Fact Checkers? For a Primary Debate!?!?

On December 4, National Public Radio hosted a radio debate between the Democratic Primary candidates. You can find the debate here (c/o James Fallows' blog). For almost 2 hours, a handful of candidates spoke at length, without commercials, on three topics: Iran, immigration, and China. Well, NPR, as a respectable news source might be tempted to do, decided to do some fact checking and report back on their program the next morning (here). Three claims made by the candidates were checked on. I'll summarize NPR's checks on Chris Dodd and Barack Obama, and I'll pose some skepticism on one of Ms. Clinton's claims, after.


Chris Dodd - US-China relationship is adversarial and China is modifying their currency in violation of WTO rules making it difficult for America to compete globally.

The fact checker responds that, yes, China is breaking WTO rules, but so is the US. However, the fact checker also says that the currency manipulation China is accused of is not a violation of WTO rules because the WTO rules do not cover currency manipulation deeply enough for China to be violating them. The fact checker also found that very few economists would agree that China's currency policy is making it hard for America to thrive in the global marketplace.

Barack Obama - Would not let Chinese toys in, and would not purchase Chinese toys until the safety problems are solved.

The fact checker found that China makes 80% of the toys consumed in the United States. Of China's toy exports, less than 1/100th of 1% of all the toys have been involved in recalls or safety. The small percentage does not justify embargo, and if a toy embargo was put up, the alternative would be black markets full of inferior toys which would most likely aggravate toy safety problems.


Hilary Clinton - Claimed to have cured a problem where a New York company was slapped with tariffs by the Chinese government on exports to China making their company wholly uncompetitive, and the only solution would be [here's where it gets problematic] to go into business with a company, "more than likely a front group for the Chinese Army", who would then steal their IP.

Ms. Clinton stepped in and saved the day, pressuring the government to step down and remove the tariffs. Now, I don't know all of the facts of the situation the company Ms. Clinton speaks of was involved in, but this sounds like a fanciful tale designed to play well in scaring Americans into thinking that the Chinese government is in cahoots with the PLA to cheat hardworking Americans out of their businesses and then steal their intellectual property. Unfortunately, her vague choice of words discourages fact checking, but the uncertainty makes China into a more scary place than it is.

The Conclusion

If any of them get elected... I hope they form a pragmatic cabinet...