Democratic Representative (OH - 9th) Marcy Kaptur, has suggesed on Chris Mathhews' Hardball that Democrats and the Tea Party might find common ground around the issue of creating jobs in the U.S.A. This resonates with my own thinking of late as regards a call to economic nationalism which was recently given conceptual shape by a passage from Robert Reich's book Aftershock. Robert Reich's description of the platform of a hypothetical Independence Party has some very distasteful elements, particularly as regards immigrants but I find its draconian approach to banks and private capital appealing, ultimately perhaps even necessary.
I have posted this passage before in comments and a diary entitled If the Center Cannot Hold: Then What?. I have received some thoughtful responses as well as some of the "Eeeewww, yucky" variety. I would like more of the former variety, particularly if you can address the economic ramifications in a serious and thoughtful way.
The platform of the Independence Party, as well as its message, is clear and uncompromising: zero tolerance of illegal immigrants; a freeze on legal immigration from Latin America, Africa and Asia; increased tariffs on all imports; a ban on American companies moving their operations to another country or outsourcing abroad; a prohibition on "sovereign wealth funds" investing in the United States. America will withdraw from the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund; end all "involvements" in foreign countries; refuse to pay any more interest on our debt to China, essentially defaulting on it; and stop trading with China until China freely floats its currency.
Profitable companies will be prohibited from laying off workers and cutting payrolls. The federal budget must always be balanced. The Federal Reserve will be abolished.
Banks will be allowed only to take deposits and make loans. Investment banking will be prohibited. Anyone found to have engaged in insider trading, stock manipulation, or securities fraud will face imprisonment for no less than ten years.