John Kasich, governor of Ohio, in his State of the State speech, said:
“Well, Ohio has been under siege and not just from India and China. And, oh, yes, we live in a global world, and they’re looking every day to take our simple products and move them overseas. And I want all of you to know that I have told one Chinese delegation after another that we don’t like the fact that you manipulate your currency, we do not like the fact that you don’t play on a level playing field when you trade with us, and it will stop. And we will be a strong voice in Ohio to make sure we get our fair share, India and China –”
Under seige?!? Those are fighting words.
But, wait. Kasich, again:
“But, you know, we’re also under siege from Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia. Those from Dayton, NCR, gone. An empty building. We’re under siege from North Carolina, from Florida, from Texas. They all come inside the boundaries of Ohio and they try to lure away our best and brightest. They take our jobs, sometimes they take our job creators out of our beloved Buckeye State. We’re not going to let that continue. We cannot afford to let that continue.”
Seems that Ohio is under siege from all sides. Or is it?
The sabers of rhetoric rattle at everyone outside the political boundaries of Ohio. Yet the sabers of iron and steel only rattle at those outside the political boundaries of the US. But if the political entity called Ohio is under siege from those who “take our jobs,” shouldn’t the state militia answer a call to arms? Why is Indiana justified in its plunder while China is not?
Kasich charges China with currency manipulation and Indiana, et al., with invasion and theft. What’s the difference? Are sieges and takings only an affront when seen from opposites sides of a national boundary?
Or, with regard to trade, are political boundaries simply a fictitious notion?
I believe Kasich just answered that question.
Note: Of course, the goverments of the several states and the US should stay out of trade. And tax advantages do draw capital and investment. But the same that is true for an Ohioan trading with someone in Indiana is true for an Ohioan trading with someone in China. Neither act of trade should rattle the saber, rhetorical or otherwise.
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Persecution complex, how pathetic. Instead of blaming everyone else for your own troubles try getting out of the way so Ohioans can exchange freely.
All these denunciations of foreign countries (and other US states!), but has Kasich ever failed to slavishly support any military adventure in support of Israel?
I understand the point made in response to Kasich but I believe he is using those particular words in order to light a fire under the collective behinds of a state population and a state government that has milked the state dry of its productive members.
While the argument of artificial political borders is true, the reality of the regulatory and taxing state cannot just be ignored. Ohio can produce whatever workforce they want but those individuals will continue to leave the state that lacks opportunity. Ohioans do leave their state for places like Texas. I think Kasich is not so much blaming Texas as he is trying to motivate Ohioans to give up the nanny state that has bankrupted them. In other Kasich writing and speaking he has alluded to states with more free economies as the model he wants Ohio to pursue. It is a competition. Both business and labor will vote with their feet.
And in regard to China and India, the “siege” is quite different. It is true that China, India, Texas, and Florida et al share the same attractiveness for their labor markets, but China and India also benefit from currency manipulation on both sides of the relationship over which Ohio has no control. The “fair share” comment is lame but I would suggest it is mere populist jargon rather than a belief in the use of Federal influence to achieve ones goals.
Kasich is by no means ready to jump the Republican ship and start hanging out with anarchists but he is headed in the right direction. I think he honestly believes in all that “good government” crap. He’s a work in progress.
In response to Rick I would suggest that Kasich is trying to do just as you suggest. Unfortunately he is stuck in one of the most backward thinking (economically speaking), parasite ridden, statist-minded populations out there.
Everyone manipulated currency. Trying to use that as an excuse is bizarre when we have the entity known as the Federal Reserve. China and India just outmaneuvered our central bank. We can pretty much wipe out any of their attempts to manipulate currency by dropping fiat currency. If we can look at paper currency and turn our nose up at national scrip, all the manipulations in the world won’t matter. Pay in X ounces of pure gold, your Yuan is worthless.
Read someplace that at today’s price the total value of all the processed gold in the world is worth less than 3 trillion dollars. How can the world’s money supply be based on such a minute quantity of anything?
“Money” is no longer a store of value but functions as a government countersigned IOU for goods and services.
What that tells me is we have somewhere in the order of 56 trillion pieces of green paper that are 100% worthless.
Worthless if you keep them in a bank account. They still work fine to pay bills and buy stuff. Buy gold if you want to keep pace with inflation.
Not only do the best pathological liars rise to the top in political democracy but the most fascistic ones too!
Bruce:
What you have described is “The Septic Tank Principle” – the biggest turds have a tendency to float to the top.
South Carolina and Georgia are stepping stones to China and India. At least to a Chinese and Indian standard of living for the American working class. The top 400 richest Americans who own as much as the bottom half of all Americans will end up with as much wealth as the bottom three quarters of all Americans.
test
Like the preacher in Monty Python’s Life of Brian who can’t attract any attention to his rants about people who commit sins “and join false sects” but draws a huge crowd when someone thinks that he said they “enjoy forced sex”. It’s total nonsense but a great attention getter.
If a politician lights a fire then its real purpose is almost always to distract people while he picks their pockets.
Does this rant not remind you of another supreme buffoon, who needs no introduction:
Memo to Ohio – you’re in deep trouble.
A job isn’t something owned; it’s a temporary arrangement that exists when people have labor that businesses need, at a price that makes it worthwhile to buy. Just as nobody owns your patronage of the grocery store where you buy food; only as long as they offer something at a price you find acceptable does it continues.
Somehow I don’t think they’re going to approach this by reducing taxation and other things that make Ohio less-desirable to these people who are leaving. I imagine they will just make it even worse, by doing things that favor a small group of Ohio citizens.
“sometimes they take our job creators”
Even with his twisted world-view he knows thjose job-creators are not govt employees like him. He’s referring to the brave entrepreneurs who create businesses, take risks and offer other people productive jobs. Note the deadly use of “our”. He is expressing an ownership. One wonders how long it will be before such an “ownership” is concretised in legislation.
Sione
They aren’t complaining about “job creators”, they’re complaining that tax payers are leaving and are upset someone else is now getting to loot them.
Isn’t it a circular problem? We could take the hit if wages dropped a couple of bucks but we can’t compete with China and India until we are all industrial serfs and labor becomes a commodity.
I propose a 20% across the board import duty on all consumer goods.
I live in Ohio and if our own people would read our own local newspapers, they’d be more informed about what the job-creation problems are. Like this article: http://www.ohio.com/business/117109443.html. You’re right. Other states are not stealing our jobs, Ohio is chasing them away.
“Meggitt Aircraft Braking Systems plans to cut 70 jobs at its Akron plant, moving the work to a nonunion facility in Danville, Ky.”
In other words, the American working class should join the scab race to the bottom of the food chain?
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