Drinking the Kool-Aid of the 'New' New Political Left

Bill Clinton's former US Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers continues to make the case for globalization. But he now tries to present it in a way that is sensitive to the concerns of the left who are anti-trade, anti-immigration, and increasingly isolationist.

... the US is better off with than without trade agreements and that the world will be a richer, safer place with increasing economic integration. ...

But I suspect that the policy debate in the US, and probably in some other countries as well, will need to confront a deeper and broader issue: the gnawing suspicion of many that the very object of internationalist economic policy – the growing prosperity of the global economy – may not be in their interests. ...

... there are reasons to think that economic success abroad will be more problematic for American workers in the future.

First, developing countries increasingly export goods such as computers that the US produces on a significant scale, putting pressure on wages. ...

Second, the growth of countries such as China raises competition for energy and environmental resources, raising the price for Americans.

Third and most fundamentally, growth in the global economy encourages the development of stateless elites whose allegiance is to global economic success and their own prosperity rather than the interests of the nation where they are headquartered. ...

In a world where Americans can legitimately doubt whether the success of the global economy is good for them, it will be increasingly difficult to mobilise support for economic internationalism. The focus must shift from supporting internationalism as traditionally defined to designing an internationalism that more successfully aligns the interests of working people and the middle class in rich countries with the success of the global economy. This will be the subject of my next column...

The justification for free trade is sound, but many on the left decided it is a good issue to push because it is a populist appeal to nationalism, an "us versus them" view of the world, that can effectively mobilize political action. But it is a cynical, manipulative left that does this.
Traditionally the left was internationalist. The idea that free trade maximizes wealth should be a no-brainer for the left. But the "new" new left has decided to cynically ride this issue.

I, for one, and looking forward to the next column by Summers.