It is well-known that political figures often use inaccurate terms to describe their views and their policies. For example, the Soviet bloc countries usually referred to themselves as �peoples� democracies.� This did not mean that the Soviet bloc governments represented the people, or that their leaders were committed to democracy, and reporters recognized this fact. No competent reporter ever described the Romanian dictator Nicolai Ceausescu, as a committed democrat. In the same vein, simply because someone calls themselves a �free-trader� does not mean that they are committed to free trade. However, the Post tells us today that the Hamilton Project, an initiative started by Citigroup executive and former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, �aims to rebuild the social safety net without interfering with international trade and the free market.� Is that so? Where is the Hamilton Project�s proposal for freeing trade in highly paid professional services so that it is as simple for a hospital to hire a qualified doctor from India as it is for Wal-Mart to buy shoes from China (and the hospital can explicitly hire the foreign doctor because she works for less money)? I couldn�t find that one on their website. I also don�t see any proposals to eliminate copyright and patent protections, both of which create far larger economic distortions than any trade barriers the United States has imposed on manufactured goods in the last quarter century. Actually, when they held power during the Clinton years, the Hamiltonians sought to increase these protectionist barriers, putting conditions in trade agreements that could increase the price that developing countries have to pay for prescription drugs by several hundred percent. In short, I don�t see anything in the Hamiltonian agenda that can accurately be identified as �free trade.� I see an agenda that aims to put less-educated workers in the United States in direct competition with low-paid workers in the developing world, while largely protecting doctors, lawyers, economists and other highly paid professionals. (Get the fuller story in the non-copyright protected book, The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer.) Anyhow, I understand why the Hamiltonians want to call themselves �free-traders.� It sounds good � everyone likes freedom. But, no one died and gave them control over the English language. Reporters should not accept self-descriptions as truth. Just give readers the facts and let them make up their own mind on who is a free-trader.
--Dean Baker
