The New Mercantilism and the New, New Deal

Vox Day mentions Ian Fletcher and the New Mercantilism:

If corporate America pretty much has to make a profit by selling goods to Americans by Americans, this means that corporate America has an intrinsic interest in the productivity of Americans and in their ability to consume. Now, productivity plus consumption is prosperity, I mean, that’s pretty much all it is, so if you have an economy that’s set up that way then corporate America pretty much wants what the rest of us want, and for decades in this country, roughly from 1940 to 1975 there was an arrangement in this country where things were set up that way. It wasn’t perfect, but there was, broadly speaking, a structural alignment between what was in the interests of big corporations in this country and what was in the interest of the average American.

No, I can’t sign on to this. No “New, New Deal.”

America is set up to systematically screw the worker because Congress (95% Democrat-controlled), “roughly from 1940 to 1975,” took more and more money from workers and sold it back to older workers, collecting their votes “in kind.” It was a neat grift, but you can’t jack the rates anymore, and I cannot and will not endorse it. (“Employer-based” “health care”: same grift, different sector.) We need to undo the damage and return Americans to a competitive position by unf–king the system.

Yes, protectionism works in some areas. Defense plants must be built in the US. US agriculture subsidies should be paid out from the Department of Defense, since they protect us from dependence on foreign foodstuffs but D.C. loves denial, so the Ag Dept does it. A small tariff on goods entering the US is probably a good idea for tracking and to stabilize trade between nations. (If your sleeve is being tugged by a Liber-tard mooing about dem ebul $21 bn in ag subsidies, remember $112 bn, 80% of DeptAg budget, goes to SNAP, the new name for food stamps.)

Vox, you’re wrong; so is Fletcher. Yes, we need massive reform, but 85-90% of these wounds are self-inflicted. The GOP has failed all reform; they do not have the ruthlessness to win, or even set up a win.