NEW YORK – Most people around
the world will not be able to vote in the United States’s upcoming
presidential election, even though they have a great deal at stake in
the result. Overwhelmingly, non-US citizens favor Barack Obama’s
re-election over a victory for his challenger, Mitt Romney. There are
good reasons for this.
In
terms of the economy, the effects of Romney’s policies in creating a
more unequal and divided society would not be directly felt abroad. But,
in the past, for better and for worse, others have often followed
America’s example. Many governments quickly subscribed to Ronald
Reagan’s mantra of deregulated markets – policies that eventually
brought about the worst global recession since the 1930’s. Other
countries that followed America’s lead have experienced growing
inequality – more money at the top, more poverty at the bottom, and a
weaker middle class.
