It took me a while to find a good, useable image of this guy. I didn’t want to choose a picture of McCain at a rally because then you would think it was a picture from some sort of Sony McCain rally, which would just open pandora’s box for Anti-Sony zealots. There isn’t anything like that going on, but it is possible that Sony is investing money into John McCain’s campaign, which is certainly curious. Acording to the Wall Street Journal, John McCain has personally met Sony Chief Executive Officers. The architect of the McCain – Sony introduction was James B. Lee, who is the Vice President of Stanley Morgan, an American investment firm. While there isn’t any mention of which CEO’s he’s met, one must wonder if McCain’s ideals for business and trade are more favorable to Sony than Obama’s. John McCain doesn’t have much description about his trade policieson this official website, but he mentions,
John McCain believes that globalization is an opportunity for American workers today and in the future. Ninety-five percent of the world’s customers lie outside our borders, and we need to be at the table when the rules for access to those markets are written. To do so, the U.S. should engage in multilateral, regional and bilateral efforts to reduce barriers to trade, level the global playing field and build effective enforcement of global trading rules.
Which really doesn’t help things much in understanding Sony’s motivations. Obama’s site is a little more descriptive,
- Fight for Fair Trade: Obama will fight for a trade policy that opens up foreign markets to support good American jobs. He will use trade agreements to spread good labor and environmental standards around the world and stand firm against agreements like the Central American Free Trade Agreement that fail to live up to those important benchmarks. Obama will also pressure the World Trade Organization to enforce trade agreements and stop countries from continuing unfair government subsidies to foreign exporters and nontariff barriers on U.S. exports.
- Amend the North American Free Trade Agreement: Obama believes that NAFTA and its potential were oversold to the American people. Obama will work with the leaders of Canada and Mexico to fix NAFTA so that it works for American workers.
- Improve Transition Assistance: To help all workers adapt to a rapidly changing economy, Obama would update the existing system of Trade Adjustment Assistance by extending it to service industries, creating flexible education accounts to help workers retrain, and providing retraining assistance for workers in sectors of the economy vulnerable to dislocation before they lose their jobs.
One can see some strengths in both of their propositions. Hopefully it will be easier for Sony to make more development centers for software and hardware in the United States. I feel that it would be extremely beneficial to allow foreign companies like Sony invest more into the American people. While we may never follow up to this article (the only way to understand why a Sony CEO has met with McCain is to be a Sony CEO), one can hope that whomever is chosen as President of the United States can do a much better job than whom is currently in office.
