have the problem relatively under control, and that it is the RAF who now suffer the largest casualties in this area. And what do you think the Argylls ate in Aden. Arabs? Yours etc. Captain B.J. Smethwick in a white wine sauce with shallots, mushrooms and garlic.

More Craven Arguments Used to Sell TPP and Fast Track to Congress, With Mixed Results

I don’t know what’s occurring more rapidly, Congressional votes on Trade Promotion Authority (aka fast track) or the parade of half-truths and outright falsehoods being promoted to sell it. Committees in the House and Senate held meetings Wednesday on the bill. The Senate Finance Committee markup got off to a slow start when Bernie Sanders used an obscure Senate maneuver to delay the markup.