(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Word of the Day: Decoupling [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-04-16
Our Word of the Day (part of or related to the Words Matter Series) is “Decoupling.” No, it doesn’t have anything to do with White Lotus although in truth both do have an Oriental spin to them. The term is not new, but in the past three weeks (since Liberation Day), its use has exploded. The Google Chrome AI generated definition for the term in its political context is as follows:
"De-coupling China" refers to the process of reducing or eliminating economic and technological interdependence between China and other countries, particularly the United States and its allies. This trend, also sometimes called "de-risking," involves diversifying supply chains, lessening reliance on Chinese markets, and potentially establishing new economic partnerships elsewhere.
Decoupling is interesting for several reasons:
as a concept, it doesn’t characterize the situation properly.
because it underpins or rationalizes the Trump’s current Tariff policy.
because it demonstrates another how Faux Populism has coopted what was a Democratic policy position and distorted it (effectively confusing everyone).
Let’s take a look at each of these points separately:
1 — Are we “coupled” with China? The core term coupling implies; a) two participants and b) a limited form of connection. The reality of our economic situation indicates that there are far more than two participants involved (that’s where the term Globalism comes in) and that the nature of the connections are much more extensive. In fact, a better word to describe not just ours, but the world’s economic relationship with China is “Integrated.”
2 — The notion behind Liberation Day seems to be that the Decoupling with China (whatever that constitutes, because the Trump Administration hasn’t actually tried to define its parameters), can occur more or less overnight. Worse than that, it can supposedly occur without any additional planning or funding to manage the obvious impacts that would be manifested if two or more economies having been integrated at all levels over a 4 decade period were suddenly split asunder.
3 — Once upon a time (before Bill Clinton), anti-Globalization was a Democratic policy position. I remember very clearly advocating against both NAFTA and the WTO (and Globalization in general) for one very important reason: Global trade is one thing, Globalization is another — the key differentiating factor is the commoditization of labor. That commoditization ensures that the general population on both sides hold a losing hand. In contrast to the growth of Middle Classes in many countries post WW2, the Middle Class after Globalization was sure to shrink and without creating new middle classes elsewhere either. The Faux Populists (JD Vance seems to be their poster boy these days) have borrowed the rhetoric and some of the key concepts associated with the Left’s dissent of Globalism, without being too serious about how to actually fix the situation their party put us in (the GOP drove us most of the way there).
It’s funny, if we were to use the word that better describes our current economic interdependence with China — integration, then instead of de-coupling we might get dis-integration. Economic Disintegration is quite possibly what the Trump administration had in mind all along. And the process wherein they’ve started achieving that goal brings another Oriental visualization to mind — Economic Jenga. In Jenga, one builds a delicate structure of made of sticks or blocks and begins removing those components one by one to see how long the structure stays together, before — disintegrating.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/4/16/2316883/-Word-of-the-Day-Decoupling?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
