As usual I disagree with the assessment in Tom Friedman’s latest New York Times column. There’s no quote in it that properly summarizes his position and I won’t quote the column in full.
I’ll try to provide a synopsis. The United States or some consortium of countries can compel a change in Chinese behavior or the Chinese will voluntarily adopt the changes we want. That is nonsense. And it is even greater nonsense now that Xi Jinping is president for life.
The only country’s behavior we can change is our own and doing that’s an uphill battle. There are lots of ways we could set out on that path but increasing the prices of steel and aluminum is one small step. Our choice is whether we continue our doomed path to be a country whose economy is dependent almost entirely on consumer spending or one that achieves a better balance among personal consumption, business investment, and exports than is presently the case.
The odds are not good but I don’t see any other viable alternative.
Its amusing that the Chinese government invited Tom Friedman to do PR for them; I’m not sure it had the effect intended; note Friedman agreed with Trump that the status quo has to change, he disagreed on means.
Mr. Friedman’s has declared that he is a ‘Flat Earther’. What more needs to be said?
You do realize that you are a deplorable?
Our good friend @Icepick realized he was a deplorable long before there were deplorables. Interestingly, many of his detractors have learned that they too are deplorables.