Brian O'Shaughnessy, president of Revere Copper Products, and I co-authored a Boston Globe op-ed that was published today.  We tried to cut through the "protectionist vs. free trader" garbage that gets everyone nowhere in solving problems.  The focus was currency manipulation and the VAT tariifs. 

The link is here.  And in case they delete it sometime, the full piece is below the fold (read more).

The Edwards campaign posted this video on YouTube going after Clinton on the NAFTA issue.  These are clips from the last Democratic debate in Las Vegas.

The top-tier Democratic presidential candidates are speaking more these days on trade.

Obama accused Clinton of only recently changing her tune on NAFTA: 

“I think it’s important to note that Senator Clinton was a cheerleader for Nafta for more than a decade. As of a year ago, she was calling it a boon to the economy,” Mr. Obama told reporters here today. “It seems to me that the only thing that has changed in the last year is that it’s now election time.” ...

“As some of you probably heard at the debate the other night, Senator Clinton called Nafta a mistake,” Mr. Obama said. “I was pleased to hear her say that because, as more than 10,000 jobless Iowans know, that’s exactly what Nafta has been.”

Clinton said in last week's Las Vegas debate:

“Nafta is a mistake to the extent it did not deliver what we hoped it would.”

And a Clinton spokesman responded to Obama:

“Senator Obama must have been talking about himself because as recently as 2004, he was saying the United States should pursue trade deals like Nafta,” Phil Singer, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton said in a statement. “The fact is that Senator Clinton has been voicing serious concerns about trade agreements for years.”

The "wolf in sheep's clothing" metaphor may be overused.  But it describes, in a mental picture, a hidden danger, or an enemy putting on a false display of friendship. 

"Sovereign wealth funds" are foreign-government controlled investment companies. Middle eastern governments have these funds, filled with oil wealth.  The Chinese government has there funds, filled with trade surplus wealth. They are buying U.S. productive assets.  They should be analyzed through a foreign policy lens, not market economy lens.  The mere fact that a separately incorporated entity carries out the transactions misleads only the naive.  

The Dubai port deal was killed, and many "free market" zombies said the reaction was zenophobic.  But it was a national security and foreign policy issue.

The Abu Dhabi government investment corporation recently completed a deal:

Advanced Micro Devices said Friday that an investment arm of Abu Dhabi’s government had taken an 8 percent stake in the company for $622 million. 

China owns much of its economy, and is buying more.  China government controlled corporations are buying strategic ports around the world, and many important U.S. companies.  But that government does not let either U.S. private companies, or the U.S. government (assuming our government tried) to purchase major Chinese companies. 

Pat Mulloy was a member of the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission and is now an Advisory Board member of the Coalition for a Prosperous America.  He delivered testimony to the Senate Banking Committee last Wednesday on sovereign wealth funds.  His Commission has unearthed a trove of troubling data and patterns on the phenomenon. 

After the jump (hit "read more") you will find his whole testimony.