Live With It: The Conventional Wisdom on Being Displaced by an Eight-Year-Old

The July 31, 2008 installment of The Diane Rehm Show included a segment captioned "The Future of Free Trade." It included some revealing commentary from several think-tank gurus, including Claude Barfield from the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.

At one point during the show, a caller from Detroit asked how Michigan could return to economic prominence. Mr. Barfield's nutshell answer: stop making cars and start doing something else. Terse as it may be, could there be a anymore of an American mantra than to stop whining and get a job? I think I can hear Ben Franklin chuckling on the set of Ghost Hunters.

Free trade can't be stopped, I'll concede that. And with it, comes a necessity and responsibility to adapt to structural economic changes. Here's my question, what would happen if someone handed Mr. Barfield a shovel and said, "Start digging, I've got a nice shiny silver dollar for you when you're finished." Probably the same scenario that would follow if someone posed the question to me: "Here's a #1 sign with my middle finger." Factory workers don't like the idea of becoming retirement home nurses anymore than a kitty would like the idea of swimming the English Channel.

So what is there to do? We here calls for fair trade from my blue brethren in the Democratic Party, but does anyone know what fair trade is? The concept is not only rooted in backwards-thinking, it's as nebulous as the "green" label.

The energy initiative proposed by Mr. Obama is a step in the right direction. Infrastructure and energy certainly provide a more attractive and socially beneficial solution than working at Home Depot. But we can't build every energy project in Michigan. We need a mechanism to ensure that displaced workers and their families have the means and incentive to relocate. We also need a long-term plan for adjusting to future trade agreements, one that ensures human capital isn't rendered obsolete overnight. What that is, I don't know. I suspect it would begin with a focus on less manufacturing and more on services, research and development, government-sponsored energy projects, and civil service initiatives. Whatever form it takes, it will be better than our present no-plan-no-problem strategy.

It may be dynamic and it may be complex, but the future of the displaced worker is something that America must confront now as opposed to later. Otherwise, it won't be long before our national "Starbucks conversation" mirrors the "golden age" discussions taking place at the UAW union houses in Michigan.

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Bad Baseball Analogies and all, Hamdan's Conviction Reflects Return of Core American Values

--Michael J. Berrigan, the deputy chief defense counsel for Guantánamo, said the defense was encouraged by the verdict. “For a team that was expected to strike out at every pitch,” Mr. Berrigan said, “we at least hit a triple."

Quoted from William Glaberson, Panel Convicts bin Laden Driver in Split Verdict (Aug. 7, 2008), available at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/washington/07gitmo.html?_r=1&ref=washington&oref=slogin.

First the two Coreys go straight to DVD and now a famous lawyer goes on the record as being dumbstrikenly ignorant of our national pastime. (You don't "strike out at every pitch," buddy. It takes at least three.) I suppose we shouldn't be so surprised. The government's been preaching a one-strike-your-out rule for a good while.

Bad baseball analogies aside, Mr. Hamdan's military commissions trial remarkably illustrates that the realist root of the American Spirit is not completely dead. Urged to impose a blistering penalty on essentially a nobody in the Wild World of Terror, the uniformed jury chose instead to land a hefty left hook across the prosecution's jaw. That left hook has since been seen piercing the hearts of the Military Commission's crony appointees, and was last reported to be in route for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Despite the sentence imposed, the Hamdan affair was not a vindication of the fairness embodied in the Military Commissions Act nor was it a milestone in the War on Terror. It was instead a tried and true reflection of core American values.

In America, it appears that freedom is still the only commodity that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with money. Why else would anyone have bothered to stand up for Mr. Hamdan for the last five years? Surely the lawyers representing him could have found something better to do with their time than challenge the Guantanamo detention system on three separate occasions before the Supreme Court, not to mention prepare for a trial filled with uniformed soldiers, secrete evidence, and the threat of coerced confessions. (They could have at least taken in a few games at Camden Yards.) It may be borderline fighting for the sake of fighting, but when freedom's at stake, it appears that some Americans still say, "Damn the torpedoes [and bullish markets], full steam ahead."

In America, it also appears that we still feel compelled to stand in a nobody's corner when the rest of the room wreaks with an unjust stench. I seriously doubt that the hate harbored against the United States by those subjected to extraordinary rendition comes close to the respect and gratitude that Mr. Hamdan feels for all of those Americans who stood up for him and his right to a fair trial.

Finally, in America, it appears that juries, even uniformed juries, don't take kindly to prosecutors who equate thug peons with masterminded ringleaders, nor do juries like it when prosecutors keeps evidence from them under the guise of national security. It looks as though we still want the whole story and we want the man in charge, not his shop clerk.

In my mind, America's core values stand for substance over form, real over imagined. It's refreshing to see that even under the command of something as un-American as the Military Commissions Act, America's sense of realism prevails. In that regard, I conclude with a message to Mr. Berrigan:

Here is the link to the MLB Rulebook: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/foreword.jsp. The fate of America and its people rests with your ability to memorize these rules.

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Ding Dong the Dream is Dead, Long Live Egoism

Generation X has never before sang in such harmony across the nation. Tonight I attended an art expose of who I now know is one of the hottest commodities on the New York art trading blocks. Chris Jordan, whose refreshing originality can be found at www.chrisjordan.com, put on a fine portrait of American over-consumption and shared his editorial on the problems of reaching the Utopian dream.

Briefly stated, Mr. Jordan captures images of America's most wasteful pastimes, such as the water bottles we throw away every day or the plastic cups we use during commercial airline flights, and depicts an accurately scaled image of the quantity of items we consume over a given time period, such as a day or a week. Visit his website for two minutes and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.

About halfway through Mr. Jordan's lecture, I began thinking about Mr. Jordan's own wasteful empire. Although approachable and very well spoken, Mr. Jordan was essentially fighting a losing battle. Nothing he has done nor anything he will do will have any significant impact on American's concept of social and economic growth. In fact, his actions are part of the problem. From a literalist point of view, the hours upon hours he spent developing each pixel in his work, the jet fuel he consumed to get to the lecture hall, the fuel that I and everyone else in attendance consumed to get to the auditorium--all scarce resources in their own right--could have been used in pursuit of something else, something perhaps more productive and certainly for something besides Mr. Jordan's losing cause.

Surely, I thought, Mr. Jordan has come to this conclusion. He as much admitted the same during the question-and-answer session tonight. It's a grand feat to educate the public on the long-term effects of pollution. It would take the bows of divine province to convince millions of Americans to stop buying what has willfully been shoved down their throats. Or it would take the mountains of money used to produce everything we consume. Neither event is probable.

Why then, I wondered, had Mr. Jordan chosen to be so hypocritical? He struck me as pure and intelligent an activist as there is these days. He also struck me as sharing, at least previously in his life, many of the same problems that I experience all too often: the feeling of dissatisfaction with work and with the direction that my life is taking me; the repulsiveness I feel knowing that I do what I do not because it's truly the essence of my being, but because I have to pay my credit card bills and save for my retirement. The path Mr. Jordan has chosen is not waste, not even in a literal sense. It is his reaction and his answer to the dilemma we all face: Will I choose to be me or will I choose to be what is expected of me? Mr. Jordan is the antithesis of the American Dream. He is himself and no less.

I say bravo to Mr. Jordan. He illustrates our need to redefine the American Dream--our need to pursue that which brings happiness to the individual, and derivatively to our people.

To do solely to satisfy some standard or model of accomplishment is self-limiting. To do solely for yourself, motivated by standards and maxims that you define, is self-actualization--it is the New American Dream.

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Update: The 2 Coreys No More

In case anyone's wondering, I fell to temptation and bought the movie last night.  Corey Feldman was awesome.  The movie was decent.  Yet, I'm still incredibly disappointed.  Nudity for the sake of nudity makes no sense, especially not in such a long-awaited sequel to a PG cult thriller.   Yet boobies, grindfests, and all, the show must go on.  In a nutshell, buy the damn thing to complete your Feldman collection, but don't expect it to evoke fond memories of the first Lost Boys.  Or better yet, buy it because that's what we do in America:  buy stuff we really don't even want.

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Doha timeline | Business | guardian.co.uk

Reflections on: Angela Balakrishnan's Doha Timeline, Wednesday July 30 2008, at
Doha timeline | Business | guardian.co.uk

Just when I was certain that the U.S. had traded in its heart and soul, the Red and White and Blue makes a sobering show at what has been dubbed the Doha Round Collapse. What is unavoidably intriguing is that, while the U.S. maintained its typical monopsony approach, the power-share at the negotiations table has changed, for good I would presume.

In years past, I believe it is safe to say that the U.S. has been able to use its market muscle--production in some areas, but mostly its buying power--to ensure that trade deals protected its politically sensitive domestic areas, such as agriculture and manufacturing. The results stemming from the Doha trading rounds provides strong support that the U.S.'s leverage has subsided.

This structural change should not be taken lightly. I can think of no greater example of willful ignorance than Ford and GM's failure to observe the shift in the terms of trade. If we don't develop a transitional scheme to reflect the changes in our comparative advantages, we will be about as marketable as a country as the Ford Expedition. The break in the Doha round provides an opportunity to develop a long-term, multilateral plan. I fear that instead of choosing that path, our Washington wisdom will see it as an opportunity to cease on more Regional Trade Agreements. That's unfortunate, as I can think of no auto alliances that have made our domestic industry more competitive compared to Japan, China, Korea, and Mexico.

We need a solution, not a temporary fix.

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The Two Coreys No More

The Edgar Frog Chronicles

Target is met with mixed emotions in this country.  For some it's a pillar of inexpensive fashion.  For others, it's the death kneel of the mall department store.  For those like me, it's the place your forced to frequent with a smile for the sole purpose of keeping domestic peace.  Think hard my brothers, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Last weekend, I realized something else about Target.  It's presently hosting the most robust proof that America's shining paladin stature has melted into mucus on a 6-year-old's jacket.  While escaping the talons of dressing room comment, I saw it.  Shining boldly in the electronics section, posted on what I'm sure was a Chinese-made marquee, the prophecy read:  "New Releases:  Lost Boys:  The Tribe, July 29, 2008." 

Need we any further proof that America's course has changed.  Not only was Corey Haim extirpated from the cast, the sequel to the iconic 80s thriller is a "straight to DVD" Target special?  I'm in shock!  Here, see for yourself:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1031254/.  Or better yet, embrace the mediocrity and buy the movie.  It's on sale right now at Target.

What dark day for the American spirit. 

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