Is America Afraid of Competition?

An article by CNN's Ruben Navarrette Jr. claiming Americans are shunning competition has some key problem areas commonly ignored by the right and business lobbyists.

Consider this statement: "Imagine that. What people in other countries accept as the natural order [competition], we continue to resist." That's hogwash. Most economies are far more protectionist than America. It just doesn't seem that way because our trade is so lopsided (creating other problems discussed in other posts).

Let's look at China, the rising star of competitiveness:

Even Donald Trump complained that their internal rules make it difficult for an outsider to set up a business there, favoring locals. "If you want to open a business in China, it is virtually impossible," Trump said in 2006. "And yet, if China wants to come here and do something, there is no problem whatsoever." China is also lax about enforcing foreign copyrights.

Further, many countries tend to manipulate their currency and other properties in order to benefit jobs over consumerism. Our system tends to favor cheap trinkets over stable jobs. For whatever reason, other countries have done the opposite. I can personally attest that a bumpy turmoil-filled job market is NOT a "family value".

And consider things like pollution and human rights. Chinese factories often get an edge up over our factories by ignoring pollution standards. The Chinese government has purposely traded in clean skies for jobs. Do we want to do the same? A Chinese worker is happy to get a pay-check until they die of tuberculosis. But there's nothing they can do about it because they don't control that.

The playing field is simply not level. I'd agree with Ruben if it was, but it aint. It's typical of right-wing economic writing: mantra without the details. Thinking is not their comparative advantage.

WSJ Manipulation at Work Again

This WSJ article about faith in politicians is highly un-balanced. While it talks repeatedly about the "sins" of too much government, it barely mentioned the overwhelming role that deregulation played in the current downturn mess.

Here's an example of their manipulation:

"This week the New York Post carried a report that 1.5 million people had left high-tax New York state between 2000 and 2008, more than a million of them from even higher-tax New York City."

The implication made here and later in the article is that they left mostly because of taxes. However, they never justify that with a reason-for-leaving survey, etc. Maybe they left simply because they don't like crowds. WSJ simply runs with the tax-reason assumption. The WSJ does this often, as do most Murdoch-owned outlets. They either lack self-critical thinking, or are purposely duping readers with sales techniques such as pretending like something is already a fact when no such fact has been established by the brochure. They are not "serious" news.