International Angle: China Trade War?

Earlier today I bashed Romney on his Libya remarks.  Now, I'm inclined to do the same thing to Obama over his decision to file a trade complaint against China.  Political pandering to people who don't understand the full picture.

I'm not saying that China is on the up-and-up.  Not many people who have spent more than 15 minutes reading up on Chinese trade practices will vouch for their ability to play by the rules.  But at the same time, if you looked at the United States in a similar point during the transition from an agriculture to an industrial economy you'd see similar practices.

The difference is, we did it first.  Before there were established players to be hurt by it.

Obama is smart, smart enough to realize that no matter how many times he tattles on China it will never bring jobs back to America.  The economy of the 1940's, 50's, and 60's is gone, and gone forever.  The American worker is too expensive, too entitled, and oddly enough too uneducated to do the manufacturing jobs of 2012.

But you can't tell that to someone who doesn't want to flex with the times.  Someone who can't.  Someone who's just lost their job after 20 years, working in a plant that's now located in China.  They barely got their high school diploma, never built another skillset beside operating their assembly line station.  They're fucked.  The world is leaving them behind, and they're rightly scared about it.

Obama knows he can't help them--probably not, anyway.  What I see is Obama trying to help that person's kids.  Setting the country up for success down the road, since we've fallen behind on this leg of the race.  But that doesn't win elections.

As a nation, we've lost the ability to lay out a plan and work toward a goal.  We've been seduced by the instant gratification of drive thru food, iPods, Blackberry syncing.  If it's complicated, we want it simplified.  If it relies on a human doing their job, we want to automate it to eliminate risk.

That nation needs to be pandered to.  We all bitch about politicians, and how they behave.  But we created them, folks.  Maybe not you, maybe not me--but the Average American needs pandering.  They need to be consoled.  Whatever politician does this the best will win--even if they actually have nothing of value to offer.

The difference between Obama and Romney for me is pretty simple.  They're both politicians; they both pander; they both lie; they both have their flaws and their strengths.  But at the end of the day, Romney got rich by destroying healthy companies for short-term gain.  Obama got his start helping communities one person at a time.  One of these mind sets will set America up for continued greatness, and the other will send us down the path of the British Empire.

I'd really have to tell my child someday, "Kid, you're American.  Tone it down a bit."

International Angle: East China Sea Heats Up

First Japan buys the disputed islands--then China sends warships to patrol them. BBC has the story.  This can't end well.

It's almost unimaginable, to think of two modern powers with more to lose than to gain actually firing shots in anger over some real estate.  But since we're stuck in the fossil-fuel era, people don't think rationally about things relating to oil, or natural gas.

I don't actually think this will come down to a three way rumble with China, Taiwan, and Japan duking it out over these tiny islands--but that's what they said about Kuwait, too.  Largely, because there's no way the United States will sit back and let China fire on allies over contested territory--and there's no way China wants a couple carrier battle groups with hostile intent in the area.

But these things have been said about other things.  "There's no way Germany will reoccupy the Rhineland.  There's no way Hussein will invade Kuwait.  There's no way the Soviets will invade Afghanistan."  Take your pic.  History is made out of the unthinkable.

This might look like a small escalation, but it just goes to show China isn't intending to back down just because Japan "bought" their "sovereign territory."  That means there's more than a few chapters left to this book.

That's got to be keeping some people in Washington up late.

International Angle: South China Sea

So as happens from time to time, China decides they own parts of the world other countries also claim to own.  If ever there's going to be a major conflict between sovereign nations in the near future, this is what it'll be over--islands, fisheries, and mineral resources in the South China Sea.

Currently, the Chinese government is a little pissed off that the US has been advocating a local, multi-lateral solution to the disputes through Asean, the Association of South East Asian Nations.  According to the BBC, state-run media in China is accusing the US of "attempting to sow discord in order to fish for advantage."

Mrs. Clinton's actual statement? <>(BBC, 1101 9/5/12)

Yep, them's fighting words alright.  Our apologies for not urging everyone to surrender their sovereign rights to the desires of the Chinese government, of course.  Perhaps America is historically qualified to judge thinly-veiled imperialistic endeavors, just maybe?

Earmarks and the Pork Barrel

My girlfriend recently asked me what earmarks were, in relation to pork barrelling. I was a little surprized that she didn't know. And I figured, "If someone as smart as her doesn't know, then...how many others don't?

What Is the Pork Barrel?

Wikipedia gets a lil smart with us, saying that it's a barrel you keep pork in. Luckily for those clowns, they go on to say it's more often a political metaphor for the appropriation of government spending for projects specifically designed to benefit a constituency or campaign contributor.


I like the Wikipedia article...it does a good job explaining it, and detailing it, and putting the term into context (really, not all appropriations are pork. Money spent on the I-35 bridge in the Twin Cities would have been money well spent, but that damned bridge in Alaska is totally pork).

Basically, it's when the Congressman from Columbus makes sure money in a Federal transportation bill gets funnelled to the Columbus Dept of Public Works, so they can replace all their signs. He does this so when election time comes around, he can say "Look, I got you money for new highway signs! I'm not useless!"

(I'm not implying that the Congressman from Columbus is useless, or that he does these things, or that he's even a man, necessarily. I know my end of Columbus has a Congressman, and he's been pretty responsible--if amazingly conservative).

What is an earmark?

Wikipedia is a lil complicated on this one, starting with the public finance definition. Long story short? It's when money is singled out for a project, or a specific exemption is made from a tax or fee. Earmarking is how pork happens, for the most part.

There's two types of earmarks: the hard type that's written into the legislation, and the soft type included in the reports of Congressional committees. Soft ones aren't binding, but in that "one hand washes the other" sort of way, they're acted on as if they were. Hard ones become law.

That's the basic pork barrel process! Not all earmarks are pork, and neither are all appropriations (remember, I-35 bridge needed money to be replaced or renovated = good earmark, useless $230 million bridge to replace a functioning ferry = pork).

The biggest issue is that earmarks are generally not handled out in the open. They don't get debated or defended...they just get passed. Anything you can't discuss on the floor of Congress probably doesn't need to have my money spent on it, is my opinion on pork.

...And Now for Some News...

Two-Prong Fed Move: Rate Cut & Bear Stearns Sale, from NPR

Terminator Has a Heart: California Lifers Getting Paroled, from NPR

Kosovo Violence Forces UN Out, from BBC

China Issues Deadline, Holds Protestors in Tibet, from BBC

Southside of Columbus to Get new Medicla Center, from WCBE

Cincinnati Snow-Removal Budget in the Red, from WVXU (All I gotta say is, Duh)