Campaigning Over, Politicians Await Critical Greek Vote

In spite of all the huffing and puffing and bluffing, once again the Greek puppets will likely dance to the strings of the Troika and pass austerity measures required for Greece to get the next tranche of money. Unions, lawyers, pensioners, and workers in general are not pleased with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and have planned a major series of strikes. I expect violence if Samaras musters the votes to pass the bills. There is likely to be violence before the vote as well.

Many campaigning politicians love to blame "outsourcing" for the woes of the US job market, and to brand their opponents as supporting policies - like US FTAs and blanket opposition to tax hikes on US multinational corporations - that "send American jobs overseas."  Indeed, the "outsourcing" bogeyman has become an express part of the Democratic Party's "Make It in America" campaign platform, and "pro-outsourcing" accusations are a staple of Democrats' c

The US manufacturing sector has long been a focus of many statewide and national political campaigns, as well as elected officials' trade and fiscal policies.  As I noted a few months ago, many campaigning politicians' obsession with the American manufacturing sector - particularly their belief that it's in desperate need of government support - is completely wrongheaded.