Sinomania!

An apt summary from Morgan Stanley chief global economist Stephen Roach: " With workers in services outnumbering those in manufacturing by a factor of five to one, the body politic in the industrial world has cast its ballot in favor of protectionism. Opportunistic politicians are taking the bait — seemingly unconcerned about the tragic lessons of the 1930s. " (SOURCE.) [UPDATE]



The China blame game looks to be THE theme for the remainder of the 109th Congress and is bipartisan all the way. Opportunistic politicians include plenty of Dems (Schumer, Sherrod Brown, the usual labor supporters) and plenty of Republicans (Graham, the OC (California) crowd - Duncan Hunter, Dana Rohrabacher, lots of Texans and so on). Sadly, the American people are an easy audience as most, even the Iraq war opponents, believe the nation's problems are not homegrown but imported from Beijing.