Romney & Santorum’s Synophobia

China, Debt, Elections, Propaganda, Republicans, Russia, Trade

“China was America’s second-largest trading partner behind only Canada,” reports The New Republic. “It accounted for 13.6 percent of all trade. In other words, billions upon billions of dollars are at stake,” if Romney acts on his bellicosity, as he promised to.

The Republican presidential hopeful sounds more like a card-carrying union member than a former CEO when he outlines his White House agenda for China, urging tariffs and downplaying the threat of a trade war. He extended his tough talk recently to the pages of The Wall Street Journal in a piece epitomizing the protectionist rhetoric he’s deployed for much of his presidential campaign.
“Unless China changes its ways, on day one of my presidency I will designate it a currency manipulator and take appropriate counteraction,” Romney wrote. “A trade war with China is the last thing I want, but I cannot tolerate our current trade surrender.”

Here’s another pesky details TNR omits conveniently: China is also our largest creditor.

Just to keep purchasing greenbacks, China is inflating its own money supply. Moreover, inflation in China and the attendant price hikes — brought about because of the debased dollar — could threaten the stability of a country that has “moved more people out of poverty in the shortest amount of time in the history of the planet.”

We owe them!

Sen. Rick Santorum is even crazier when it comes to our Chinese enablers:

“You know, Mitt,” said Santorum during The Washington Post/Bloomberg Republican presidential debate, “I don’t want to go to a trade war. I want to beat China. I want to go to war with China and make America the most attractive place in the world to do business.”

Newt is almost as nutty on this front as his two rivals, adding Russia to America’s enemy equation, and threatening cyberwar against Moscow and Beijing. Maybe cyber-warfare is Gingrich’s idea of a preemptive strike.

Military Men Respect a Man of Peace

Foreign Policy, Liberty, Military, Ron Paul

I would not have known this had I not tuned to RT for my news: “Veterans for Ron Paul 2012 “marched from the Washington Monument to the White House in an effort to show their support for the presidential candidate, a veteran congressman from Texas. The Presidents’ Day march is meant to send the message that Ron Paul is the choice of the nation’s armed forces, said group founders Nathan Cox and Adam Kokesh on the Facebook event page.”

Bless these men and women (you’ll tear-up; I did).

My, My America Has Lots of Unemployed Engineers

Economy, Education, IMMIGRATION, Labor, Outsourcing, Technology, The State

Government has skewed the job market royally. In anticipation of the windfall from Obamacare, an enormous, probably artificial, expansion of the health-care sector is underway. This could explain the fact that biomedical engineers are so sought after; the specialty is among the best career choices for 2012. Computer software engineers are also in demand.

High unemployed and contracting wages in a well-educated population should make it much more viable to do in America engineering work that was previously done offshore.

Alas, there is another state-orchestrated central plan that impedes the employment of “25,000 unemployed U.S.-born individuals with engineering degrees who have a Master’s or PhD and another 68,000 with advanced degrees not in the labor force. There were also 489,000 U.S.-born individuals with graduate degrees who were working, but not as engineers.” (The Center for Immigration Studies)

• “In 2010, there were 25,000 unemployed U.S.-born individuals with engineering degrees who have a Master’s or PhD and another 68,000 with advanced degrees not in the labor force. There were also 489,000 U.S.-born individuals with graduate degrees who were working, but not as engineers.

• There are 101,000 U.S.-born individuals with an engineering degree who are unemployed.

• There are an additional 244,000 U.S.-born individuals under age 65 who have a degree in engineering but who are not in the labor market. This means they are not working nor are they looking for work, and are therefore not counted as unemployed.

• In addition to those unemployed and out of the labor force, there are an additional 1.47 million U.S.-born individuals who report they have an engineering degree and have a job, but do not work as engineers.

• Relatively low pay and perhaps a strong bias on the part of some employers to hire foreign workers seems to have pushed many American engineers out their profession.

• There are many different types of engineering degrees. But unemployment, non-work, or working outside of your field is common for Americans with many different types of engineering degrees. (Detailed employment figures for specific types of engineers are provided” at The Center for Immigration Studies.)

Paul Babeu Is a Patriot (and a Babe)

Homosexuality, IMMIGRATION, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Media, Republicans

Paul Babeu, writes the Washington Watcher at VDARE.COM., “has always said exactly the right thing about immigration—both legal and illegal. Unlike most politicians, he seemed to have a real grasp of the issue beyond just saying ‘I oppose amnesty and want to secure the border.'”

I’d be far less guarded about Babeu, who has also recently reiterated his fidelity to Ron Paul libertarianism with respect to gay marriage. Babeu, “Pinal County Sheriff and Republican primary candidate for Arizona’s 4th Congressional District,” is being slandered in the liberal pulp and pixelated press because a jilted lover (Babeu is gay) is spreading unverified stories about him, tales these outlets are only too pleased to propagate.

The Phoenix New Times is a far Left Open Border rag that has often made dishonest accusations against Arizona patriotic immigration reformers. (Including, repeatedly, VDARE.com). Its article about Babeu is filled with interviews with various immigration lawyers who served up lines about how it was all is indicative of an “atmosphere that’s been created politically in this state, so that if you get angry at someone who is Hispanic, you immediately jump down to the level of threatening to deport him” blah blah.

[VDARE.COM]

“Babeu’s acknowledgment that he is gay came after a story in the Phoenix New Times, an alternative weekly magazine that quoted a former lover as saying Babeu threatened his immigration status if he revealed their relationship. Babeu denied claims he tried to threaten the man, a former campaign volunteer. He said the accusations were an attempt to hurt his political career. The legal status of the man, identified only as Jose by the New Times and Babeu, was unclear. His lawyer said he was unavailable for comment but might be available in a few days.” (HuffPostPolitics)

Comparisons to the Anthony Weiner worm are being made. The latter is married. Babeu is single.

I guess I would question the wisdom of engaging in an affair with the wrong man, but when it comes to affairs of the heart, who among us has not similarly stumbled? The fact that Babeu is the consummate macho, disciplined and dedicated ex-military man might have contributed to the pressures of reconciling the personal and the public. Such stressors lead to mistakes.