Mike Rowe brought Victor Davis Hanson onto his podcast for an interview to discuss Class Warfare as contrast against the 2024 election stakes. The impetus for the interview was an article written by VDH a few months ago about the shift in the American electorate – SEE HERE.
Within the interview VDH walks through a summary of how a modern muscular tech industry replaced Mainstreet on the financial side of financial economics and American wealth. Essentially, how a small group of tech companies replaced the blue chip titans and industrialists on the global wealth scale.
As 8 billion people started being able to purchase the goods and services of a small American group of entrepreneurs, all focused heavily inside the tech and finance sector, the people who owned wealth shifted dramatically. Decades later, against the backdrop of globalism, the issue surfaces as the industrialists (Main Street corps) offshored their manufacturing, while the tech industrialists (Muscular Wall Street) started to be the wealthiest people in the USA as a result of selling their tech products to the world.
Within the discussion, the academically disposed VDH points out empirical data that bolsters his theories and analysis. Rowe is in general agreement as they both discuss the granular consequences. However, there is one fascinating part (prompted below) where VDH accurately identifies conservative economic hero Milton Friedman as one of the early globalist villains.
VDH is correct when he says that Friedman was a rabid open borders advocate, who had no issue with lowered wages for U.S. workers and embraced the global system of manufacturing which led to a destroyed U.S industrial base creating the Rust Belt. Few people on the conservative side of politics will ever admit how Milton Friedman was the original Bush-class economist. It’s good to see VDH set the record straight. WATCH:
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Keep in mind, Milton Friedman was vociferously against tariffs of any kind. Friedman believed once the entire world was connected, all prices and economies would equalize. The pain felt within the American economy was simply something that had to be endured until American wealth was distributed and the entire world was balanced.
What follows below was my review of what would happen with Donald Trump policies put into place. This is very deep and in the weeds. This was originally written in December of 2016.
Traditional economic principles have revolved around the Macro and Micro with interventionist influences driven by GDP (Gross Domestic Product, or total economic output), interest rates, inflation rates and federally controlled monetary policy designed to steer the broad economic outcomes.
Additionally, in large measure, the various data points which underline Macro principles are two dimensional. As the X-Axis goes thus, the Y-Axis responds accordingly… and so it goes…. and so it has historically gone.
Traditional monetary policy has centered upon a belief of cause and effect: (ex.1) If inflation grows, it can be reduced by rising interest rates. Or, (ex.2) as GDP shrinks, it too can be affected by decreases in interest rates to stimulate investment/production etc.
However, against the backdrop of economic Globalism -vs- economic Americanism, CTH is noting the two dimensional economic approach is no longer a relevant model. There is another economic dimension, a third dimension. An undiscovered depth or distance between the “X” and the “Y”.
I believe it is critical to understand this new dimension in order to understand Trump economic principles, and the subsequent “America-First” economy his policies build.
As the distance between the X and Y increases over time, the affect detaches – slowly and almost invisibly. I believe understanding this hidden distance perspective will reconcile many of the current economic contractions. I also predict this third dimension will soon be discovered and will be extremely consequential in the coming decade.
To understand the basic theory, allow me to introduce a visual image to assist comprehension. Think about the two economies, Wall Street (paper or false economy) and Main Street (real or traditional economy) as two parallel roads or tracks. Think of Wall Street as one train engine and Main Street as another.
The Metaphor – Several decades ago, 1980-ish, our two economic engines started out in South Florida with the Wall Street economy on I-95 the East Coast, and the Main Street economy on I-75 the West Coast. The distance between them less than 100 miles.
As each economy heads North, over time the distance between them grows. As they cross the Florida State line Wall Street’s engine (I-95) is now 200 miles from Main Street’s engine (traveling I-75).
As we have discussed – the legislative outcomes, along with the monetary policy therein, follows the economic engine carrying the greatest political influence. Our historic result is monetary policy followed the Wall Street engine.
[…] there had to be a point where the value of the second economy (Wall Street) surpassed the value of the first economy (Main Street).
Investments, and the bets therein, needed to expand outside of the USA. hence, globalist investing.
However, a second more consequential aspect happened simultaneously. The politicians became more valuable to the Wall Street team than the Main Street team; and Wall Street had deeper pockets because their economy was now larger.
As a consequence Wall Street started funding political candidates and asking for legislation that benefited their interests.
When Main Street was purchasing the legislative influence the outcomes were beneficial to Main Street, and by direct attachment those outcomes also benefited the average American inside the real economy.
When Wall Street began purchasing the legislative influence, the outcomes therein became beneficial to Wall Street. Those benefits are detached from improving the livelihoods of main street Americans because the benefits are “global” needs. Global financial interests, investment interests, are now the primary filter through which the DC legislative outcomes are considered.
There is a natural disconnect. (more)
Here is an example of the resulting impact as felt by consumers:
♦ TWO ECONOMIES – Time continues to pass as each economy heads North.
Economic Globalism expands. Wall Street’s false (paper) economy becomes the far greater economy. Federal fiscal policy follows and fuels the larger economy. In turn the Wall Street benefactors pay back the politicians.
Economic Nationalism shrinks. Main Street’s real (traditional) economy shrinks. Domestic manufacturing drops. Jobs are off-shored. Main Street companies try to offset the shrinking economy with increased productivity (the fuel). Wages stagnate.
Now it’s 1990 – The Wall Street economic engine (traveling I-95) reaches Northern North Carolina. However, it’s now 500 miles away from Main Street’s engine (traveling I-75). The Appalachian range is the geographic wedge creating the natural divide (a metaphor for ‘trickle down’).
By the time the decade of 2000 arrives – Wall Street’s well fueled engine, and the accompanying DC legislative attention, influence and monetary policy, has reached Philadelphia.
However, Main Street’s engine is in Ohio (they’re now 700 miles apart) and almost out of fuel; there simply is no more productivity to squeeze.
From that moment in time, and from that geographic location, all forward travel is now only going to push the two economies further apart. I-95 now heads Northeast, and I-75 heads due North through Michigan. The distance between these engines is going to grow much more significantly now with each passing mile/month….
However, and this is a key reference point, if you are judging their advancing progress from a globalist vessel (filled with traditional academic economists) in the mid-Atlantic, both economies (both engines) would seem to be essentially in the same place based on their latitude.
From a two-dimensional linear perspective you cannot tell the distance between them.
It is within this distance between the two economies, which grew over time, where a new economic dimension has been created and is not getting attention. It is critical to understand the detachment.
Within this three dimensional detachment you understand why Near-Zero interest rates no longer drive an expansion of the GDP. The Main Street economic engine is just too far away to gain any substantive benefit.
Despite their domestic origin in NY/DC, traditional fiscal policies (over time) have focused exclusively on the Wall Street, Globalist economy. The Wall Street Economic engine was simply seen as the only economy that would survive. The Main Street engine was viewed by DC, and those who assemble the legislative priorities therein, as a dying engine, lacking fuel, and destined to be service driven only….
Within the new 3rd economic dimension, the distance between Wall Street and Main Street economic engines, you will find the data to reconcile years of odd economic detachment.
Here’s where it gets really interesting. Understanding the distance between the real Main Street economic engine and the false Wall Street economic engine will help all of us to understand the scope of an upcoming economic lag, which, rather remarkably I would add, is a very interesting dynamic.
Think about these engines doing a turn about and beginning a rapid reverse. GDP can, and in my opinion, will, expand quickly. However, any interest rate hikes (fiscal policy) intended to cool down that expansion -fearful of inflation- will take a long time to traverse the divide.
Additionally, inflation on durable goods will be insignificant – even as international trade agreements are renegotiated. Why? Simply because the originating nations of those products are going to go through the same type of economic detachment described above.
Those global manufacturing economies will first respond to any increases in export costs (tariffs etc.), by driving their own productivity higher as an initial offset, in the same manner American workers went through in the past two decades. The manufacturing enterprise and the financial sector remain focused on the pricing.
♦ Inflation on imported durable goods sold in America, while necessary, will ultimately be minimal during this initial period; and expand more significantly as time progresses and offshored manufacturing finds less and less ways to be productive. Over time, durable goods prices will increase – but it will come much later.
♦ Inflation on domestic consumable goods ‘may‘ indeed rise at a faster pace. However, it can be expected that U.S. wage rates will respond faster, naturally faster, than any fiscal policy because inflation on fast-turn consumable goods become re-coupled to the ability of wage rates to afford them.
The fiscal policy impact lag, caused by the distance between federal fiscal action and the domestic Main Street economy, will now work in our favor. That is, in favor of the middle-class.
Within the aforementioned distance between “X” and “Y”, a result of three decades traveled by two divergent economic engines, is our new economic dimension, which, if successful, will be forever known as “MAGAnomics”….
“We support reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which prohibits commercial banks from engaging in high-risk investment,” said the platform released by the Republican National Committee. (link)
What you just read above was written in December of 2016, before President Trump’s economic policies were put into place.
Compare what was stated, what was predicted, a completely new paradigm in American economic perspective, to what happened.
It was the Fourth Quarter of 2019…..
Right before the pandemic would hit a few months later, despite two years of doomsayer predictions from Wall Street’s professional punditry, all of them said Trump’s 2017 steel and aluminum tariffs on China, Canada and the EU would create massive inflation – it just wasn’t happening!
Overall, year-over-year inflation was hovering around 1.7 percent [Table-A BLS]; yup, that was our inflation rate. The rate in the latter half of 2019 was firmed up with less month-over-month fluctuation, and the rate basically remained consistent. [See Below] The U.S. economy was on a smooth glide path, strong, stable, and Main Street was growing with MAGAnomics at work.
A couple of important points. First, unleashing the energy sector to drive down overall costs to consumers, and industry outputs was a key part of President Trump’s America First MAGAnomic initiative. Lower energy prices help the worker economy, middle class and average American more than any other sector.
Which brings us to the second important point. Notice how food prices had very low year-over-year inflation – 0.5 percent. That is a combination of two key issues: low energy costs, and the fracturing of Big Ag’s hold on the farm production and the export dynamic:
(BLS) […] The index for food at home declined for the third month in a row, falling 0.2 percent. The index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs decreased 0.7 percent in August as the index for eggs fell 2.6 percent. The index for fruits and vegetables, which rose in July, fell 0.5 percent in August; the index for fresh fruits declined 1.4 percent, but the index for fresh vegetables rose 0.4 percent. The index for cereals and bakery products fell 0.3 percent in August after rising 0.3 percent in July. (link)
For the previous twenty years, food prices had been increasingly controlled by Big Ag, and not by normal supply and demand. The commodity market became a ‘controlled market’. U.S. food outputs (farm production) was controlled and exported to keep the U.S. consumer paying optimal prices.
President Trump’s trade reset was disrupting this process. As farm products were less exported, the cost of the food in our supermarket became reconnected to a ‘more normal’ supply and demand cycle. Food prices dropped, and our pantry costs were lowered.
The Commerce Dept. then announced that retail sales climbed by 0.4 percent in August 2019, twice as high as the 0.2 percent analysts had predicted. The result highlighted retail sales strength of more than 4 percent year-over-year. These excellent results came on the heels of blowout data in July, when households boosted purchases of cars and clothing.
The better-than-expected number stemmed largely from a 1.8 percent jump in spending vehicles. Online sales, meanwhile, also continued to climb, rising 1.6 percent. That’s similar to July 2019, when Amazon held its two-day blowout Prime Day sale. (link)
Despite the efforts to remove and impeach President Trump, it did not look like middle class America was overly concerned about the noise coming from the pundits. Likely that’s because blue collar wages were higher, Main Street inflation was lower, and overall consumer confidence was strong. Yes, MAGAnomics was working.
Additionally, remember all those MSM hours and newspaper column inches where the professional financial pundits were claiming Trump’s tariffs were going to cause massive increases in prices of consumer goods?
Well, exactly the opposite happened [BLS report] Import prices were continuing to drop:
This was a really interesting dynamic that no one in the professional punditry would dare explain.
Donald Trump’s tariffs were targeted to specific sectors of imported products. [Steel, Aluminum, and a host of smaller sectors etc.] However, when the EU and China responded by devaluing their currency, that approach hit all products imported, not just the tariff goods.
Because the EU and China were driving up the value of the dollar, everything we were importing became cheaper. Not just imports from Europe and China, but actually imports from everywhere. All imports were entering the U.S. at substantially lower prices.
This meant when we imported products, we were also importing deflation.
This price result is exactly the opposite of what the economic experts and Wall Street pundits predicted back in 2017 and 2018 when they were pushing the rapid price increase narrative.
Because all the export dependent economies were reacting with such urgency to retain their access to the U.S. market, aggregate import prices were actually lower than they were when the Trump tariffs began:
[…] Prices for imports from China edged down 0.1 percent in August following decreases of 0.2 percent in both July and June. Import prices from China have not advanced on a monthly basis since ticking up 0.1 percent in May 2018. The price index for imports from China fell 1.6 percent for the year ended in August.
[…] Import prices from the European Union fell 0.2 percent in August and 0.3 percent over the past 12 months.
So yes, we know President Trump can save Social Security and Medicare by expanding the economy with his America First economic policy. We do not need to guess if it is possible or listen to pundits theorize about his approach being some random ‘catch phrase’ disconnected from reality. Yes folks, we have the receipts.
This was MAGAnomics at work, and this is entirely what created the middle class MAGA coalition. No other Republican candidate has this economic policy in their outlook, because all other candidates are purchased by the Wall Street multinationals.
America First MAGAnomics is unique to President Trump, because he is the only one independent enough to implement them.
That’s just the reality of the situation. They hate him for it…
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Made in America
PAT R I C K J. B U C H A N A N
Tariffs Made America Great
https://www.addisonlibrary.org/sites/default/files/Tariffs%20Made%20America%20Great.pdf
“William McKinley, the veteran of An-
tietam who gave his name to the McKin-
ley Tariff, declared four years before being
elected president: “Free trade results in
our giving our money…our manufactures
and our markets to other nations. …It will
bring widespread discontent. It will revo-
lutionize our values.”
Yes, terrible times indeed. Need I remind everyone who has the privilege of expecting President Trump along the campaign trail – Be sweeping the venue locations yourselves, be part of the security team.
Also his neighbors, keep surveillance on his residences and take appropriate action against any suspicious activity.
Do everything to keep this man safe!
My thanks for your reminders friend. Keep em coming.
PDJT played golf at his course in Jupiter today.
Local LE had the perimeter well covered, multiple units at the entrance gates.
It was nice to see.
And ‘they’ killed him and replaced him with the first Uniparty Globalist RINO, ‘ROUGH RIDER’ Teddy!
Rough rider, huh?
Teddy’s first act? Break up standard oil.
Teddy’s big betrayl:
Creating the Progressive Party to sabotage his former VP R to get Wilson in so Wilson would acquiescence to the Banksters with the 16th, 17th Amendments and the Federal Reserve Act!!
In gambling, we say “ALL and CALL!”
Fold or raise the bet?
John D. Rockefeller response?
Declare a covert war against DC.
That is a great observation that you have made before.
“Rough Rider”
Not enough female horses in that group.
Leon Czolgosz was a hard-core Leftist Anarchist. Basically he was Antifa before Antifa was invented.
Agreed… b/c our govt for decades permitted the US to be fleeced to empower a globalist economy. We had an $800 B/year deficit with Communist China. Who in the US negotiated that deal? Only peoole who want the destruction of America would do that.
Trump changed our egregiously bad trade deals w/China and most other countries. He changed them to be pro-America. He did it with w/tariffs and other carrots and sticks.
Our corrupt govt (Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43, Obama and Biden) all empowered China and Iran (and others) … while permitting the US to stagnate economically for 90% of Americans. Our manufacturing industry was crushed as we’re many industries.
Its insane that China produces 90% of our antibiotics. God help us if they refuse to send those antibiotics. Many millions of Americans will die fast… of a UTI or strep throat… many things.
Thank you Sundance for your indepth report.
Patrick J Buchanan would have been the best POTUS ever to serve. Love the man. He told unvarnished truth, with a smile.
Interestingly enough Pat Buchanan was also a great football player (if you haven’t noticed he’s really big), he’s one of those phenoms that got a terrible knee injury in High School, that’s why he was never able to join the military.
I am thankful that God let Pat stay here long enough to see his ideas vindicated.
That’s gotta count as a blessing at the end of one’s life.
.
Trump Is Pat Buchanan With Better Timing
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/donald-trump-pat-buchanan-republican-america-first-nativist-214221/
You bet. Pat could tell us endless stories about The Marshall Plan.
Yes, the cost of a tariff is always split between the overseas seller and the domestic buyer. The cost of a direct tax, such as the federal income tax, payroll tax, etc. is always 100% borne by the US person who is taxed.
Would you rather pay 100% (like with income tax) or only pay a portion (like with a tariff?)
I noticed that during the Trump years, the chinee stuff at Harbor Freight got even cheaper than it was during Barry the Zero.
McKinley was assassinated for that very reason.
I have always admired Mike Rowe. He’s a special friend…understands the abundance that is America…but is also fragile, beset by communist lazy MF’ers. Eff em. We will make OUR OWN!
God Bless America
noting: Milton Friedman was a enigmatic intellect, beholden to no one man or institution. he was a curious inspector …formed by his passion for mathematics…that is to say, he could solve puzzles….yes, at the core of all mathematic genius is the curious nature to WANT TO KNOW why things work out why they do.
In many of his seminal lectures, Milton composed a magnificent inspection about the topic of INTEREST. That is to say, Monetary policy and the direct effect on interest.
Spoiler: interest is man made..there is NOT OTHER CAUSE…that is to say, “setting interest rates” is to perogative and measure of the federal banking chairs. interest does not exist in the nature free economy that many of you were instructed and indoctrinated. (that is to say, some of you…but I am reminded, that WE THE PEOPLE OF CTH ARE INITIATED, above upper average in intellect and curiosity..and to that I say: never let up…always remain curious…question everything)
there is a whole OTHER WORLD OUT THERE…it awaits your discovery
God Bless America
“it is one thing to have free immigration to jobs. It is another thing to have free immigration to welfare. And you cannot have both. If you have a welfare state, if you have a state in which every resident is promised a certain minimal level of income, or a minimum level of subsistence, regardless of whether he works or not, produces it or not. Then it really is an impossible thing.”― Milton Friedman
and here this nation IS…ignoring the intellects..and embracing THE STUPID.
it was not an accident that COWmala is the supposed next in line..the trend is clear to anyone paying attention.
the secret police spy state (China conditioned) desires stupid embeciles who will implode the bones of America.
I will not be idle and wait to see what happens next.
sharpening my knives…it’s time time to hunt
God Bless America
“open borders … welfare state”
“choose one”
I would prefer to choose neither.
Some things he got right. Others, hopelessly wrong.
Even the first premise “free immigration [across national borders] to jobs” is utterly evil. Either the economy within a country exists to serve the people within it, or the people within it exist to serve the economy. You cannot have it both ways. If the people exist to serve the economy, that is to say that they exist to serve to oligarchy which owns the economy, then people are divided into two categories: the civilizational rapists and those raped out of what used to be their civilization.
No American has a problem with helping to uplift others in their own lands, but if you let them all in here at the behest of the transnational corporatists, then you will cease to exist. Your culture, your genome, your distinctiveness as one of the national peoples making up humanity, will be erased for the fun and profit of those who wish to enslave all of humanity in an empire of usury.
That is, after all, why there is a war against Russia (with hapless Ukrainians used as cannon fodder) and hostility towards Iran and a nascent war preparations against China. These countries and many others refuse to bend the knee to become the ‘bottoms’ in the Empire of Usury owned by Blackrock, Vanguard and the rest of transnational predators. That in and of itself does not make these other countries our friends, but it definitely means that the transnationals attacking them are our mutual enemies.
“Our people FIRST, in our people’s land” does not make us selfish, much less evil as the corporate-drone-left would have everyone believe. Evil is forcing other people to live as you wish, rather than as they wish, inside THEIR lands.
“Your culture, your genome, your distinctiveness as one of the national peoples making up humanity, will be erased for the fun and profit of those who wish to enslave all of humanity in an empire of usury.”
It is relevant that during the last fifty years it has become taboo for many of us to have positive thoughts about our culture or genome, much less to speak or write about them.
I am a proud white American patriot, who performed my duties with honor and righteous cause. I did so, because my LORD instructed me to serve those who could not defend themselves.
I continue to obey those orders. I walk to the fire with a full suit of armor, customized by tribulations and many setbacks…and more than a few victories.
I say these things to bring praise to THE LORD, MY GOD, THE GOD OF ALL GODS that delivers a promise that is enduring to those who obey, and are unafraid to say why.
it is truly about LOVE. My prayer is this: you would do this for me.
God Bless America
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Amen brother regitiger !!
I’d do it for you in a heartbeat!
Your description of yourself matches mine.
see ireland (and many other former esteemed cultures) as exhibits to demonstrate what HORACE has described.
this is MY country. I deserve it because I am not only a citizen, but because my family and the families before it spilled blood to ensure the next generation would be free..
lets not forget who we ARE!
God Bless America
It would seem that all “commoners” are mutually cannon fodder for the two great evils vying for supremacy in our world. The great evils of the west are in contention with the great evils of the east. Neither side thinks anything at all about the elimination of any amount of those they deem dispicable. They speak of the world being overpopulated, but their only intent is to remove competition for resources while beating the opposing side to supremacy. In my not so short life only Donald Trump has stood in the way of both. May the Almighty protect him and grant him success on our future generations’ behalf.
Star Trek and ‘ The Omega Glory’. 1968. The Yangs or the Yanks? Very odd episode.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708474/
“As the Enterprise approaches planet Omega IV, they find another starship, the U.S.S. Exeter, in orbit. Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam aboard to find the ship abandoned but strewn with uniforms and crystals. The last log entry from the ship’s surgeon tells them they have been infected with a deadly virus brought aboard from a returning landing party.
Kirk’s party beams down to the planet’s surface and finds there is one Exeter survivor: Captain Ron Tracey. He has apparently ignored the Prime Directive and has taken sides in a local dispute supporting the Kohms against their arch-rivals, the Yangs.
As McCoy tries to find a cure for the virus, Spock and Kirk try to make sense of the situation. They eventually realize there is an odd parallel with Earth’s own history.”—garykmcd
E plebnista…
The sellout GOP and grifting Buckley Conservative pundits told us “cheap labor!” instead of investing in their own people. They not only spent the seed corn, they made up for it by taxing the unborn.
What they got, instead, was their own demise as all that “cheap labor” went on to vote Democrat, turning red states to purple, and purple to blue. The sellouts got a permanent Democrat lock on power.
The Left knows you cannot have both open borders and welfare. They are following the Cloward-Piven plan to overload the system and collapse the system. They implement policies they know are destructive precisely because they know they are destructive.
Your link at the end of the first paragraph is not working. Thank you for this article. I admire both men greatly and you as well Sundance.
I have always been weary of VDH. Anyone who gushes over Rumsfeld is not to be trusted.
https://victorhanson.com/rumsfeld-a-personal-portrait/
The gushing quotes are not in the link, but with hind site the commentary says enough about VDH.
VDH is an Author he feeds narrative and talking points to the Red team. He is a part of the paradigm I want banished. to be replaced with skeptical people who are not playing for a team.
Most of the Media and all our institutions and the fed and many states buracracies are all playing for the blue team and feeding their talking points everywhere w/great success in brainwashing the masses.
VDH is one voice playing for the red team and feeding talking points- really mostly an historical perspective. Most things he gets right. Some he gets wrong.
Let’s focus on crushing the blue team, not the red team. A lot is at stake right now. The blue team is already blatantly and openly totalitarian …. They are very scary and dangerous.
VDH said he supported the Iraq War for a few years. Then he realized something is very wrong. I supported it longer than he did. I liked Rumsfeld too. He was funny and seemed down to earth w/common sense. The left hated him of course. They were likely correct but for the wrong reason. The left was correct about Cheney too but again for the wrong reason. They just hated them b/c they were Rs. Had they been Ds they would have loved them.
I also liked Rumsfeld for the same reasons. Hope he knows the Lord. Great post.
anybody who can get up in front of a press conference and free-riff about “known unknowns” goes in my plus column
<chuckles>
lets NOT forget “the left” hated rumsfeld LATER because they squared the circle and found he was instrumental and complicit to the fraud known as the Iraqi war. It is not complicated. When it mattered the most to tell the truth, rumsfeld did NOT.
The so called left btw has changed significantly in spirit, task and allegiance.
now they report to China…and that is the truth…the whole truth..nothing but the truth.
the other truth, not so secret, is that the media was horse swaggled by money paid by the secret police state to patch up the “damage done” to the state.
these are truths. you must know these things, even if they are painful to acknowlege.
KNOW YOUR ENEMY
God Bless America
the thing about Iraq is we went after the wrong guys
it wasn’t Iraqis who flew planes into the Twin Towers
so Iraq became the 2nd (after Afghanistan) target in the “7 nations in 5 years” neo-con wet dream
pretty frikkin’ sad result
and the reason I contribute to Tunnels to Towers
VDH is showing his age. He has been a writer and speaker for decades. A writer and speaker greatly appreciated for his mind.
I have never “been weary of VDH.” He is still very astute and continues to make great points. If anybody doesn’t agree with him on any of his posts, they are free to say so. I, for one, love to hear his viewpoint every time.
His approach to the very obvious vote theft was to belittle PDJT. Screw that.
VDH has talked about groups of illegals moving into nearby empty farm houses. They are making a big ugly mess of the land and he has to haul away their abandoned trash that gets dumped on his land. Before the newcomers there was a community of farmers who respected the land as he does and like himself, respected and associated with each other. Sadly, that community has all but disappeared.
I don’t agree with some of his opinions which leave out facts that dispute his opinion. Other times his writings are golden. He is a not an infallible icon but does give us another scholarly voice to evaluate.
To me VDH has had a blind spot when it came to crediting Trump for what he accomplished. It still shows and I don’t like it, because to be that way you need to omit things that are truthful.
It doesn’t really aggrandize yourself and your opinions and status by omitting the overwhelming successes of another person, which I think VDH tries to do concerning Trump.
A diploma or a receipt? very astute observation!
I remember when the generals in charge of the defeated Iraqi Army volunteered to have the military act as the Iraqi Police instead using American troops. Rumsfeld and Cheney rejected the offer because they didn’t want to pay the Iraqi soldiers their salary. So, instead American soldiers became cannon fodder for roadside bomb ambushes.
I remember raging at the TV when they reported this insanity. We made hundreds of thousands of Iraqi soldiers unemployed terrorists when for a few bucks kept them as allies!
This is an excellent post because it’s so true.
Previous to 2016 VDH wrote lengthy articles bemoaning the illegals vandalizing his often referred to family farm.
Along comes Trump, who EXACTLY addresses this problem and all he could say was how “vulgar” President Trump is.
Once the winds changed, so did he, a follower, never a leader.
He’s a wiener and a fraud. I loved your post!
VDH is an institutionalist not a populist. As a historian and academic intellectual he studies and believes in the institutions built up by political entities.
Well said. Plus, he was an old-school Democrat.
I listen to his podcasts and he is naive in some areas. He is a typical academic is many areas. Still I learn a lot from him.
This notion that equally shared wealth will spread prosperity “peacefully” across the world is the fundemental fault line. Other nations will use their wealth to increase their power (and wealth) as the their goal. The result is the subjugation of the citizen to whatever power center is most ruthless.
Equally shared wealth is the basic belief of Communism. WE cannot allow that to happen in OUR Country. End of.
Exactly 💯 💯 Colkitto
👉 “Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.
“👈
✅️There’s a lot of prospering for enemies foreign and domestic from this evil 😈 crowd of elites, bureaucrats, politicians, judges and Globalist “business” leaders. The list goes on and on of those prospering from treason.
If only he had been elected President, things would be very different.
Very true, but hardly anyone realizes that.
The people running the uniparty realize it.
For some reason my phone refuses to give you a 👍 👍 thumbs up, so…here are two.
I am honored ma’am. Ty kindly
it says of them this: they serve another master.
China is this instance…
fact
FOLLOW THE MONEY
God Bless America
Ty Regi. Cheers my friend
Economic theory assumes humans are interchangeable and have equal potential, hence why free trade and open borders may look good in theory but are suicidal foe an advanced nation. Friedman later realized open borders won’t work with a welfare state. We are destroying the U.S. with these policies to benefit a few oligarchs.
While I don’t disagree with your views at all, imo, VDH is full of it again and deflecting after impressing everyone with his hypnotic voice.
This is twice in a row for me that I’ve smelt 💩 with this guy’s pontificating with veiled condescension.
VDH is dead right about Friedman. NONE of the acclaimed economists have it right. The closest are the Austrian school.
However, the punchline:
Hanson’s argument using what he calls Main Street is NOT Main Street, it’s just “Americans.” The others are their cousins all working to the same goal.
All I see is ‘pretending’ or ‘ obfuscation.’
But that’s just me.
Remember my smell test? Does VDH get Alinsky’d? That is the test of a real MAGA patriot when they reach the big stage. How much if any Alinsky canards attacks do they get? If they invoke Hitler, Anti-semite, and racist, you’ve hit a true effective opponent of the “Blob” cabal.
Good point.
I think they only attack the threats. they dont care if you’re right or wrong, only if you’re effective at thwarting their designs. VDH is intellectual, but has no effect on anything.
At the end of the day, its about adjudication of power. Our guys get hung up on reasons and intellect. Thats a virtue if your opponent shares that interest, but not if you’re up against a pack of rats. You cant reason with the rats, you just have to exterminate them if you want them to stop.
Also good point.
this really is not true. intellectuals ..moral righteous intellects, I might specify…do indeed have an impact. it is not perhaps immediate, but it transcends through and among the listeners.
the most powerful speak is one of a deeper truth…to reveal.
In the Bible, these people were referred to as prophets. I am NOT suggesting Hanson is a prophet…no, not.
What I am saying is that is a good idea to listen to intellectuals who consider deep matters of importance..
even the “idiot savant”, is worth a listen.
the founders feared that a society that would not listen to even the most odd speech and controversial discourse that they formed the 1st amendment…that no central state would be allowed to interfere with SPEECH…the passing of ideas.
without this prohibition, we are left with what?
look around…America, and ever single other shit hole country is engaged in active suppression of BETTER IDEAS AND TRUTHS.
I listen to hanson for the most simple of reasons…if he is cancelled, shadowbanned, shit up and fact checked, then we are ALL that much closer to a moment when ALL free speech is kaput.
say it out loud: talk freely…any ideas..all of them..and mostly centered on truths about a corrupt central state. that is really what matters the most.
intellectuals whom I trust recognize that kind of speech IS the most important. Hanson does.
God Bless America
^^^ THIS! ^^^
VDH has one foot in the leftist world of academia and the other foot in the world of Establishment Republican politics-and does some farming on the side. When discussing a particular political topic he will usually begin by speaking some of the truth, but he will never go “all in” on the whole truth. He is a man who is still a “pretender.” I find him somewhat interesting but his willful blindness towards the machinations of the UniParty make him impossible to fully trust. He talks a lot but says very little.
Problem is that he ain’t blind nor stupid.
Wilful!
I agree with you!
Farming is his #1 – his career in academia is #2. HE also recently revealed his own relative are not speaking to him due to his support of Trump.
He had all the information about what Trump had accomplished in four short years as president but ignored it for almost 8 years. Better late than never but not very impressive.
Agreed!
He seems to play it safe
But he has nothing to be ‘safe’ about. What does that say? 👀
To me, “play it safe” means he still gets paid to pretend, pontificate and pose. He “plays it safe” secure in the knowledge that, as was stated elsewhere on this thread, he will never have to worry about getting doxxed, Alinsky’d or cancelled. He seems quite comfortable intentionally choosing to be blind to the destruction of our constitutional republic.
Yup. I agree
Milton Friedman believed that people will do what’s in their best interests, whether or not it favorably impacted society. What’s in their best interest, is wealth generation. “A rising tide lifts all boats.”. Productivity benefits everyone. However, due to man’s baser instincts, e.g. narcissism, selfishness, and a desire for glory, to be “Lord” over others, mankind does not always do what’s in their own best interests. A monopolist will sell under cost to eliminate competition, so that he can make 3x or 10x more profit as the exclusive provider. Countries will dump goods made by forced/slave labor under the cost of production, to capture other country’s markets, global and domestic, thereby exercising power over those “serf” countries. That’s my nutshell opinion.
Friedman is correct in the aggregate, and in a sinful world, Capitalism is still the best system to produce wealth for the majority, because it channels our natural sinful tendencies towards self-interest. However, “anti-market” forces, monopolies & cartels, particularly on a strategic, national level, need to be addressed.
Trump will address them. The Globalists intend to stop him “… by any means necessary”. In more theological terms, sin wins in the end, but for Christ. But for an outside force for good, God almighty, humans will destroy each other and this world. That was Satan’s goal from the very beginning, i.e. the Garden of Eden, using God’s creation to destroy itself. Every evil of this world, ever vice, ultimately destroys mankind.
The optimistic views on rebuilding American prosperity typically miss a profound fatal problem:
Industry decimated, science and engineering following close behind, now education, and all locked down by DIE now even if an epic push to restore them were to appear.
Industry is necessary for genuine economic strength, everything else depends on it. The loss of industry is at the core of the US downfall.
The economic analyses usually miss these unfortunate facts. No wonder, if they observed them there would be no market for the analyses.
PS – It has been said that making war without industry is an oxymoron. Which begs the question: Are the US military pursuits actually part of the suite of things being done by the US government to sink the US?
Devastate is the correct term. Decimate means “reduce by one tenth.” Other wise we are in total agreement.
Excellent!!!!!
-thanks, Sundance❣️
@sundance I can’t take VDH seriously anymore since he was supportive of the China Virus injections and was against people who did not take it. VDH’s true colors were shown during the whole China Virus plandemic. No matter what VDH says to try and redeem himself that boat has sailed.
Very good SD…The programs TRUMP installed were the correct fuels to get the US economic engine running on all 8 cyl…the way the deep state players fought him shows they did not have America’s best interest at heart…great article 👏👏😀👍
🇺🇸💪😀👍
VDH is a very informed person. I’ve posted a few things by him on this site.
“Why should I, as President of the United States, allow countries to continue to make Massive Trade Surpluses, as they have for decades … (while) the U.S. pays close to the entire cost of NATO-protecting many of these same countries that rip us off on Trade?”
Buchanan: Trump exasperated with trade deficits
https://www.muskogeephoenix.com/opinion/buchanan-trump-exasperated-with-trade-deficits/article_9c1b61e6-6e8e-11e8-af11-8ffc07f5afbf.amp.html
PDJT is MAGA. The GOPe Uniparty are Fabian traitors.
can you explain how a paper economy (wall street) can exceed the economy based on real durable goods? the stock market is essentially a giant betting pool. it creates nothing, it just reorganizes wealth.
and second question, would wall street economy be possible without the federal reserve pumping?
Wall Cheat exists on the backs of two major supply lines; the federal reserve dumping cash into their banking markets, and the blind obedience of us working stiffs donating our hard earned savings in the form of our 401k type “retirement investments.”
Take a trip down memory lane and revisit the debacle that was MF Global under the leadership of Jon Corzine, and the 1.2 billion dollars that went missing from MF Global client accounts under his supervision. I’ve heard several people declare that there’s no more Wall Street open market trade after that, and there never will be as long as Corzine is allowed to consume oxygen.
Please do not leave out taxes. Ayn Rand called them “theft.” I have to agree.
Sundance, an amazing analysis. Your perspective serves to explain what I heretofore could not understand: How the Supply and Demand model Milton Friedman used continues to negatively effect the wealth status of Middle America. And understanding how the Miltonian Model now allows for the devaluation of any retirement savings put away by middle America!
I cannot say I clearly understand your concepts (Trump’s MAGA Economics), but I sense that the response given by the majority of Americans in November will show agreement with Trump! Which is why J.D. Vance said in yesterday’s interview with Tucker Carlson that Trump would win in November if We The People get off our arses and VOTE on/or before November 5th!
PDJT can solve and correct the financial disaster we Americans are facing today. He will obviously be fighting The Cabal.
With JD Vance, RFKj, and Elon Musk on his side we at least have a fighting chance.
there are SO MANY MORE;….be advised, some of “us” are quiet on purpose, but don’t let that led you to believe we are not working like the third monkey to make things happen.
FIGHT
FIGHT
FIGHT
God Bless America
100%
With Trump keeping JD Vance, RFK Jr. and Elon Musk on his side we do have a fighting chance.
This video is a must share, this interview with VDH is that good.
I have even seen much of the evidence of what VDH is speaking of, even thousands of miles away from California.
Wow! Thank you for pointing this out. I knew it but I didn’t know it.
Thank you so very much Sundance. I just learned more about economics in the short time it took me to read this than I have in over two decades! I have also learned exactly WHY they hate him so much. President Trump is FOR the American citizens, they are diabolically opposed to us.
Dear Heavenly Father I thank you for the many blessings of this great Nation. I pray that those who do not know you will seek you and ask for your forgiveness and guidance. I pray for the safety of our great leader Donald J. Trump, his family, and those who support him. Help the citizens of our country wake up to the truths that are before us and make good and sound decisions, especially during this pivotal time in our history. Thank you for bringing me to the site and the many blessings I have received from the fellowship, insight, and knowledge. Thank you dear God for your servant Sundance and the work he he is doing. In Jesus name I pray. Amen 🙏
********************
The following quote in 1787, by professor Alexander Tytler, University of Edinburg, when speaking about The fall of the Athenian Republic some 2000 years prior.
“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up e time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority will always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship.”
I pray that our Republic as founded can resist the evil that is abundantly clear…
PDJT needs to find a space for Mike Rowe. He is value-add!
“Are we All Lab Rats?”
If PDJT is not elected the 47th POTUS, who will be on our side to confront the fraud??? Will VDH stand up to THEM? How about JD, RFKj, et al??? Elon, Tulsi? DeSantis?
The current situation is unprecidented. We must pray that every body stands up and defends OUR Republic.
The more frantic and more they dislike, the more we know we are on the right track.
If these people had to go out and make an honest living digging ditches, they could not do it.
We need tariffs on illegal imigrants.
Perhaps it could look like this. Charge Mexico $1,000,000 for every damn illegal they allow through their country to make their way to our border.
Well I do plan to EARLY VOTE THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 26TH. DOWN BALLOT IS ALSO VERY, VERY IMPORTANT…
DO THE RESEARCH EVERYONE !
Anyone else voting early with our fingers and toes crossed ?
PRAYING FOR THE GOOD LORD TO PLEASE GUIDE US TO DO EVERYTHING TO SAVE OUR ONCE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY !
“Friedman believed once the entire world was connected, all prices and economies would equalize. The pain felt within the American economy was simply something that had to be endured until American wealth was distributed and the entire world was balanced.” – Sundance
I don’t know much about economics, but China wasn’t an economic power when Milton Friedman was developing his economic theories. It wasn’t until Bill Clinton got China into the WTO and given developing nation status, which they still have, that China began to rise as an economic power. China imports have wrecked havoc on our economy and I don’t know if Friedman’s economic theories adequately quantified the massive destruction that “had to be endured”?? But why is it always only America that must “endure” economic punishment? Just wondering??
Kissinger is the one that opened the dialogue with China, with the blessings of his paymasters.
Now that Henry has finally shuffled off this mortal coil after polluting it for 100 years, may he roast in hell.
Indeed!
Americans must “endure” economic punishment and destruction as punishment for our success. Losers hold onto and multiply their envy.
“Keep in mind, Milton Friedman was vociferously against tariffs of any kind. Friedman believed once the entire world was connected, all prices and economies would equalize. The pain felt within the American economy was simply something that had to be endured until American wealth was distributed and the entire world was balanced.”
key phrase:
until American wealth was distributed and the entire world was balanced
also could be said as:
until American wealth was distributed TO the entire world
… which it has been … since the start of the Marshall Plan at the end of WWII
Perhaps if Milton was around today he would be advocating for a course correction? His ideas at the time may have been correct however are no longer are appliplicable?
https://www.edge.org/response-detail/11783
Ah!
Well done and an excellent follow-up!
(wink)
(He’s making you think, folks!)
This article is brilliant as it weaves together numerous threads creating a beautiful tapestry!
Unfortunately, I did not discover CTH until 2019, but not for a lack of hunger or searching.
Thank you, Sundance!
As a daily reader of both your articles and the comments, I always find your writing insightful but every so often, there is a bombshell of an article that enlightens beyond my expectation. This was the case today. Bravo and Merci!
There’s a lot going on here- I’ll tackle one piece. VDH has his feet in different orbits, farmer/ intellectual will be my focus.
Both my grandfathers came out of the experience of the Depression, both left the farm and joined the army, one via the CCC but both served in WWII.
Had it not been for government programs in the 30’s dustbowl, things would have been much worse, imho.
At that point in time, food production became a national security issue and gave rise to crop price supports (insurance), production loans and various other subsidies. Had these not been enacted, the Midwest farm economy would have been devastated.
By definition all the above programs fly in the face of “free economics”, and in their present incarnation present many issues…
There are many things a nation can work through but lack of food and energy and industry necessary to produce it is a death sentence.
Unfortunately the system has transmogrified and is in need of serious reform.
As a conservative it’s hard to wrap my head around it all but Trump has the needed understanding to begin righting this ship!
Large social(ist) government economic programs must have sunset clauses built into them – sunset clauses built as strong as brick shithouses.
Yes. We gotta agree on the parameters of recovery, but yes!
They intend to break the economy, force slavery sub stamdard living wages on all, break the economy and replace humans with robots. Technocrats love this idea and really want to fundamentally change everything. These are godless people. A service economy feeds their desire to feel superior.
I like when VDH calls out the hypocrisy, and the left says: “yes, I am a hypocrite, but I’m entitled to be. Kammala really believes she is entitled to lie through her teeth.
A major driver of the decoupling of American Business with the American people was the leverage buy-out (LBO) movement that started in the early 1980’s. This was a movement of corporate raiders with cheap borrowed money that purchased companies against the will of the owner of the American company. The hostile take-over of these companies by corporate raiders then stripped mined the company for the value of the parts i.e. real estate holdings, pension funds, breaking apart divisions, etc. that were sold for more money than the company was previously valued. Many of these companies became empty carcasses – and the people that worked there no longer had job. These companies were originally owned by the founder who had ties to the community and also encouraged civic responsibility toward the community. This model ceased to exist for America and her workers. The devastation that followed has not stopped.
Paging Victor Posner! Your vulture is hungry!
.
Just had time to listen to this. Good conversation; coming from that generational farmer and military class, I really enjoyed it. Thanks for this post and also the economic explanations.
.
Holy molly Sundance, I just now made it through the interview. Wowser. It helped me to remember how I felt so confused when I thought as a youngster that I did not know what/profession I wanted to be when I grew up. I gave them the middle finger to a college education. My parents thought the best thing they could do for their children was to send them to college.
I’ve read many articles by Victor David Hanson in the Epoch Times that I get in print once a week and on line daily. It was so good for me to see/hear him speak out loud for the first time. Mike Rowe is a new gem also.
Thank you Sundance for posting this, but somehow feel really sad that “society” at large, during my time and at that age, entrained parents to feel that they are only a successful parent, and can somehow wash their hands of their child’s upbringing once they get them into a college.
I can only say, my parents did not know just what to do with me, and had a sigh of relief when I went to college. This interview was long, but it did my heart and spirit good.
The Common Sense Outcome of Bidenomics is ruin. As Sundance’s first graph clearly shows the divergence between WallStreet information(WS produces nothing tangible) and Main Street goods. There is the divergence in wages also. High paying steel, aluminum, auto jobs are replaced with low paying Service jobs.
Wall Street will lose the Main Street customer. A burger flipper cannot purchase what a steel worker purchases. In the long run the Communists ruin society. The end result is California….retail shops close, minimum wage will continually be raised….California is now at $20/hr and rising. Inflation will never end. We become Venezuela.
Venezuela has allowed its citizens to flee. The uneducated, poor, criminals, and nuts have arrived here. What do they bring to our economy? More inflation and more money printing.
Ask yourself, what has government done well in the last 25 years? The Democrats have excelled in destroying capitalism and destroying our country.
The Myth of the Four Year Degree. There is fake news and then there is reality. The reality of the Myth of the Four Year Degree is that if you have a “degree” in a pseudo-academic area (gender studies, ethnic studies, economics of international conflict, etc), you have a piece of paper that says you are qualified for what positions? Sadly, the answer to that question is largely Mickey D’s, “welcome to Wal-Mart”, or some other similarly stimulating and economically enabling jobs.
Since the inception of the federal Department of Education, we have seen the massive push for All Students to be High School Graduates. In order to achieve this goal in the shortest amount of time, standards were lowered and BOOM, the graduation rate exploded with it. High School GPAs were grossly inflated and colleges wanted to expand. During this phase, colleges spent far more on concrete and bricks (or additional ivy) than on quality teachers, expansion of professional schools (engineering, medical, dental, legal, etc) with highly qualified students and faculty. This morphed into All Students Need At Least Two Years of College But a Four Year Degree Is FAR MORE IMPORTANT, no matter the subject area or the availability of jobs or QUALIFICATION OF THE STUDENT! This morphed into ACHIEVING DIVERSITY IN EDUCATION.
I have a proposal for all those who have pushed the necessity of DIVERSITY in particularly PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS at the expense of the ABILITY OF THE STUDENT ACADEMICALLY—let these “doctors” practice on YOU, let these “dentists” drill and pull YOUR teeth, let these “lawyers” represent YOU in court. Rather than this scenario, the political class want s the best and brightest to be their doctors, dentists or lawyers and let the diversity “graduates” be available for the working class. Rules for thee and all that. True for all political groups. Better to support mediocrity than to be labeled racist or sexist or homophobic. Moronic is fine.
Most of these ‘College Graduates’ seem to end up working at the many Starbucks in the town. Mickey D’s and other fast foodie places are staffed by Spanish speakers exclusively.
Those hispanics working at McD’s best keep one eye peeled for a Spanish-speaking kiosk.
“Me despido de la empresa.”
The degree is a filter to sieve applicants for political loyalty jobs, to qualify and funnel loyalists into the self-serving government economy, not the GAAP-based economy.
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, that is; the gov keeps its own weird books, instead of measuring real things like cost of inventory, cost of goods sold, number of widgets, etc. Instead, the gov relies on patronage, skim, slander, propaganda, money laundering, all the kinds of things you can’t show on the books.
People pay big money to get into the lucrative industry of government connections.
The gov, like communists, like mafias, like pirates, rewards its crew.
It’s a giant theft ring.
That’s why the bizarro credentials are a buy-in for legacy kids, relatives, friends, or useful idiots.
Bonus is that they’re an excuse to sell lemon loans, or slave chains, to the rubes.
Milton Friedman is an ideological free trader. The free movement of labor isn’t the same thing as free movement of goods and capital. Even when I was young and was a true believer in free trade I never supported the free movement of labor and open borders. Then again I grew up in El Paso on the border with Mexico so I knew firsthand the consequences of illegal immigration.
A nation is defined by its borders, language, and culture. Preserving national identity is a critical policy goal. My views on free trade have evolved. I now realize “free trade”is an ideal doesn’t exist in the real world. Trade policy that supports domestic industries and protects the wages of workers are essential to national security.
Politicians in both parties denounce “protectionism” while at the same time imposing ruinously expensive environmental regulations imposed on to consumers in the name of saving the planet.Spare me your tears about the cost of Chinese crap at Walmart going up in price a few dollars.
I love Mike Roe, mans man, except more than.
What they speak of with the tearing apart of America is….the tearing apart of America. It’s not organic or ground up, it’s intentional and demonic.
You cannot take the name of God and then drag it through the filth you are a target just by admitting you’re a child of God. Then taking off the armor to skinny dip with Lucifer and his lovely minions, you’re going to get destroyed.
”We” collectively, partake of sin and most know nothing of God in our nation now. We are importing all sorts of satanic cultures now to finish off a nation of God.
Men and women will sell off their mothers to sit at the table of Lucifer in our nation. Just look at a politician!
We either get removed, taken up or out then like toilet paper used on the anus of Lucifer these morons will be discarded to eternity of their choosing. They have no use for heaven, heaven is a place where ego is left off.
I was an undergrad economics major in the late 1990s. What we were taught is the concept of “comparative advantage”; i.e., that each country should focus on what they do “best” and move away from industries where they were not as productive. Push the “less productive” work to lower skilled societies/countries. This would in turn make the world economy as a whole more productive and grow the economic pie as it were.
The problem is it assumes that workers displaced by the relocation of “lower value” work can easily be retrained to do something else (that is, coal miners or steel workers should “learn to code”.) It has turned out that people are not like robots that can be re-programmed to perform a completely different type of work. So those who have lost their jobs to overseas competitors have remained unemployed or underemployed, leading to the hollowing out of great swaths of society and the loss of economic prosperity for millions of Americans.
I live in central NC and before all the offshoring we made furniture and textiles that were second to none. A customer only had to describe what they want, and our industries could draw it, design it, prototype it, and maufacture it like no one else. Sadly most of that is gone now. The furniture and textile workers are now working in lower paying service jobs with no future.
There are other obvious drawbacks to offshoring your manufacturing, to include national security issues when you can no longer produce the products needed to sustain the economy or even just the military. Your country becomes dependent on overseas sources. We saw this clearly during Covid — if we lose our supply of microchips etc. our supply chain falls apart.
I used to laugh at France for protectionist economic policies designed to protect “inefficient” domestic industries. Now I wish we had done more to protect our domestic industries.
Bravo! My sentiments exactly. I also live in NC, and I heard the same Free Trade gospel in college in the 1990’s. Once I got into the real world I came to realize that the ideal free trade does not exist; and there are social, economic, cultural, and national security considerations beyond Adam Smith’s comparative advantage model.
The free movement of labor isn’t the same as the free movement of goods and capital.
The greatest hypocrisy is the same policy makers who bemoan the increased costs “protectionism” impose on consumers think nothing at all when far greater costs are imposed on consumers if it’s to protect the environment and save the planet.
The economic and social environment of the nation are worth protecting, too.
NAFTA was the final blow to American manufacturing. The exodus of manufacturing killed communities and whole cities and increased welfare a hundred fold since there was no where for workers to go. Then is when the economists started calling us a a service based economy. No country can survive job wise as a solely service based economy since they produce no manufactured products or jobs related to that. Most manufacturing went to overseas companies along with the jobs and side service jobs that manufacturing plants provided.
Any older native of Pittsburgh knows you speak the truth.
There is something to be said for an ‘equalization’ of sorts which lifts up the poor countries even at the short term expense of America.
However there is nothing positive to be said when said poor countries are dictatorships with dominance aspirations and with its own protectionist wishes. See China.
That’s just nuts.
And that’s why Trump is the greatest President of the past 100 years. For recognizing, identifying and attempting to remedy the situation.
One thing I would note about what he said (at 1:16) toward the end of the interview when VDH was talking about getting his roof done…
I worked with both Anglo and Hispanic contractors in Southern California. The Hispanic contractors are for the most part very hard workers but to be honest, in a lot of instances there is an element of racism toward hiring Anglo workers on their crew especially if they don’t speak Spanish. Racism DOES in fact go both ways.
Here in CO, I do see a lot more Anglo workers in the trades.
Just my observations.
Re: VDH interview comments about .mil recruiting problems.
These are not viewed as problems. They don’t want white males in the military. Why not, you might ask? Could it be because they do intend to use the military domestically against conservatives / gun owners / states threatening secession?