Are the Jupitarian Politics of President Macron about to hit a shoal of his own making? Protectionism in the name of National Security. The mantra of the EU Cartel has always been ‘Free Trade’ but what to do with those wiley Capitalist Chinese? who seem better at the game than any Westerner.

President Macron’s Neo-Liberalism Lite, in this instance, deploys the notion of National Security as a motive for his very specific proposal. Do Western European states have an obligation to their populations to protect them from potentially hostile takeovers, of their key industries, by a potential hostile State or State Actors? The question, in this case, partakes of two unsavory aspects: the recrudescence of ‘Yellow Peril’ as motive for action, in sum a racist idea. And the very real threat that this State, or its Actors, may act against the best interests of the State in which this industry resides, and the states where it subsidiaries may be?

Another question arises: does a Capitalism, governed by the Economic Dawinism of the Hayek/Mises/Friedman Trinity, have any professed civic/political obligation except profit?

Political Observer

https://www.ft.com/content/73aadc3a-5118-11e7-bfb8-997009366969