GorTechie has a stunningly well-argued thought piece on globalization of the economy. The Czar chooses not to argue any of it—GorT is, of course, freaking right. Indeed, the Czar was so reluctant to appear contentious that he decided against naming this post “Re: The Creeping Doom.”

But a couple of Tin Man’s comments got the Czar thinking that he could expand on a little of this. These comments are arguable, and if GorT elects to contest them, the Czar hereby concedes.

Here is one. Also Sprach GorT: There are countries, like the United States, that provide a better standard of living… This incentivizes immigration, both legal and illegal, to places like the United States….Without a “global minimum wage” that is defined by some measure of the basic needs of the individual that is enforced solidly world-wide, we aren’t going to get to the utopia that many liberals hope we’ll reach through Keysian economics and loose immigration policies.

Exactly right. And the Czar would add that liberal policies encourage both Keysian economics and loose immigration policies as a survival mechanism—because folks granted both immigration amnesty and government paychecks tend to vote Democratic; folks who battled there way here and became self-made economic success stories (like so many of our grandparents) tend to vote Republican.

Finally, GorT muses over the lack of acceptance about America’s participation in globalization efforts. This is of interest to the Czar, for this is something he has loosely followed since the 1990s. And his conclusion is with GorT’s as well, but notes that anti-globalization is a mythology that affects the Left and the Right. In fact, it is truly a Leftist myth that hoodwinked the Right into embracing it.

GorT explains the fundmentals very well. But the Left of course has been isolationist since before World War I; and who is behind that? The labor unions, who recognize that cheaper labor results in less expensive products. The more they can keep America against global trade, the better they can reap profits off the working man and woman. Their approach is obvious: tax companies who send their jobs overseas! Regulations must force American companies to pay minimum wages for overseas workers! Declare tariffs on imports!

Meanwhile, the Right has started to buy into this as well: Resist the metric system! Lower taxes to keep American employers here! Buy American! Of course, when the Left tells the Right to buy American, they mean “Give your money to union-run companies who actually import materials from China and assemble the stuff in Mexico.”

Here is the reality. America has nothing to fear from globalization, and indeed the rest of the world will be terrified the day America elects to push for globalization…because there is nothing Americans do without dominating it. Right now, globalization is great for European boutique companies, Chinese exporters, and South American resource miners. That’s because American interests rarely compete against them. The day American goods start flooding the world markets again, the more people will realize how much they used to pay for stuff. Exactly like when a non-union Wal-Mart moves into a neighborhood, and the locals discover how much the mom and pop places have been ripping them off for years.

What really has to happen is this: America must begin to deregulate industry. It ain’t the taxes that sends jobs overseas: it’s the high cost of labor sustained by mandatory benefits and labor regulations. If you don’t already know this, it’s hard to run a company—much harder than the President thinks. And what complicates the usual buy-and-sell logic of business is the nauseating array of regulations that prevent this.

In a free-market economy, the chips fall where they may. Yes, companies will expand into other countries. Labor will move here and there. Jobs will be lost in the US. But other companies will move into the lucrative American markets, and jobs will return in droves. Because if the United States embraced a truly global economy, we would rapidly overpower it. Remember when the Olympic committee allowed NBA players to join the US Olympic team in 1992? Something like that.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.