Re: On Tuesday, economic populism had a good night
On Nov 10, 2006, at 12:19 PM, mike larkin wrote:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/ 000/000/012/931hiavy.asp
….In their emphasis on the relative conservatism of the incoming
House Democratic freshmen, reporters have glossed over a bigger
story: To the extent that many of these Democrats are conservative,
they are conservative in a vaguely “Buchananite” sense, which means
they tend to be noisy economic populists…..
Ah, that emptily floating signifier again! What do they want? Free
silver? Expropriation of foreign investors and banning immigration?
Better labor law and a civilized welfare state? Reading the article,
it seems they’re mainly concerned with trade agreements - e.g. the
sheriff who ran against the Oman deal. So what are they going to do
about it? Jack up tariffs? Because the rise in imports is only partly
explained by trade agreements; it has a lot more to do with declining
transportation and communications costs, and the spread of technology
to low-wage countries.
Doug