At Project Syndicate Dani Rodrik longs for a U. S. trade policy that promotes the good of the whole world rather than just narrow U. S. benefit:
Many liberal commentators in the US think Trump is right to go after China. Their objection is to his aggressive, unilateralist methods. Yet the fact is that Trump’s trade agenda is driven by a narrow mercantilism that privileges the interests of US corporations over other stakeholders. It shows little interest in policies that would improve global trade for all. Such policies should start from the trade regime’s Golden Rule: do not impose on other countries constraints that you would not accept if faced with their circumstances.
There is a converse to that: don’t accept anything less from the other countries of the world than you urge on the United States. If we had demanded less mercantilist politices from Japan, South Korea, and China, maybe there wouldn’t be as much domestic support for mercantilist policies in the United States.
Surely. Surely!!! This can’t be serious.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-05-12/audible-gasp-was-heard-when-chicago-fed-unveiled-its-solution-pension-problem
Another milepost on the road to the end of Chicago as one of the U. S.’s great cities. More of the gentrification plan that’s driving everybody but the rich out of Chicago.
Just as a reference I live in one of Chicago’s best neighborhoods. In the city not the suburbs. Our streets have been in disrepair for over six months due to a sewer project. They made the change to the sewers and now our street floods every time it rains. They removed six drains and replaced them with four. Not an engineer or even a city field superintendent to be seen in the entire project.
In nearby downtown Edgebrook (also part of Chicago) the shopping area has been closed off for several months to do some road reconfiguration which to my eye appears completely optional. The stores are all going out of business. The repairs will continue for several months.
City officials have lost track of the fact that cities are people. When you drive the people out the cities are no more.
There are other solutions but politicians won’t embrace them. They all involve reducing pension payments to retired public employees. Why not a compromise? Cap public pensions at something reasonable like $125,000. That will save the state and the city billions.
I’ve been in your neighborhood several times. It’s a lovely neighborhood. What’s happening in Chicagoland is criminal. So many people I meet these days, whether from IL, NY, NJ or OH etc have similar stories. All for the benefit of the politicians.
We are going to build a place in Asheville, NC. All I can tell you is that the mindset is so different from old line northern cities. There is a major realignment in the works.