President Obama's warning about automation.

[JHan]

22. Again..

"Tarrifs have failed according to who"

According to History.

And most recently Fareed Zakaria wrote a great piece about globalisation. I'll quote from him, because he assesses it well:

"It is much easier to rail against foreigners and promise to fight them with tariffs and fines. But the cost of addressing these problems at the global level is massive. The Economist reports, in a survey on globalization, that in 2009 the Obama administration punished China with a tariff on its tires. Two years later, the cost to U.S. consumers was $1.1 billion, or $900,000 for every job “saved.” The impact of such tariffs is usually felt disproportionately by the poor and middle class because they spend a larger share of their income on imported goods, such as food and clothing. That same Economist survey points to a study that calculated that, across 40 countries, if transnational trade ended, the wealthiest consumers would lose 28 percent of their purchasing power, but the poorest tenth would lose a staggering 63 percent."

Also: http://bigthink.com/cue-the-future/chinese-import-tariffs-are-a-bad-idea ( another example)

And in our history, the Smoot-Hawley Act was warning enough.

"By China's own numbers, pollution alone kills 1.5 million people in that nation every year. Climate change is going to cost a shit load more in damage and lives than that. "

Yes, China is a horrible polluter, and we just gave them the pacific void by abandoning the TPP where at least, countries in the region would be part of an agreement with provisions that aim to lift the floor of labor and environment standards - not perfect but a step in the right direction. We should not make perfect the enemy of good - Obama kept warning us and he was absolutely correct.

The TPP would have removed 18,000 tariffs. Removing tariffs increases the flow of trade for producers in all brackets - not just corporations but small businesses as well. In fact, the freeing up of tariffs in the TPP was drafted with small business in mind. If trade is freer, nations sell more stuff to each other, enabling them to meet costs and make profit.

The promise of 21st century civilization will not be protectionism. Archaic ideas and politics of nostalgia won't get us there - 21st century civilization will be global in scale and powered by renewable technologies. Our approach to trade must adapt to this reality else we'll get left out and become mired and trapped in archaic political "solutions".

EDIT: Regarding automation and our candidates bringing it up - a trade-obsessed narrative emerged during the election which was difficult to counter. It suited the campaigns of Sanders ( and Trump) but there are no legitimate excuses to ignore automation - there's a reticence, particularly from some on the left, to admit that automation is not the real problem. And I was proud and relieved that in the space of 20 years, we've had another great Democratic President who laid the foundation for the future and used his farewell address to point policy makers in the right direction.