But is he addressing legitimate interest-group concerns or is he pandering to racial fears? There is a rather one-sided debate over what motivates Mr. Trump and his supporters. A wave of new books and articles still invoke stereotypes trotted out on election night: Mr. Trump’s “angry white voters” were motivated by racism, resentment, “whitelash,” declining economic or social status, irrational fears of economic or demographic change, or all of the above. They are deluded, confused “Strangers in Their Own Land,” as suggested by the title of a book by the sociologist Arlie Hochschild.
.. “the diversity machine.” This powerful policy juggernaut has quietly and questionably blended together two trends that threaten working- and middle-class whites.
.. It’s the old story of costs and benefits of building America on the backs of cheap immigrant labor.
.. Economic competition fuels ethnic antagonism — and nativism, racism and the like.
.. There has been very little scholarly or public attention paid to a second policy trend that intensified the antagonism born of this ethnically split labor market. In the 1990s, affirmative action’s original mission to right past wrongs against African-Americans was transformed into an expanded list of preferences in the workplace and in higher education for immigrant subgroups (for example, Hispanics, Asians or Pacific Islanders).
.. from 2013 to 2016, medical schools in the United States accepted 94 percent of blacks, 83 percent of Hispanics, 63 percent of whites and 58 percent of Asians with top MCAT scores of 30 to 32 and grade-point averages of 3.6 to 3.8;.. The presidential candidates in 2016 were largely silent on affirmative action, but Mr. Trump said in 2015 that he was “fine with it” though “it’s coming to a time when maybe we don’t need it.”.. Institutional racism remains a problem, as does immigration and the balancing of assimilation and pluralism. But identity politics and identity policies may have become too divisive and complicated in both theory and practice.
Oh! What a Lovely Trade War
Trump, supported by his inner circle of America Firsters, is “hell-bent” on imposing punitive tariffs on imports of steel and possibly other products, despite opposition from most of his cabinet. After all, claims that other countries are taking advantage of America were a central theme of his campaign.
And Axios reports that the White House believes that Trump’s base “likes the idea” of a trade war, and “will love the fight.”
Yep, that’s a great way to make policy.
.. a lot of modern trade is in intermediate goods — stuff that is used to make other stuff. A tariff on steel helps steel producers, but it hurts downstream steel consumers like the auto industry. So even the direct impact of protectionism on jobs is unclear.
.. Normally, in fact, trade and trade policy have little if any effect on total employment. They affect what kinds of jobs we have; but the total number, not so much.
.. There’s an old joke about a motorist who runs over a pedestrian, then tries to fix the damage by backing up — running over the victim a second time. Trumpist trade policy would be like that.
.. the tariffs now being proposed would boost capital-intensive industries that employ relatively few workers per dollar of sales; these tariffs would, if anything, further tilt the distribution of income against labor.
.. Trump’s promises on trade, while unorthodox, were just as fraudulent as his promises on health care.
Culture Clash at a Chinese-Owned Plant in Ohio
a major culture clash is playing out on the factory floor, with some workers questioning the company’s commitment to operating under American supervision and American norms.
.. The union, which began meeting with workers in 2015, escalated its public efforts in April with a fiery meeting highlighting arbitrarily enforced rules and retaliation against those who speak up.
.. a former employee named James Martin said the company had exposed him to harsh chemicals that blistered his arms and diminished his lung capacity. (Mr. Martin lost his job for excessive absences while on workers’ compensation leave in January.)
.. But projects can suffer when investors are unfamiliar with the American regulatory and political environment, as is true for many executives in China, where labor standards tend to be less strictly enforced.
.. He said the Chinese had little interest in training, sharing responsibility with or even engaging with American employees.
.. He lamented that productivity at the plant “is not as high as we have in China,” adding that “some of the workers are just idling around.”
.. entrepreneurs like Mr. Cao often populate their factories with migrants from rural areas, whom they expect to be relatively submissive, unlike American workers, who expect a more collegial management style. “He hasn’t ever had probably this type of pressure from a work force,” she said.
.. But he conceded that “the fundamental difference between Chinese and Americans is that the Chinese have a bias toward speed; Americans like to process things, think it through from all angles.”
.. Chinese overseas investments in Africa and Asia showed a pattern of reluctance to transfer operations to local control.
.. “At the managerial level, you see that the technical staff tends to be from China,” she said. “The one local employee they hire at a senior managerial level would be the human resources director.”
China Detains Rights Monitor Investigating Ivanka Trump Shoe Factory
Labor watchdog says it lost contact with three workers probing shoemakers, and at least one has been detained
Investigator Hua Haifeng was detained on suspicion of illegal eavesdropping, his wife said, citing a call Tuesday afternoon from police in Jiangxi province. Under Chinese law, that refers to the use of listening equipment in a way that causes “serious consequences.”
.. group’s founder, Li Qiang
.. Ivanka Trump shoe-brand licensee Marc Fisher Footwear, which operates as a middleman between the brand and Chinese factories, said it had been unaware of the situation and would look into it immediately.
.. China Labor Watch often investigates factories supplying prominent companies such asApple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. , with the aim of using the brands’ star power to bring broad attention to Chinese labor conditions.
.. China’s government tightly controls independent investigations and surveys. In recent years it has clamped down broadly on civil-society groups, detaining numerous activists and lawyers.
.. Mr. Li said he plans to send Ms. Trump video footage and other evidence of what the group calls questionable labor practices its investigators found at both factories, including longer shifts than the law allows, with workers asked to sign falsified time cards.