Federalism is dead

Conservatives want to talk about globalization and free trade and the United States competing “in the new global economy” and yet their collective heads explode if you try to talk about some kind of national educational standards or god forbid a national healthcare program. How am I supposed to take these people seriously? How in the blue fuck are we supposed to compete in a “new global economy” if the high school graduates from half of the states are functionally illiterate or we don’t teach science, or if German and Japanese companies don’t have to pay the cost of health insurance for their employees but American companies do (GM spends more on healthcare per car than it spends on steel)? And while we are at it, how are we supposed to do that without protecting American workers? I ask that because what “the new global economy” and all these trade agreements really mean is that capital, companies, and goods can move across national borders without restriction. People can’t do that. So without some protectionism we are just creating a situation where American workers are forced to compete dollar for dollar with the Chinese or people in the 3rd world who make nothing by comparison. This creates downward pressure on wages and increases corporate profits but actually harms your average person. I didn’t see the price of Nikes go down when they moved their manufacturing operations to Indonesia did you? I call bullshit on the whole thing.