Pat Choate, author of "Dangerous Business" on C-Span

[checks-n-balances]

He's on right now - running mate with Ross Perot in 1996 on anti-Globalization platform. He's making A LOT of sense.

My question:

Anybody else seen this program this morning, or familiar with him or his book?

Why couldn't Obama co-opting Perot & Choate in some way - as advisors or something?

He's saying that this is a perfect time to re-negotiate our trade agreements.

The Nat'l Dem Party should be on this!!!

[ThomWV]

1. Yeah, wouldn't that be something

Not in my lifetime, not in your lifetime, not in our children's lifetimes.

[checks-n-balances]

2. Are you listening to the program?

He's talking about rebuilding our infrastructure & the situation now of local roads being sold off to foreign owners.

Your reply was a little vague - are you saying you disagree with him or that you see an anti-Globalization stance as hopeless now & in the future?

[leftchick]

6. the reality is

the horse is already out of the barn. The democrats won't fix anything. They get as much cash from corporations as repubs so expect nothing to change.

[lisa58]

3. I was thinking the same thing...

...the same way Clinton used the "paying down the deficit" campaign of Perot in 1992.

[checks-n-balances]

4. Good idea! Anyone out there connected w/the Obama campaign?

I mean anyone with REAL connections?

Is it possible for someone to listen to this man's ideas? I don't know if he's still that closely connected to Perot or not, but here's his book on Amazon:

Dangerous Business: The Risks of Globalization for America (4 reviews, all 5 stars)
http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Business-Risks-Globalization-America/dp/0307266842/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218979724&sr=1-1

He's off C-Span now, but all callers after his segment (who sound very level-headed) were very impressed with him except one character from GA opposed to him who tried to tie him with the Clinton/Mena, Arkansas faux scandal.

[KharmaTrain]

5. I've Known Pat Since The Early 90's

He was an "expert" on the Posse Comitatis and championed Randy Weaver's case. I'd say he's as true a libertarian as there is out there...and has long been against any "globalization" that was/is nothing more than creating huge tarrif and culture walls around the U.S.

Note he talks about rebuilding our industries, yet he never mentions unions. He never addresses taxing offshore holdings of American corporations or how this country can function with a totally decentralized government. It's pure xenophobia...ala Pat Buchanan.

Pat can make a lot of sense, until you ask him to get into specifics.

[checks-n-balances]

8. Have you read his latest book?

I thought I heard him mention unions this morning in a more favorable light than that. He did mention how our roads are being sold off to other countries, something that Obama should be talking about.

I don't know this man's history, but his Wikipedia profile mentioned none of the xenophobia that you suggest.

I'm not trying to boost his book sales or anything, but he did talk a lot about American jobs being lost.

Perhaps there's a way that Dems can at least be more educated on the ideas that are congruent with our own. At the very least, the issues he mentioned this morning should be mentioned by the Nat'l Dem Party. And as someone else suggested, Perot's idea about paying down the deficit was co-opted by Clinton, to this country's benefit. Perhaps Obama can do the same with globalization.

Right or wrong about some issues in the past, Choate is correct in what he said today about NOW being the time to re-negotiate our trade agreements before they bankrupt this country. The hour for that is late.

[KharmaTrain]

14. I Had My Fill Of Pat Years Ago

Globalization is here like it or not. Repugnicans attempted to impose tarrifs and stiffle trade back in 1929...it made a bad depression even worse.

Yes, there are problems with off-shoring jobs, but forcing companies to stay here doesn't skate, they'll find other ways to cut corners and costs (safety, quality) or shut down altogether. The problem is the tax laws...as we saw this week, large corporations have gotten away, via offshoring, to skip taxes that have done more to build up a defecit than our imbalance of trade...collect those billions and get a government that is revenue neutral, similar to the late 90's and watch the defecit start to lessen.

The other problem is that big banks love the defecit...they're the ones who handle alot of the long-term debt that this government only pays a fraction of both the interst and principal that allows the debt to grow even bigger that puts more money (of ours) in their pockets. Ya think the "loan sharking" many are experiencing with high interest rates and screwy games by the bank is something new? They've been doing it to the American taxpayers since Raygunomics started massive defecit spending in the 80's...

Cheers...

[The2ndWheel]

7. Globalization has been going on for thousands of years

It is civilization.

[checks-n-balances]

9. Are you saying that NAFTA and WTO didn't change anything?

Globalization may have "been going on for thousands of years" but not under these agreements.

"It is civilization."

With that kind of logic, so is WAR!

What are you trying to say with those simplistic statements? That globalization is inevitable, so we should do nothing to overturn or modify our disastrous recent agreements?

[The2ndWheel]

10. Do those agreements change anything?

Only if change means breaking down a previous and obsolete form of globalization, the nation-state. Have those agreements changed anything fundamentally? No. America doesn't even exist, from the founding, to the slavery, to the global military reach, without globalization. NAFTA, the WTO, etc, are just the next step.

"With that kind of logic, so is WAR!"

Pretty much. How do you think we got here? Large scale, organized war is the process by which globalization has moved forward. It destroys diversity. It has allowed the world to increasingly become the same wherever you are, thus maximizing productive efficiency. If everyone was able to do whatever they wanted, what would get done?

It's all about creating a single way of living. It's about standardized, expendable, interchangeable, easily replaced cogs for the machine.

"What are you trying to say with those simplistic statements? That globalization is inevitable, so we should do nothing to overturn or modify our disastrous recent agreements?"

I said something, but I didn't say do nothing about it. It'll take far more than just an adviser to the president though. You can't have everything. For example, in a world of instant global communication, can you really stop outsourcing?

[checks-n-balances]

12. Many things changed after NAFTA

I don't think we should give up on reversing the damages of these agreements, any more than we should give up on pulling out of Iraq, impeachment of this illegitimate regime, pursuring & preventing election fraud, stopping unnecessary war, reversing FCC rules on media ownership, preventing privatization of Social Security, abolishing NCLB, abolishing tax cuts for the wealthy, and other situations set up to impoverish and punish all but the millionaires & billionaires in this country.

It will take most of everything we've got for the rest of our lives, but to give up on the above is also to give up on what we have left of democracy, and there will be none left for our children & their children.

[mbee]

11. My big question is why have they remained silent over these

8 years. Ross Perot appeared on Larry King a night or two before the 2000 Selection and heavily endorsed the nit wit bushman. Previously that family was not among his favorites. I have always wondered what was the reason why he did that? I don't at all trust these people after seeing that endorsement.

[checks-n-balances]

13. Good question! n/t