Vice President Joe Biden told the Council on Foreign
Relations just now that, “No foreign policy can be sustained without
the informed consent of the American people.” There's a lesson every
American President seems to forget.
Biden said it’s essential “to rebuild the bipartisan consensus on trade,” but that this can only be done if we accept that “free trade and globalization have not been an unalloyed success.” He added, “It’s not been great for a whole lot of people. It’s been applied unevenly, and has created apprehension and dislocation among many people.”
It’s good to hear somebody acknowledge in a balanced way both the benefits of trade as well as the pitfalls of poorly designed trade deals. While Biden and moderator and Council President Richard Haass correctly said that far more jobs have been lost to advances in technology than to trade, the Vice President nonetheless added, “If we want to re-establish this consensus (on trade), we have to respond to these legitimate concerns of the American people.”
Biden said it’s essential “to rebuild the bipartisan consensus on trade,” but that this can only be done if we accept that “free trade and globalization have not been an unalloyed success.” He added, “It’s not been great for a whole lot of people. It’s been applied unevenly, and has created apprehension and dislocation among many people.”
It’s good to hear somebody acknowledge in a balanced way both the benefits of trade as well as the pitfalls of poorly designed trade deals. While Biden and moderator and Council President Richard Haass correctly said that far more jobs have been lost to advances in technology than to trade, the Vice President nonetheless added, “If we want to re-establish this consensus (on trade), we have to respond to these legitimate concerns of the American people.”
The Vice President pointed to substantial, structural job loss in
America that is occurring simultaneously with vast, new job openings.
“We need 500,000 registered nurses and 1.2 million IT personnel right
now, but we can’t find enough of them,” he said. Acknowledging no
shortage of government worker-retraining programs, some of which are
laudable and most of which leave something to be desired, Biden added
that “we have such a short-term mentality; there’s virtually no
long-term planning going on” in these areas.
Biden said, “We have to let people know there’s something out there for them” and help envision it for them, “but my Party doesn’t pay attention to this.”
Biden said, “We have to let people know there’s something out there for them” and help envision it for them, “but my Party doesn’t pay attention to this.”
