On China and the election

I am pretty disappointed by ads like this one from the people at Citizens Against Government Waste and this one from Washington State US Senate candidate Patty Murray. Any one who watches television - even just football - has seen dozens like them.

I'll be glad when the election is over and all the China-bashing political ads, which manage to combine racism and fear-mongering with ignorance of basic economics, come to a close.

In my view, these sorts of ads represent a real embarrassment, both to those who fund and produce them and to the nation as a whole. Ads like these would not make it outside the production process if they did not engender the reactions their producers hope for.

The economic growth that has come to China, India, Mexico and many other developing countries in recent decades has done more to eliminate poverty and improve human welfare than ten thousand blow-dried politicians peddling hope, change, or a return to some non-existent past. We should be celebrating this amazing growth, not blaming it for problems we brought on ourselves.