Executives with the George W. Bush Presidential Center
say more globalization of the American economy is the answer to the
Chinese coronavirus crisis, not the problem.
In an op-edpublished in Real
Clear World, Managing Director of the George W. Bush Institute-SMU
Economic Growth Initiative Matthew Rooney writes that the policies
of free trade, mass immigration, and globalization must be embraced
further by the U.S. after the crisis is over.
Economic nationalism, Rooney writes, must be rejected:
As COVID-19 spreads and stresses healthcare infrastructure
around the world, governments and civil society are racing to slow
the pandemic by distancing people from one another. Meanwhile, in
the United States and in other developed countries, there
is a rising chorus of voices who argue that we must deglobalize,
dismantle international supply chains, reduce international trade
and travel, and close our borders to the world. [Emphasis
added]
…
The danger of a pandemic did not arise because of
globalization. Pandemics have appeared periodically
throughout history. Deglobalizing will not protect us from
pandemics in the future. On the contrary, we will ultimately come
to see that global cooperation is key to responding
successfully to pandemics. [Emphasis added]
…
Obviously, in the ongoing crisis, our top priority must be the
health and safety of our families, our neighbors, and our national
community. We must be prepared to do what it takes to “flatten
the curve†of infection, and to spend what it takes to prevent
economic collapse. But when the crisis is over,
and we have defeated the virus and people are back at work and we
are all able to go out for dinner again, we must be ready
to come together around a new strategy for globalization that
secures its benefits and cures its ills. It will take
American leadership and political will, but we know what needs to
be done and have successfully met greater challenges in the past.
[Emphasis added]
Globalization of the American economy — forged by the Bush
presidencies, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama — has had a
crippling impact on working- and middle-class Americans for decades
and has been exacerbated during the coronavirus crisis.
Since 2001, free trade with China has cost millions
of Americans their jobs. For example, the Economic Policy Institute
has found that from 2001 to 2015, about 3.4 million U.S. jobs were
lost due to the nation’s trade deficit with China.
Of the 3.4 million U.S. jobs lost in that time period, about 2.6
million were lost in the manufacturing industry, making up about
three-fourths of the loss of jobs from the U.S.-Chinese trade
deficit. Research has revealed that
American towns that had their manufacturing bases gutted have been
hit hardest with rampant drug addition during the opioid
crisis.
The coronavirus crisis has greatly exposed the
nation’s deep reliance on China, Malaysia, Thailand, Canada,
India, and Mexico for basic necessities, pharmaceuticals, and
medical supplies. As Breitbart News has chronicled, the
U.S. is suffering from a shortage of vital
drugs, rubber
gloves, and plastic bottles due to
decades-long free trade policies.
Likewise, close to 90 percent of the pharmaceutical ingredients
for generic drugs imported to the U.S. arrive from factories based
overseas. Nearly 50 percent of these factories are in China and
India.
The post
George W. Bush Center: More Globalization Is the Answer to
Coronavirus Crisis appeared first on Harbingers Daily.
