Simon Wren-Lewis — Dani Rodrik talks straight on trade

Short review of Dani Rodrik's latest book, Straight Talk on Trade: Ideas for a Sane World Economy.

In that sense the title of the book is rather misleading. Although it is discussed a lot, this is hardly just a book about trade. Indeed the subtitle “Ideas for a sane world economy” conveys a better picture of what it is about. The book is based on a collection of articles written for Project Syndicate and elsewhere, and occasionally the joins show. But that feeling quickly gets lost in a wealth of stimulating arguments and ideas that I defy anyone to find dull. This is a fascinating book to read, and I cannot think of anyone who would not learn a great deal from reading it.

It sounds like this book is in the right ball park, dealing with the global economy as a closed system in terms of the social, political and economic issues this involves owing to national boundaries and regional affiliations. Addressing these issues successfully is the challenge of the age in order to avoid dysfunction and conflict above all, but also to aim at distributed prosperity along with fostering political stability and promoting social harmony.

Mainly Macro
Dani Rodrik talks straight on trade
Simon Wren-Lewis | Professor of Economics, Oxford University

Andrew Spannaus — European Union’s Democracy Dilemma

The European elites want the European Union as a means for controlling the Continent’s economies, but that often requires overriding the popular will of nation states, a dilemma for “democracy,” explains Andrew Spannaus.

Capitalism and democracy are antithetical, since capitalism entails elite control while democracy takes the interests of all into account.

The case of Ireland shows the preferred method of European institutions for consolidating E.U. authority. First a goal is set, and then the method is chosen to meet it. If the most influential European politicians agree, the consent of the governed becomes merely an annoying detail to get around however possible....

The preferred method for moving forward with European integration raises serious questions. If the only way to create a United States of Europe is to avoid consulting the people, why should the goal even be pursued? The response often heard is based on circular reasoning: Europe needs to be built in order to meet the needs of the people, then the people will understand why it’s so important.…

The decision is taken chiefly on the basis of elite interests assuming that elites know best and what is good for them will make everyone's life better. If not, those left out did not try hard enough to make it work for them.

Consortium News
European Union’s Democracy Dilemma
Andrew Spannaus

Daniel Little — Strategies for resisting right-wing populism

Neoliberalism versus populist nationalism or social democracy. Neoliberalism is generating a reaction, as dialectics would predict. The dominant reaction presently is populist nationalism tending toward authoritarianism on the right of the political spectrum. The left is still stuck with the globalist (corporatist) neoliberalism adopted by Third Way politicians like Bill Clinton and Tony Blair in reaction to Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher's conservatism.

What would it take for the parties of the left to embrace the pro-working class [social democratic] policies described here? And is the underlying suspicion voiced by Rothstein above actually correct: that the Democratic Party is so beholden to large corporate interests that it is incapable of adopting these kinds of platforms?

Understanding Society

Strategies for resisting right-wing populism

Daniel Little | Chancellor of the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Professor of Philosophy at UM-Dearborn and Professor of Sociology at UM-Ann Arbor

See also

Longish.

Noahpinion
The siren song of homogeneity

Noah Smith

Daria Dugina — France: Globalism Vs Patriotism

Professional analysis of French politics from the POV of geopolitics and geostrategy.

Geopolitica.ru
France: Globalism Vs Patriotism

Daria Dugina (daughter of Alexander Dugin)

JW Mason — At Dissent: A Cautious Case for Economic Nationalism

I have an article in the new issue of Dissent, arguing that “As long as democratic politics operates through nation-states, any left program will require some degree of delinking from the global economy.”…

One thing that’s probably not as clear as it should be in the Dissent piece, is that the case for delinking is much stronger for most other countries than for the United States. For most countries, free trade and, even more, free capital mobility, drastically reduce the choices available to national governments. (This “disciplining” of the state by foreign investment is sometimes acknowledged as its real function.) For the US, I don’t think this is true – I don’t think the threat of capital flight meaningfully constrains policy here. And in particular I don’t think it makes sense to see a more positive trade balance as necessary or even particularly desirable to boost demand, for reasons laid out here and here.

The US is a special case in many respects and American leaders, media and much of the public project the American case on the world either as the general case or the general case to be achieved, and often this is not even the actual case but the dominant narrative.

J. W. Mason's Blog
At Dissent: A Cautious Case for Economic Nationalism

JW Mason | Assistant Professor of Economics, John Jay College, City University of New York

Diana Johnstone — The Main Issue in the French Presidential Election: National Sovereignty

The confusion is due to the fact that most of what calls itself “the left” in the West has been totally won over to the current form of imperialism – aka “globalization”. It is an imperialism of a new type, centered on the use of military force and “soft” power to enable transnational finance to penetrate every corner of the earth and thus to reshape all societies in the endless quest for profitable return on capital investment. The left has been won over to this new imperialism because it advances under the banner of “human rights” and “antiracism” – abstractions which a whole generation has been indoctrinated to consider the central, if not the only, political issues of our times.

The fact that “sovereignism” is growing in Europe is interpreted by mainstream globalist media as proof that “Europe is moving to the right”– no doubt because Europeans are “racist”. This interpretation is biased and dangerous. People in more and more European nations are calling for national sovereignty precisely because they have lost it. They lost it to the European Union, and they want it back.

That is why the British voted to leave the European Union. Not because they are “racist”, but primarily because they cherish their historic tradition of self-rule.…

The Trotskyites so-called "leftists" aka have blown themselves up by self-identifying with the neo-imperialists globalists. Charles De Gaulle is laughing in his grave.

Another illustration of the paradox of liberalism involving social, political and economic liberalism in which social liberalism is being used as tool to target economic liberalism at the expense of political liberalism. This is another instance illustrating how difficult it is to integrate social, political and economic liberalism. As result, many are losing confidence in liberalism as a viable social, political and economic theory and are looking for alternatives. This is freaking out the liberal establishment, which views the only alternatives to liberalism as being either fascism or communism. As a result debate has become irrational.

Good backgrounder on French politics going to the presidential election, too.

Counterpunch
The Main Issue in the French Presidential Election: National Sovereignty

Diana Johnstone

Taylor Lewis — The Shift: From Liberal-Conservative to Globalist-Nationalist

Taylor Lewis explores the contrast between globalism and nationalism from a nationalist point of view.

Nationalism is usually considered to be a rightist point of view, and internationalism a leftist one. However, economic liberalism led to global capitalism so establishments of both the parties of the right and left favored globalism and international institutions that accommodated transnational corporatism.

The election of Donald Trump, Brexit, and the resurgence of nationalists parties in Europe, collectively called "populism," has changed that political dynamic and pitted nationalists against globalists.

The American Thinker
The Shift: From Liberal-Conservative to Globalist-Nationalist

Taylor Lewis

Dean Baker — Tony Blair, Who Brought Us the War in Iraq, Lectures on the Evils of Populism

Dean Baker illustrates the close connection among politics, policy, economics and the social fabric, showing how the globalist centrists are not only self-interested but clueless about the consequences, "populism" being a prominent one. 

The same can be said for the New Democrats in the US and the European globalist centrist leaders. 

They have no conception of historical dialectical and the inevitability of overreach calling froth its opposite to complement it. The pendulum of historical time is always swinging.

Beat the Press
Tony Blair, Who Brought Us the War in Iraq, Lectures on the Evils of Populism
Dean Baker | Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C

Voltarie Network — Egypt supports the Iraqi, Libyan and Syrian armies

Egypt comes out as being all in. Another poke in the eye of the globalizers.

On November 23, 2016, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi speaking at the RTP Portuguese TV channel said: "There should be international support for the national armies of Libya, Iraq and Syria, to ensure the security of their countries." President el-Sissi thus broke a hitherto well-kept secret: Egypt dispatched weapons to the loyalist forces of these three countries despite the Saudi threats.

Voltarie Network
Egypt supports the Iraqi, Libyan and Syrian armies

Pepe Escobar — Battle for the ages: Protectionist Trumponomics vs. Neoliberalism

1. Can a President Trump reverse the neoliberal globalist agenda since the entire establishment is committed to it? Does he even plan to?

2. Do the numbers add up? Not without persuading the country to accept a lot of red ink during the anticipated transition period before the effects to kick in and turn the tide for workers.

RT
Battle for the ages: Protectionist Trumponomics vs. Neoliberalism

Pepe Escobar

Alastair Crooke — ‘End of Growth’ Sparks Wide Discontent

The global elites’ false promise that neoliberal economics would cure all ills through the elixir of endless growth helps explain the angry nationalist movements ripping apart the West’s politics, observes ex-British diplomat Alastair Crooke.

Capitalism depends on endless growth.

Also a shout our for Lambert Strether of Corrente. Way to go, Lambert!

This post covers a lot of ground and is most timely.

Consortium News
‘End of Growth’ Sparks Wide Discontent

Alastair Crooke

Vincent DeLarge — Hillary’s ‘Racism’ Speech, And the Stunning Emergence of The New Left and Right

Finally, the parameters of the debate have been re-framed now. This election is not about Republican or Democrat anymore, but about nationalism vs globalism. The establishment vs the native insurgency.

Russia Insider
Hillary’s ‘Racism’ Speech, And the Stunning Emergence of The New Left and Right

Vincent DeLarge

Ismael Hossein-Zadeh — Evolution of Capitalism, Escalation of Imperialism

The purpose of this essay is to show that as capitalism has evolved from the early stages of small-scale manufacturing to the current stage of the dominance of finance capital, its arena of expropriation has, accordingly, expanded from the early colonial/imperial conquests abroad to today’s universal dispossession worldwide, both at home and abroad. Specifically, it aims to expose the class nature of imperialism independent of nationality and/or geography, and to indicate how this profit-driven characteristic of capitalism is at the root of today’s global austerity economics; an ominous development that dispossesses not only defenseless peoples abroad, but also the overwhelming majority of the people at home—a socio-economic plague that can be called the “new imperialism,” or “imperialism by dispossession” [1].

The new imperialism differs from the old, classical imperialism in at least four major ways.…

Counterpunch

Evolution of Capitalism, Escalation of Imperialism

Ismael Hossein-Zadeh | Professor Emeritus of Economics, Drake University

Neil Wilson — And what makes you think that stealing other country’s skills is appropriate?

Neil Wilson on importing labor

Medium
And what makes you think that stealing other country’s skills is appropriate?

Neil Wilson

Pat Lang — The MSM in the US are actually an arm of the Clinton campaign.

Globalists versus nationalists. Media on side of globalists. Didn't help the Remain folks though.

Sic Semper Tyrannis
The MSM in the US are actually an arm of the Clinton campaign.
Col. W. Patrick Lang, US Army (ret.), former military intelligence officer at the US Defense Intelligence Agency

James Petras — Global Economic, Political and Military Configurations

Introduction: Mapping the emerging global economic, political and military configurations requires that we examine regions and countries along several dynamic policy axis:

• Capitalist versus anti-capitalist
• Neoliberal versus anti-neoliberal
• Austerity versus anti-austerity
• War command centers and war zones
• Political change and socio-economic continuity
• New Order and political decay

Though many of these dimensions overlap, they also highlight the complexity and influence of local and national versus global power relations. 

We will first identify and classify the regimes and emerging movements, which fall into each of these categories, and then proceed to generalize about current ‘global’ trends and future perspectives based on approximations of the real correlation of forces.…

James Petras Website
Global Economic, Political and Military Configurations
James Petras | Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York and adjunct professor at Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia

See also

Pluto - Zionists Support for Hillary Clinton

Branko Milanovic — A reassessment of socialism: many questions

I was just at a conference that looked at the importance of Piketty’s most recent book for the future of capitalism. In talking about it, several participants mentioned the VoC literature. The acronym (which I thought at first referred to the Dutch West Indies Company) refers to the literature dealing with the “varieties of capitalism”. That made me think of the fact (which I discuss in my forthcoming book “Global inequality…”) that for the first time in history the entire globe is capitalist. In effect, for the first time in history, capitalism, defined as a system of the private ownership of the means of production, free wage labor, and rational pursuit of profit, does not have to share the globe with the “varieties of feudalism” or “varieties of socialism”. It has won.

But it also made me think of a project that I had in mind for some time and which I do not think I would manage ever to do, namely a reassessment of socialism. I think that the project would have to deal with two issues. First, to explain the rise and fall of socialism within a Marxist framework of successive modes of production. And second, to look at the legacies of socialism. Let me briefly go over both.…

Global Inequality
A reassessment of socialism: many questions
Branko Milanovic | Visiting Presidential Professor at City University of New York Graduate Center and senior scholar at the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), and formerly lead economist in the World Bank's research department and senior associate at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Here is my comment, which Blogger would not let me put up there.

•••••••••••••••••••

It seems to me that you have overlooked perhaps the dominant force in the so-called failure of socialism as result of the triumph of capitalism globally. That was the combined political and military force directed against socialist countries from the time of the Russian Revolution. This opposition persists to the present and it is as virulent as ever.

Socialism did not develop in a vacuum but instead in an intensely hostile context. It is hardly surprising under the circumstances that an authoritarian hierarchical military-based organizational approach was adopted and resources committed heavily to countering the persistent and accelerating threat rather than to developing a managed social welfare state in contrast to a "liberal" market state that is also managed by class structure and class power.

Even though capitalism has triumphed at this stage, the socialist experiment did not fail. Rather, it was distracted and ultimately defeated (Russia) or blunted (China) politically and economically by a stronger opponent. While the outcome was thankfully not decided militarily, copious blood was spilt through clandestine operations.

And the game is not over yet. The nuclear standoff persists and is increasing rather than decreasing.

As a result no conclusion can yet be drawn about the inherent superiority of capitalism to socialism from the capitulation of socialist countries to the strongest in the global economic context at this time.

The idea and ideal of socialism are not dead by any means, and the capitalist world has not let down its guard against it either.

Therefore, that capitulation to an accord with capitalism may be temporary. There seems to be little doubt the Chinese leadership sees it that way with China poised to the dominant economy eventually.

The CCP has no plans to turn the reins of power over to the ownership class and self-destruct. The US leadership knows this, of course, and it committed to doing to China what it believes it did to Russia, with a new arms race heating up through development of new military technology.

The present moment is just another stage of the dialectic and not "the end of history." The world has not heard the last gasp of socialism yet and its capitalism that now is under duress from its own internal contractions as dialecticians foresaw.

Actually, neither socialism nor capitalism have actually been tried. Feudalism shifted from one form to another, away from one ruling class based on control of land wealth to another based on control of industrial and financial wealth as well.  This is amply demonstrated in the focus on inequality of income and wealth at present.

Even if capitalism does manage to carry the day globally, the historical dialectic does not cease however long a moment in the march of time lasts.

Some socialists would welcome this as the sign that the time is ripe for socialism to rise and replace it as the next phase of historical unfolding of ideas. See Sukomal Sen, Marx and the Cataclysmic Crisis of Global Capitalism

Lawrence Davidson — The Dangers of Religious Primitivism

By stirring up the Middle East – from Western exploitation of oil to Zionist expulsion of Palestinians – Christians and Jews set in motion today’s “clash of civilizations” with Islam and launched all three religions on a path toward dangerous primitivism, a threat to humanity’s future, writes Lawrence Davidson.

I would not limited fundamentalisms to religious fundamentalism. Market fundamentalism that conflated market-based economics with a market state is also irrational and threatening.

"My way or the highway," and, "You're either with us or against us," are no basis for peaceful global integration. The tyranny of fixed ideas.

Consortium News
The Dangers of Religious Primitivism
Lawrence Davidson

Amer Mohsen — On anti-Americanism

The late thinker Hadi al-Alawi had a negative view of the essence of the West, that is, he argued that there was something inherently “evil” and belligerent at the core of Western civilization, culture, and historical development. Alawi further described the West as “the sole enemy of humanity, whose bludgeon in its sustained assault on humanity is the United States of America.”

Somewhat long but useful article.

Al Akhbar English
On anti-Americanism
Amer Mohsen

Simon Kuper — Falling out of love with America

America becoming isolated? If you are living outside the US, what do you see happening?

The Financial Times | FT Magazine
Falling out of love with America
Simon Kuper
(h/t Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism)