The consensus formed over several decades that supported the globalizing efforts of free trade advocates across the political spectrum seems to be tearing apart. According to Eduardo Porter’s New York Times article “In ‘Brexit’ and Trump, a Populist Farewell to Laissez-Faire Capitalism,” large segments of voters in both major political parties are both highly motivated to go to the polls and hold very negative views of the forces wrought by free trade and other reductions in global economic borders. Porter points to the recent vote in Great Britain to exit the European Union as evidence of the surprising power and cross-national character of the recent backlash against the effects of economic globalization . These forces not only have implications for the short-term health of the international economy, but for the long-term conceptions and support for capitalism itself.
There is a growing segment of the electorate that is not optimistic about capitalism as embodied by recent manifestations in both the United States and elsewhere. This feeling has been growing since the financial crisis of 2007-8 blindsided not only those thinkers of the commanding heights, but also devastated feelings of certainty and fairness of the typical voter and worker. Capitalism has generated more wealth than any other system in human history, but recent events and political forces have convinced many that capitalism as currently practiced has morphed into a manipulated system of crony capitalism that benefits the few elites at the expense of hardworking and honest main street workers and middle class knowledge workers. Trade is the essence of capitalism, and cross-border trade only differs from free trade within nations only to the extent that artificial barriers are erected by elite policymakers. Paradoxically, the recent rumblings about crony capitalism have led to calls for more elite manipulation of free trade agreements by the same political sect that is blamed for rigging the national economy against honest workers. Free trade agreements, in fact, have done more enrich the working and middle-classes than perhaps any other political achievement in decades. Therefore, it is likely that populist calls to reform free trade agreements will likely further distort the capitalist system in favor of the well-connected and thus further degrade the likelihood that capitalism will regain the confidence of the body politic.
Work Cited
Porter, Eduardo. "In ‘Brexit’ and Trump, a Populist Farewell to Laissez-Faire Capitalism." New York Times 28 June 2016. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/business/economy/the-anger-wave-that-may-just-wipe-out-laissez-faire-economics.html?_r=0>.
