New Rules for a Darwinian Economy

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stephenwilliams2345 of NY 1:03AM May 30, 2012

It's the "free market" mentality of outsourcing (mostly blue collar) jobs, investing not in our own economy but in foreign (Communist, even!) countries, and moving our manufacturing base to other countries simply so the ownership class can profit tremendously at the expense of the Average Joes. It's a national sickness/delusion that has taken hold on unsuspecting, trusting Americans. Our "leadership" (sic) sold us out to big business.
You must take care of your own people and your own economy first. If it takes government policy to reign in the capitalists who sell out their fellow countrymen, then so be it. A nationalist economic policy is needed since we've already seen that capitalists won't willingly do the right thing.

Paul W. of VA 4:20PM January 26, 2010

mlb of PA: Your post is a bit confusing. At first, I thought you were talking about NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement) -- and maybe you were. But that FTA doesn't cover China, which you also mentioned.
In any case, although I'm certainly not an economist, it seems pretty clear to me, and many others, that there is no "silver bullet" that will cure our economic woes, including pulling out of NAFTA (or similar arrangements with others), withdrawing from the WTO (World Trade Organization), etc.
Also, unless the great majority of what I've read is wrong, in the case of NAFTA we've benefited far more than has Mexico.
I *strongly* believe taking a "Fortress America" approach, which is implied by your comment, isn't merely undesirable, but to be opposed. This isn't the 19th century, when we could stay comfortable inside our national shores. If there are two defining qualities of today, in this context, they're the Internet and air travel, both strong enablers of globalization; in fact, they make it almost inevitable, given the realities of differing national economies, i.e., we outsource to India because labor there is far cheaper than in America.
There's a strong mood of wanting our problems solved by taking steps that -- so the argument goes -- would affect only others, not us. But that's a pipe dream. Stop outsourcing? How do major corporations explain to stockholders why they're losing money right, left, and center because of *ON*shore labor costs? And how to they explain that to stock market regulators? And if investors flee the stock market, will that have bad effects for Working Janes and Joes? (I fear it might.)
We need alternatives. What? Maybe building nuclear reactors, wind turbine and solar farms, moving into non-food crops for ethanol, shovel-ready infrastructure such as roads and bridges -- well, the list is long of things we could do that *can't* be sent offshore. Maybe a return to steps such as the WPA and CCC, paying a livable wage, would help; after all, whether we pay for roads or pay for road construction workers directly, we're using tax money -- yours and mine. (I would want any revival of the WPA and CCC to be temporary, i.e., until the private sector is stronger -- and would want to give as much through the private sector as possible, to help companies, especially small- and medium-size ones.)
Just some thoughts . . .

Mekhong Kurt 8:34AM January 24, 2010

Darwinian? Hell,try barbarian.Buy the" Conan" flicks and take notes.

Woody Trail of AZ 2:37PM January 23, 2010

americans need to become more literate.even the most basic things we are frightfully ignorant of. learn something new, get out of the house and simply do something. i will be 55 yrs old next week and i am shocked at what people my age do not know anything about. i have returned to school (law) and am shocked at the 30-40 yr old americans who cant count, which is neccessary to perform math which is vital to understanding how things work in the world. learn about the world and stop waiting for the same thing to happen that has happened before. if you do what you always did, you will get what you always got. grow up, regroup, stop wineing (sic)and complaining and take charge! life is the ultimate reality show.

mlb of PA 4:28PM January 22, 2010

Think about this for one moment, if we vetoed the free trade agreement, America's workers could compeate with other nations instead of all our jobs going overseas. Farmers would be able to support their families, instead of loosing buisness to China or another cheap labor countries. Instead of layoffs, We would have a "booming" economy. Just look at the date the Free trade agreement went in to effect, then look at the percentage of pay raises and layoffs. We are becoming a nation dependant on other nations.

Ms. Pritchett of GA 2:37PM January 22, 2010

The wonderfulness of these "prior Darwinian eras" was when people starved, lived like animals, and sent children to their death down the mines. Darwinianism is for animals...not people. This is the definition of civilisation and centuries of social progress...that we do not have a survival of the fittest world where the losers starve and eventually die. The job of government ios to represent the people and ensure that the economy works to make everyones life better...and dose not work to make a handfull of biiionaires even richer while the bulk of the people suffer and live in misery. We need MORE government intervention, not less. It was the removal of proper government rules (deregulation) that got us into this mess. Putting back those rules will get us out of this mess. Rules are necessary to protect society from Darwinism survival of the fittest.

Me of KY 9:25AM January 22, 2010

Yes, I totally agree with Rick Newman's way of thinking.
In order to survive we need to improve ourselves, to study ways to market our skills, learning new skills, becoming super multi-tasked, by being very optimistic and perseverant.

Wallace Ferreira of CA 4:03PM January 21, 2010

It seems that "Darwinian" would describe the vast bulk of human economic history. The last 50 years have been an anomaly, with an artificial cushion in the form of loose credit and public assistance without accountability. That's how so many of us have gotten away with being mentally lazy for so long. That would never have flown in prior eras. So perhaps we're just returning to our roots.

Keirsten of MO 4:59PM January 19, 2010