Good for thee, not for me

Republican legislators seem to display a lack of consistency in their economic philosophy as they show outrage over the EADS contract to supply tankers for the U.S. Air Force.

Sen. Brownback (R-Kansas) has been a vocal proponent of NAFTA, CAFTA, the U.S.-Australian Trade Act, and free trade agreements with Oman, Chile, and Singapore. The pro-free trade Club For Growth awarded Brownback a score of 98/100 on their annual scorecard, earning him a "Defender of Economic Freedom award" from the organization.

Yet, Brownback now expresses shock and awe that the U.S. would "outsource the production" of something that could be manufactured in the U.S.

“It’s stunning to me that we would outsource the production of these airplanes to Europe instead of building them in America,” said Sam Brownback, the Republican senator for Kansas, where Boeing has a site. “I’ll be calling upon the secretary of defence for a full debriefing.”

But free trade isn't the only area of economics on which conservatives are suddenly (and conveniently) turning an about face.

In 2005, President Bush signed into law the Bankruptcy Reform Act, making it more difficult for debtors to gain bankruptcy protection under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code. This means, of course, that the rights and expectations of borrowers were changed retroactively in order to protect lenders. Conservatives argued at the time that it was necessary to protect the lending industry and to correct for fraudulent and abusive practices by borrowers.

Fast forward three years, and President Bush et al. have had a change of heart. As Democrats in Congress have prepared legislation that would allow a court to allow bankruptcy judges to modify terms of a mortgage as part of a bankruptcy restructuring.

In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, the White House said the bill would “undermine existing contracts” and lead to tighter credit.

“These and other provisions of the bankruptcy-related provisions in the bill would fundamentally alter the expectations of parties to hundreds of thousands of home purchases after the fact,” it said. It also objected to provisions that would provide $4 billion for state and local governments to redevelop abandoned homes and provide money for homeowner counseling programs.

There is, of course, a certain consistency underlying Republican economics policy, though it isn't one of economic philosophy. It's old-fashioned crony capitalism. You can count on Republicans to be for globalization so long as it means that American corporations get to exercise something like monopoly power in the world market. But when foreign corporations begin to threaten American economic hegemony, brace yourself for Republican protectionism.

Be it inconsistent application of free trade or bankruptcy laws, Republicans have never met a special protection for business that they didn't like, private citizens be damned.