When it comes to free trade, Hillary Clinton sounds more and more like Donald Trump every day.
This is a clear attempt to take votes from Trump’s strongest supporters: disgruntled rust-belt workers who blame China and Mexico for stealing US jobs.
CNN Money reports Hillary Clinton Vows to Slap Tariffs on Trade Cheaters
For months, Trump has slammed U.S.’ trade deals with Mexico and South Korea as “horrible” and “disastrous.” He wants to fix them by placing hefty fines — known as tariffs — on goods coming into the U.S. from foreign countries that don’t play fair.
Now, Clinton says she’s ready to impose tariffs too.
“When countries break the rules, we won’t hesitate to impose targeted tariffs,” she told the crowd at a manufacturing plant in Warren, Michigan.
“I’m going to ramp up enforcement by appointing a new chief trade prosecutor, tripling the number of enforcement officers,” she said.
On Thursday, Clinton went out of her way to stress that she is not supporting the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that President Obama has been pushing.
“I oppose it now, I’ll oppose it after the election, and I’ll oppose it as president,” she said.
Trump’s Big Plans
Also consider Donald Trump’s Big Economic Plan: Fix U.S. Trade, written in March, before Trump won the nomination.
1. Trump’s claim: Trade is killing jobs
“The American worker is being crushed” by trade, Trump says. As proof, he cites research from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute that found America has lost 900,000 jobs to Mexico since the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed in late 1993.
The job losses are the subject of a huge debate. Other research by the right-leaning U.S. Chamber of Commerce says 5 million U.S. jobs have been created because of NAFTA.
2. Trump: Ohio has lost 100,000 jobs to trade
In his op-ed, Trump argues that states like Ohio have been especially hard hit by trade. “An Economic Policy Institute analysis found that Ohio has already lost more than 100,000 jobs to Trans-Pacific Partnership countries,” he writes.
3. Trump’s plan: The art of the (trade) deal
Trump solution is to renegotiate trade agreements (the U.S. currently has 20 free-trade deals in place) and put taxes (known as tariffs) on Chinese and Mexican imports.
The idea is to make Chinese and Mexican goods more expensive so companies will start manufacturing in the U.S. again.
The problem is China and Mexico aren’t likely to send Trump a thank you note. They would probably retaliate by putting taxes on U.S. goods coming into their countries. It could cause a global trade war.
4. Trump says stop the TPP trade deal
Trump has a big warning about the future: “The situation is about to get drastically worse if the Trans-Pacific Partnership is not stopped. One of the first casualties of the TPP will be America’s auto industry, and among the worst victims of this pact will be the people of Ohio.”
He points out that his rivals for the Republican nomination — Gov. Kasich, Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio — all support TPP.
The bottom line
Bashing trade is helping Trump win votes. But both Republican and Democratic experts warn his plan to “fix” trade deals could cause an economic war that leaves Americans even worse off.
TPP Fiasco
I am against TPP not because it expands free trade, rather because it has nothing to do with free trade.
- April 7, 2015: Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership Fiasco vs. Mish’s Proposed Free Trade Alternative; How Will TPP Function in Practice?
- April 11, 2015: Legacy Skills and Capital; Sugar and Steel; Turning TPP to TP
- October 12, 2015: Hillary Clinton, Dead Rats, Toilet Paper Politics
- May 30, 2016: Stacked Deck: US Bullies WTO, TPP Revisited
As secretary of State, Hillary pushed for TPP at least 45 times.
Change of Heart
Hillary had a change of heart last October, no doubt due to positions taken by Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.
“I’m continuing to learn about the details of the new Trans-Pacific Partnership, including looking hard at what’s in there to crack down on currency manipulation, which kills American jobs, and to make sure we’re not putting the interests of drug companies ahead of patients and consumers. But based on what I know so far, I can’t support this agreement,” said Clinton.
Last October I asked “How is it that it’s more important for a private citizen to be more concerned about and more aware of details in a trade bill than the Secretary of State?”
Hillary’s Changing Tune
- As Secretary of State: “TPP sets the gold standard in trade agreements to open free, transparent, fair trade, the kind of environment that has the rule of law and a level playing field.”
- Last October: “Based on what I know so far, I can’t support this agreement.”
- Today: “I oppose it now, I’ll oppose it after the election, and I’ll oppose it as president.”
Questions of the Day
- What will Hillary say if elected?
- Given how much economists and the media have blasted Trump over trade issues, when do they start bashing Hillary for identical policies and statements?
Question two is easy: Never. Instead, expect praise.
For those who think there is a difference on trade between Hillary, Sanders, and Trump, please take Today’s Quiz: Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton – Who Said It?
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Copy Cat Hillary,
Copy Cat Hillary,
That is the story of her entire life…………
https://wchildblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/hillary-meme.jpg?w=585&h=328
https://cdn.meme.am/instances/50662517.jpg
Hillary will say whatever it takes to get elected. She is a neo-liberal neo-con. She has the full support of big finance, the military industrial complex, and big media. And the same small group of people own all three.
They are going to do whatever it takes to keep Trump out, and Hillary is there willing liar to do it. The wealth she will earn for this is unimaginable.
She’s a Fascist-Communist, like Merkel.
I wonder what products one would find in China with a made in U.S.A. stamp? All we sell to China is some cars and airplanes. Everything you find on the shelves in U.S.A. is made somewhere else, except some foods, cars, airplanes, guns. Free trade means the standard of living in U.S.A. will eventually reach a level equal to the average found in the rest of the world that has manufacturing, look at how a lot of those people live, its not so great.
If only TPP actually DID set a gold standard. But at least we know now that Hilary is against a gold standard.
Inexpensive fiat is the ONLY ethical money form for government money else the taxation authority and power of government is misused to benefit private interests such as gold owners and money hoarders.
I.e., being for a gold standard is like being for $700 government hammers. That scam is obsolete.
Say again why the government should have its own money?
Because government has a legal monopoly on force and that force should be used to promote the general welfare, not the welfare of special interests such as gold owners, money hoarders and $700 hammer makers.
Force is force , no one has a monopoly on it , government has a monopoly on the legally sanctioned use of force , in other words it supposedly permits a judicious application of it .
People also judge for themselves whether they should use force at any point , and tend to follow the parameters permitted by law, out of either respect or self caution .
Either way , I am a little dubious that welfare might be forcefully promoted . I think that the general opinion is that force should be an ultimate defensive measure ? Therefore if you use force to help one person you end up justifying its use against the other , the payee simply on behalf of the other , whom the payee may not know , may have never met , or have never profited from in any way , whether legally or not .
That cannot be a good precedent , but it is the world we live in . I would have hoped rather for the protection of the success of the individual , something that would encourage private initiative .
There is an irony, you know , welfare tends to force people into welfare .
There is an irony, you know , welfare tends to force people into welfare . Crysangle
Not so ironic. Welfare for the rich, which we certainly have and have had, has led to the need for welfare for many others. Government subsidies/privileges for private credit creation, for example, have led to workers being disemployed with automation financed with what is, in essence, their own legally stolen purchasing power.
As for force, having a just society would certainly minimize the need for it, I would think.
You can promote the general welfare by giving most of your money to those who need it more than you do.
I prefer not to and honestly, I don’t give a sh_t about what you want or think. You are the problem.
That is a very direct statement , fingerhole.
A.A. Nor am I suggesting welfare for the rich. Government is rich. Although the welfare you propose may just be the removal of certain elite privileges, maybe you will consider that any other attempts at centralized distribution outside of simple enforcement of a financial system that is not fully rigged, is also liable to failure.
A large proportion of society will happilly consume without producing anything constructive while they are able to. That is to say money that comes their way will be exchanged for something more satisfying. They would not actually contribute unless obliged by circumstance, and that would be being in a situation of need. So what results with any distributive welfare system is the same, one part of society remains above poverty, while those in a truly productive role become rich. That is human nature, as is the fact that many of those who seek wealth are driven, and therefore find no qualm in driving others where the opportunity exists, as it is understood to be sharing the goal of producing wealth.
The only saviour of the out and out consumer might actually be automation and the increase in relatively free wealth it might bring. There is nothing to stop any community maintaining or returning to traditional models, but most choose not to, because they prefer the cheapest when it comes to their choice of supply. Cheapest money, cheapest goods = most for least.
The price for that is not being part of the process of production, and hence surplus to the economic model. That makes them dependent and weak, but also freer and better off if they use their time wisely.
That there is a problem of motivation, that traditional direction and achievement are disappearing, is a mixed result of the disintegration of an independent and self established society, of one that has disconected from familiar values without finding new ones to validate its existence. Instead society lives in a lined limbo which to many is not fully satisfying, and lacks a known and earned sense of security.
There is too much illusion and not enough ‘fact’.
I don’t think monetary formats are going to solve that precarity, they might only help, but people are loath to go into reverse, and so what awaits is something new, and it will have to be experienced to be understood and adjusted, or adjusted to.
Just as a heads up, Gold Standard generally isn’t taken to mean all hammers must be made of gold………
Take away the taxation authority and power that government can use to benefit the wealthy, and see how long anyone cares about their cheaply printed paper notes….
Gold has been used as money pretty much anywhere and any time you don’t have a government with practical taxation authority. Simply due to it’s physical properties (scarcity, divisibility and recombinability, nobility and distinctiveness.) It doesn’t depend on anyones “power” to stick a gun in other people’s face and demand they use what benefits the biggest gun owner as “money.” Some Crypto currency may supplant Gold. But only on account of being even more scarce, losslessly divisable and recombinable, and distinctive. As well as simpler to transact in. But empty promises put on pieces of paper by pathological liars?? Fat chance!
Based on the experience of Israel during the time of the Judges, anarchy MIGHT be stable but please note that the land was roughly equally distributed during that period and kept so via religious law (e.g. Leviticus 25).
So if we are to have anarchy then let’s get to equally distributing all significant assets such as land and the common stock of large corporations before we begin.
Otherwise, the call for anarchy is at best empty.
Moreover, calls to limit government power are a bit suspect now that a relative few have (unjustly, I argue) gobbled up most assets and would limit the ability to peacefully reverse that injustice.
Hitlery is a big-time flip flopper on TPP and trade because she knows it a hot button in the election. There is absolutely NO DOUBT that she has been a strong proponent of TPP. Now she’s backing off and the media, of course, fails to call her out. ha. But if Trump took a contradictory position they would be all over him like white on rice.
It’s rigged. Trump is 100% correct. All the cards are stacked against him. He can’t pass gas without it making the headlines while Hitlery is treated with kid gloves. BIG MONEY, the media and even the kingpins in the GOP want him to fail. The only ones in his corner are those of us who are sick and tired of more of the same crony sold-out politicians who continue to feed us crap sandwiches and expect us to like it.
I’m beginning to believe that Trump would be nuts to actually play to win and move into the White House. He and his family would be placed under a harassment microscope by the media. They’d make his life miserable. Look at what they’re doing to him today. If he moved into the White House that selective trashing would only accelerate. He wouldn’t be able to do anything right.
The best that Trump can do for us is to expose the criminals and the corrupted system in which we live. If he can do that I’ll be satisfied.
She will say anything to get elected. If the people believe that then they will get what they deserve. At best she will do nothing to support GLOBALIZATION if elected. Do not ever expect her to do anything to hinder it.
Her husband was the same way, turning whichever way the wind blows.
Hilary will support whatever position gets the most / biggest bribes (ummm, “contributions?”) to the Clinton Tax-evasion foundation.
Oh, and if anyone is interested, all the furniture in the oval office is available for “sale” to the biggest campaign contributor. You get a free congress member to vote your bidding with every piece stolen… ummm, sold.
You mean “turning whichever way Monica blows.”
disgruntled rust-belt workers who blame China and Mexico for stealing US jobs Mish
Government-subsidized private credit creation means that those with equity need not share it via, say, common stock (shares in equity) issuance but may instead use that equity for the basis of loans of what is, in essence, the workers’ and general populations’ legally stolen purchasing power.
In other words, without government-subsidized private credit creation, assets would be much more broadly owned and the benefits of free trade much more broadly shared.
We live in a government created government run world and it is a total disaster.
You cannot fix it with more government.
What part of eliminating government subsidies for private credit creation sounds like more government to you?
” But based on what I know so far, I can’t support this agreement,” said Clinton.”
Seems like she is leaving room to change her mind AGAIN later if it looks politically CONvenient for her. Before she supported it based on what she knew then, now she is against it based on what she knows so far, and later she might find out something else that would have her supporting it again. And people think Trump flip-flops??? Hitlery is the most unethical & untrustworthy candidate that ever was. She and Bill are famous for saying whatever they think people want to hear.
She was spewing her rhetoric today, not far from me, They local paper reported it accurately (Mitch Hotts) so I immediately went to the MSM to see what they reported… TOTALLY DIFFERENT, reinforcing the “theory” that it’s all controlled from behind the curtain by our owners. Some of the comments from the comments section:
1. More protestors than crooked hilary attendees.
2. 200 protestors? it was reported by the Detroit News and Channel 4 that it was 20? Is this just more terrible writing by another hack reporter mistake or blame the editor or perhaps the writer saw 10 times as many protestors as everyone else. This paper is an embarrassment to our county.
3. Is Hillary’s Alcoholic pumpkin getting bigger or is her hair shrinking?
4. Skeletor got dissed by Crooked Hillary LMAO.
5. I love reading “polls” then seeing that Killary can’t even fill a high school gym.
6. The protesters are much smarter than the guests and for the life of me I don’t understand why Futuramic would have this Beastly Alcoholic in their place of Business.
Her http://www.macombdaily.com/events/20160811/clinton-offers-economic-vision-at-warren-facilitymessage was a big fail.
“Killary can’t even fill a high school gym”
Yes. Its a one candidate election.
Hilary will support whatever position gets the most / biggest bribes (ummm, “contributions?”) to the Clinton Tax-evasion foundation.
Oh, and if anyone is interested, all the furniture in the oval office is available for “sale” to the biggest campaign contributor. You get a free congress member to vote your bidding with every piece stolen… ummm, sold.
She will support the trade agreement. She will claim the but she did not like was changed due to her insistence.
It’s just &*%*#! sad.
I’ve always wanted to leave a better life behind for the subsequent generations like our parents did for us.
But we’ve turned this great nation into the likes of another Mexico or Central American hell hole with respect to morals and values.
I’m embarrassed that’s the best we could do for our younger and forthcoming generations.
We failed.
You didn’t fail, there was no way to win since the odds in favor of failure were tremendous. I would guess that about 75% of the world’s population is liberal/socialist, about 24% conservative/fascist, and about 1% libertarian/anarchist.
Had 80% of all of America’s immigrants been libertarian/anarchist the Constitution would still be alive, and the US wouldn’t be so close to laying claim to being the worst country in history.
THIS
But really this: “Either the US Constitution authorized the form of government we have or it was powerless to prevent it. Either way it is unfit to exist.” Lysander Spooner, anarchist, 1840.
How does LFOldTimer define better?
More meat and fish at a reasonable price, a 3 car garage, 2 chickens in every pot, an opportunity for a college education without entering into debt slavery, an end to epidemic homelessness, returning to an era where a one-income household can support a family and allows mom to be with the kids, K-12 education that puts America at par with the rest of the industrialized world academically, etc…
Little things like that.
If you think today’s kids have it “better” or the same as we did – you’re living in a different world than me.
“But based on what I know so far, I can’t support this agreement,” said Clinton.
Classic Clinton Prevarication.
If HRC is elected, the TPP will be passed w/in 6 mos. w/ little or zero revision.
Trump needs to stay on message & hammer HRC on 1) trade, 2) foreign/intervention policy, and 3) re-instatement of Glass-Steagall.
I read that Obama is planning to pass the TPP right AFTER the election (in a lame duck session). He’s not going to take a chance on this thing not going through.
I don’t think he has the votes.
I pray he doesn’t have the votes.
I hate lame duck sessions… so much evil gets done against the will of the people.
Hillary is an adaptable liar.
Michael , if I come around to other people’s points of view , it is so that they in return accept coming around to mine when I am elected .
Remember Michael
…. we are in this together .
She’s not all that complicated.
Hillary will say whatever she calculates her audience wants to hear.
Hillary will do whatever her paymasters tell her to do.
Thank the focus groups.
Hitlery will do the same as Obama did. Feed the lemmings with unadulterated BS and once elected flip her followers the bird and renege on her promises.
Until politicians are held accountable for their campaign lies nothing changes. Lying to get donations and vote to get elected to office should be a criminal offense worse than perjury. A felony with a minimum mandatory 5 years in prison.
If a businessman gets caught lying to customers to swindle them out of their money it’s called FRAUD – and businessmen get prosecuted for FRAUD all the time.
Why should it be any different for politicians. A promise for a donation is a contact. Either give the money back or go to the slammer.
That’s exactly what it is, fraud.
Mish,
The TTP will be ratified during the lame duck session. Hillary will be able to oppose what she once championed and have “credibility” (that’s a laugh) because it happened before she came into office.
The should sound familiar because it’s business as usual in Washington DC