Obama Doubles Down on Neoliberalism

[portlander23]

Obama: Globalization Is 'Here' And 'Done'
Brian Naylor
NPR

The global economy is "here" and "done," President Obama said Wednesday — the question now is under what terms it will be shaped.

"Integration of national economies into a global economy, that's here, that's done," Obama said. Speaking on the second day of a stock market rally, which came after sharp drops following Great Britain's vote to leave the European Union, Obama said it was important not to draw analogies to what happened with Brexit with trade relations between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. Obama said ordinary people with concerns about global trade "have a legitimate gripe with globalization."

But he cautioned that withdrawing from trade deals such as NAFTA, as Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has threatened, "is the wrong medicine for dealing with inequality."

Mr. Obama is simply wrong. Globalization and free trade are not natural forces like gravity. Markets are the creation of governments and they are constrained by rules and regulations. Neoliberalism is just one set of rules, and a set that is deeply unfair and unpopular.

We're learning all the wrong lessons from the past thirty-five years of deregulation. Brexit should be a wakeup call, but it won't be. We're at a pivot point in history and it will either be the left offering a progressive vision or the right offering a nativist vision, but one of them will win, even if it's not this election.

Mr. Obama is siding with the Neoliberals, and if the party follows, we're screwed.

[villager]

1. You say "if the party follows" as if there are two parties on these issues.

There are two reasonably distinct parties on social issues.

That's about it.

But that's enough to keep us snarking at each other, I guess, while the world burns.

[bravenak]

3. How can you stop globalization? It is here and no we cannot go back.

This Neo-nationalism is just blind to the realities if the times. NeoNationalists like Trump want to close us in, lock the borders, and try to turn back time to when things were best for his demographic and terrible for the rest of us.
Sad to see so much neonationalism going on.

[JaneyVee]

4. I love Obama. Great to have a reality-based president.

And I agree on all his points.

*sent from my iphone*

[Dr Hobbitstein]

5. There's that buzzword again.

[Trust Buster]

6. I agree with the President. The Asian market is the fastest growing consumer market in the world

And will continue to be so in the next quarter of a century. A protectionist policy towards Asia would bring the worst of both worlds IMO - job loss and higher prices.

[yallerdawg]

7. Not neoliberalism - social democracy and economic justice.

Addressing protectionist sentiments, Obama acknowledged what he said was "nostalgia" for a time when everyone was working in manufacturing jobs and belonged to the middle class, even though they lacked college degrees. He said that era has been outmoded "far more by automation than by trade," adding that the U.S. steel industry was producing just as much as it ever was, but now only needs one-tenth of the workers.

On another issue that has been central to the Trump campaign, immigration, Obama said anti-immigration sentiments have been encouraged by demagogues "back to the 1800's."

"You shouldn't think that is representative of how the American people think," Obama said, adding that illegal immigration from Mexico to the U.S. is at it's lowest level since the 1970s.

We can't fight the future!

[randome]

8. A "United Earth" was all the rage in the old sci-fi films. What happened since then?

The greater integrated we become, the less likely trade wars and actual wars become. That doesn't mean we do whatever our leaders say but we should be smart enough to see the big picture.