Obama Doubles Down on Neoliberalism

[portlander23]

Obama: Globalization Is 'Here' And 'Done'
Brian Naylor
NPR

The global economy is "here" and "done," President Obama said Wednesday — the question now is under what terms it will be shaped.

"Integration of national economies into a global economy, that's here, that's done," Obama said. Speaking on the second day of a stock market rally, which came after sharp drops following Great Britain's vote to leave the European Union, Obama said it was important not to draw analogies to what happened with Brexit with trade relations between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. Obama said ordinary people with concerns about global trade "have a legitimate gripe with globalization."

But he cautioned that withdrawing from trade deals such as NAFTA, as Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has threatened, "is the wrong medicine for dealing with inequality."

Mr. Obama is simply wrong. Globalization and free trade are not natural forces like gravity. Markets are the creation of governments and they are constrained by rules and regulations. Neoliberalism is just one set of rules, and a set that is deeply unfair and unpopular.

We're learning all the wrong lessons from the past thirty-five years of deregulation. Brexit should be a wakeup call, but it won't be. We're at a pivot point in history and it will either be the left offering a progressive vision or the right offering a nativist vision, but one of them will win, even if it's not this election.

Mr. Obama is siding with the Neoliberals, and if the party follows, we're screwed.