A CLINTONISTA GLOB FINALLY NOTICES THE COST OF INEQUALITY

WILLIAM GREIDER, THE NATION - When Robert Rubin speaks his mind, his
thoughts on economic policy are the gold standard for the Democratic
Party. The former Treasury Secretary, now executive co-chair of
Citigroup, captured the party's allegiance in the 1990s as principal
architect of Bill Clinton's governing strategy, the conservative
approach known as "Rubinomics" (or less often "Clintonomics"). Balancing
the budget and aggressively pushing trade liberalization went hard
against liberal intentions and the party's working-class base. But when
Clinton's second term ended in booming prosperity, full employment and
rising wages, most Democrats told themselves, Listen to Bob Rubin and
good things happen.

So it's a big deal when Robert Rubin changes the subject and begins to
talk about income inequality as "a deeply troubling fact of American
economic life" that threatens the trading system, even the stability of
"capitalist, democratic society." More startling, Rubin now freely
acknowledges what the American establishment for many years denied or
dismissed as inconsequential--globalization's role in generating the
thirty-year stagnation of US wages, squeezing middle-class families and
below, while directing income growth mainly to the upper brackets. A lot
of Americans already knew this. Critics of "free trade" have been saying
as much for years. But when Bob Rubin says it, his words can move
politicians, if not financial markets. . .

Despite my skepticism about his policy ideas, I think Rubin is providing
a significant opening for the opposition -- a new chance for
labor-liberal reformers to make themselves heard with a more fundamental
critique of globalization. Up to now, the standard trade debate has been
utterly simple-minded -- "free trade good, no trade bad" -- and anyone
who opposes trade agreements or WTO rules is dismissed as a backward
"protectionist." The enlightened position, as major media always
explain, is to support the "win-win" promise of globalization

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