Selection of Ryan will put focus on the economy

The decision by Mitt Romney, the Republican Party candidate in the US presidential election, to choose Representative Paul D Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate should bring serious discussion about the issue that matters to most Americans at the moment, that is how to fix their economic problems. The US economy is struggling with high unemployment and large deficits, which could threaten the well-being of all Americans.

Ryan’s selection was described as a bold move by Romney, for this young conservative is known for his conservative budget plans. And, Ryan, who is just 42, is not known to be well-versed in foreign affairs like Joe Biden, the US Vice President. But he has been widely known for his ambitious federal budget vision. It is debatable how effective Ryan’s budget plan could be, but, at least, it should bring the political debate in the US to this serious issue.

While Romney and Ryan still have challenging days ahead until the presidential election in early November, Ryan may help frame the message along the campaign trail to ordinary American citizens that some serious action may have to be taken to re-energize the US economy.  Naturally, any voters would not like to see their welfare benefits cut or go through belt tightening spending plans.  Ryan earlier criticised the US Medicare policy as being headed toward bankruptcy and his plan would “save” the programme by spending cuts.  

Welfare cut can easily be toxic during the election season. It remains to be seen how the Republican candidates will fare with general voters with this sort of budget vision, or whether their political strategists would later decide to alter the campaign message. After all, the politicians often find it difficult to win votes with plans that would require voters to let go of some benefits. In fact, Ryan previously voted to support big spending plans under President George W Bush.

But at least, the debate about Ryan’s selection may illustrate the point that something needs to be done to boost the US economy.

This should encourage serious discussion as US politicians tend to blame their “high” unemployment rate on the “outsourcing” of American jobs to countries with cheaper labour costs such as India and China. Earlier Romney’s political opponents accused him of laying off US workers and outsourcing jobs overseas when he was running Bain, the Boston-based investment firm he founded. During the mid-term election in 2010, some US politicians also used the US concern of losing jobs to China and India to as a character assassination tactic against their political opponents to win the campaign.

At any rate, regardless of either Democrat or Republican candidates come the election in November, the US administration will likely go ahead with moves to integrate their economy closer to the outside world. Closer to this region, the US administration will, for instance, continue pursuing talks to create the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement to increase trade in the Asia Pacific. However, Thailand has not been part of these discussions.

Instead of seeing the outside market as a threat, US politicians should also point out to voters the fundamental economic reason for their malaise – investors simply go where they can make profit. Industries do not merely go to other countries to avoid paying Americans higher wages, but many of them, such as Starbucks, Apple or Coca- Cola have gone out to expand their markets overseas by having a presence in other countries. American-based companies have become a global brand by successfully existing in many countries.

Americans should view markets outside the US as an opportunity because the US is already equipped with competitive labour and a huge market that provides an economy of scale for American firms to grow.  But this message has not been sufficiently told to US voters so far.