President Obama’s New Found Fondness for Globalism.....

Lost amidst the hoopla of the dramatic midterm elections and buried beneath speculations (often wild) about the cost of Barack Obama’s trip to Asia in their wake was the spectacle of Barack Obama, once thought to be the champion of the anti-Globalists and anti-free traders embracing that globalism loud and clear.

The old saying, “Always stare at a spectacle” went unheeded this time. "For America, this is a jobs strategy," he said, adding "There still exists a caricature of India as a land of call centers and back offices that cost American jobs. That's a real perception."

But Obama noted that the relationship between the countries is much more symbiotic, "creating jobs, growth, and higher living standards in both our countries. And that is the truth."

In the wake of the U.S. elections, which saw the Democrats lose control of the House and Obama's ability to connect with his country called into question, the president said one lesson learned was the need to set a better tone with business leaders. He was effusive on that front in Mumbai, gathering with top U.S. executives and studying up on their commerce with India.

"Just around this table you're seeing billions of dollars in orders from U.S. companies, tens of thousands of jobs being supported," he said. "We're a potential that has barely been scratched."

The White House arranged for four U.S. chief executives who are in India for the occasion to brief reporters traveling with the president. They seemed happy to play up the importance of India as a trading partner and praised Obama's decision to come to the country to underscore that point in person.

While noting that India’s infrastructure was an impediment to progress and urging that government to take on that issue, his larger message was one of the shared values and missions of the two largest democracies in the world.

In making that point, the President even generated a bit of laughter at his own expense, offering those in attendance a reminder of his political travails back home, "Our countries are blessed with the most effective form of government the world has ever known: democracy," he said. "Even if it can be slow at times. Even if it can be messy. Even if, sometimes, the election doesn't turn out as you'd like."

Many in India seemed more hopeful after the visit. One Indian executive, Onkar Kanwar, the chairman of India's largest tire manufacturer, Apollo Tyres, said he appreciated that the new President made it a point to visit India during his first term noting that, "Ties are getting closer and closer, which needs to be done....This demonstrates his commitment to another large democracy where he sees a lot of synergies," Kanwar said. "He's done all right."

It remains to be seen if the anti-globalist Left in America sees this kind of rhetoric as “doing all right.”

America’s Corporatist Partnership....

There’s been a very strong partnership between business and government here in the U.S. since 1912. That means (and you can look this up) there has long been a deep and widespread interbreeding between “the political class” and the “industrialist class”.

Look at the boards of directors of America’s largest businesses and industries;

Al Gore is on the board of directors of Apple and Google, he is also co-founder and chair of Generation Investment Management, and is the co-founder and chair of Current TV, Gore is also a partner in the venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Vernon Jordan a major figure in the Carter and Clinton administrations has served as a senior managing director with Lazard Freres & Co. LLC, an investment banking firm. He is also currently a member of the board of directors of multiple corporations, including American Express, J.C. Penney Corporation, Xerox, Asbury Automotive Group and the Dow Jones & Company. He is formerly a member of the board of directors of Revlon, Sara Lee, Corning and RJR Nabisco.

Dan Quayle (Bush Sr’s VP) is the Chairman of Cerberus Global Investments, LLC and had chaired the international advisory board of Cerberus Capital Management, where he recruited former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney, who would have been installed as chairman if Cerberus had successfully acquired Air Canada. Quayle also serves on the boards of Aozora Bank, K-2 Inc., Bell Automotive and IAP Global.

Walter Mondale (Carter’s VP) served on the corporate boards of BlackRock Advantage Term Trust and other BlackRock Mutual Funds, Cargill Incorporated, CNA Financial Corporation, the Encyclopedia Britannica, First Financial Fund and other Prudential Mutual Funds, Northwest Airlines and United HealthCare Corporation...and these are just a few.

Many of the very same politicians so many liberals claim to love ARE the SAME Corporate executives they claim to revile.

No American administration going back over 100 years has reduced government...the best administration's (the Reagan administration and the Gingrich Congress) merely expanded the state LESS than their hyper-Keynesian liberal Democratic and Rockefeller Republican cohorts.

It’s OUR Fault as Well!....

With hard times getting harder and lots of public sector employees, long impervious to recessions, facing layoffs, a lot of us are looking for someone to blame.

Some want to blame “corporate greed” or “greedy bankers”, others blame the government, a government that allowed all this to happen. Even worse, a government filled with members of “the political class” who moonlight as corporate denizens. That’s right, the corporate boards are filled with the likes of Al Gore (Google and Apple, to name a few), Vernon Jordan a senior managing director with Lazard Freres & Co. LLC, an investment banking firm. He is also currently a member of the board of directors of multiple corporations, including American Express, J.C. Penney Corporation, Xerox, Asbury Automotive Group and the Dow Jones & Company. He is formerly a member of the board of directors of Revlon, Sara Lee, Corning and RJR Nabisco, even old Walter Mondale, who served on the corporate boards of BlackRock Advantage Term Trust and other BlackRock Mutual Funds, Cargill Incorporated, CNA Financial Corporation, the Encyclopedia Britannica, First Financial Fund and other Prudential Mutual Funds, Northwest Airlines and United HealthCare Corporation and these are but to name a few.

But the truth is that we’re all somewhat culpable.

The people (as voters) over-demand...and politicians over-promise and the result is this familiar but inane bit of kabuki theater we’re all engaged in. Certainly there is rampant fraud and abuse in Medicare, Medicaid, as well as in many of our Military contracts and most of the other “entitlement” programs we’ve all (to one extent or another) supported.

BUT the people will ONLY support such expenditures up to a given cost.

Where is that point, or cost line?

It probably differs from individual to individual, but there’s little room now for added expenses being favored by a majority of Americans in favor of maintaining the current level of “service”.

If there was a willingness on a the part of a majority of the electorate to pay more for more services, that would’ve already been advanced...so, it can’t be advanced because there isn’t enough support for that, so we can be pretty sure there is even less support for paying more for the same, let alone paying more for less.

That’s the dilemma America now faces. We’ve borrowed pretty much to the max, so we're faced with major cuts in government expenditures, especially in the major expenditures, our "sacred cows" (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and the Military) have to be made OR taxes and other costs/revenue-enhancers have to go up and our overall quality of life will fall precipitously and as unpalatable as the former (deep cuts) might be, hiking costs (taxes, etc.) and decreasing the quality of life of most Americans is even less palatable.

A lot of people like to blame (over-promising) politicians for all these ills, but they’re only one part of the equation...our (the general public’s) excessive demands have also played a part.