Stop the World (and Avoid Reality)

The US was long the most open and competitive economy in the world. But candidates for US president, both Democrats and Republicans, respond to voters’ desire for a time out from international engagement, a mood labeled “Stop the World Syndrome,” by economist Alan Blinder in an opinion essay for the New York Times. The attitude stems from frustration over the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as economic anxiety over global competition, immense debt and the loss of high-paying jobs. Foreign competition bears only a sliver of blame. “The main protagonists are all domestic, including changes in technology, the decline of unions, failures of public policy and changing social attitudes toward inequality,” Blinder explains. The next president must convince the American public that globalization is inevitable and beneficial, especially with government programs that ensure economic security – job retraining, trade assistance, universal health insurance, guaranteed pension portability and wage insurance. Finally, Blinder concludes, the US government must end its hypocritical stance of encouraging labor standards for other countries while balking at applying the same for its own workforce. – YaleGlobal