Many times, I have written about the “bad rap” that globalization has been receiving, recalling the Clinton-Gingrich push through Congress. At that time, numerous economists talked about the benefits of globalization but reminded the Congress that there would be losers. Numerous Congressmen promised job re-training and even relocation benefits for those workers, whose jobs were transferred overseas. Of course, Congress grabbed the benefits and forgot the costs, both in dollar terms and in human terms, giving rise to Trump’s “base.”
I was fortunate to attend a meeting of the World Affairs Council where Dr. Fred Bergsten was the speaker. He was the founder of the highly-regarded, non-partisan Peterson Institute, a Washington think-tank. He described some econometric research that estimates the benefits to the U.S. each year from globalization is about $2 trillion or about 10% of our GDP. They also estimated the costs of globalization in lost wages, foreclosures, etc. at about $50 billion. I’m not surprised that the benefits are about 40 times greater than costs, but I am sad that we still do not fund those lingering costs, forcing workers to bear those costs.
I had always assumed that Gingrich was responsible for at least 51% of the failure to pay those costs, and Clinton was responsible for 49% of that failure. Apparently, I was wrong, as Dr. Bergsten, who was deeply involved, said he could never get Bill or Hillary interested in the subject.
