Memo To Congess: Did You Catch This Bit Of News?

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The Wall Street Journal ran an interesting article today. Although the title, says it all - the article itself is well worth reading. Nations Rush To Establish New Barriers To Trade

• Maybe it was the sheer number of countries reportedly erecting trade barriers
  
• Maybe it was the countries in particular that were reportedly erecting trade barriers
  
• Or maybe it was the special meeting the WTO feels it needs to have on Monday. Yes, this coming Monday.

Now, I have often criticized globalization. But I am not anti-globalization. Rather, I am pro-globalization that is fair and sustainable.

So now, we have a position of hostility developing. Is this supposed to be progress? Because I am not getting that impression.

So since the crash in September 2008, let's do an ideological check:

• Capitalism took a major hit - some say permanent, others say altered

• Democracy looked dicey when the Republican party had not one but two internal party revolts when it was in power. And, by the way, Democracy's not looking so great now with all this bickering and inability to find a compromise

• And now, Globalization is on thinner ice than it was before

And by the way, aren't these all the bedrock of American foreign policy?

So here's my question for the Republicans. Is it the tax cuts they are holding out for? Because, frankly if something does not happen ASAP, I really don't see the point of them.

• Because businesses have to sell and trade and have markets to make money to even have money to pay taxes. Barriers to trade make that kind of difficult

• And oh yes, business do need inputs, right? So, what happens when those prices go up because everybody is seeing who can erect the most barriers?

• And one more thing, when was the last time you looked at the data from the US Department of Commerce - the US depends on the world quite a bit.

Again, every time there is a delay the cost goes up. There has to be spending. There's no avoiding it. But why make the tag higher than it needs to be? No trade or limited trade or difficult trade means money has to come from somewhere. That's State Subsidization. And that ideology is somewhere along the lines of Socialism. And which party would honestly be responsible?

Ironic, isn't it?

Congress, if you missed that WSJ article, may I humbly suggest that you have a quick look at it?