Found this nugget yesterday....Yo, AC, take a look at it..... http://www.mcclatchydc.com/215/gallery/61305-a61567-t3.html
"One of the concerns that I have is that we'll probably end up borrowing this $150 billion from the Chinese. And when we get those rebate checks, most people are going to go out and buy stuff that's been imported from China. I have to wonder whose economy is going to be stimulated the most by the package."
-- Mike Huckabee
The former presidential candidate was right when he said that about last year's tax rebates.
And the same could be said about the current approaches to stimulating the economy.
The fact is, unless America revitalizes its ability to make things, all we'll be doing is moving money around.
Increasingly, that money is moving offshore.
The federal government this week said America had a $677 billion trade deficit in 2008. That means that $677 billion left this country and did not come back.
Since 2001, our trade deficit in manufactured goods has exceeded a jaw-dropping $3.6 trillion. Not surprisingly, we've lost 4.4 million middle-class manufacturing jobs in that time.
We've gone from a creditor nation to the world's leading debtor nation.
There's a "giant sucking sound" that Ross Perot coined. It's real. We are losing money. Fast. And it's not sustainable.
Why is it happening?
Is it because Americans are uneducated, inept or lazy? Hardly.
"American workers stay longer in the office, at the factory, or on the farm than their counterparts in Europe and most other rich nations, and they produce more per person over the year," the Associated Press reported in 2007.
"The average U.S. worker produces $63,885 of wealth per year, more than their counterparts in all other countries, the International Labor Organization said in its report. Ireland comes in second at $55,986, followed by Luxembourg at $55,641, Belgium at $55,235, and France at $54,609."
And it's not just because we work longer. The American worker, wrote AP, is also tops in "the amount of wealth created per hour of work."
So the question remains: Why is America getting its rear end handed to it in the realm of trade?
Answer: We're being played for suckers in our trade policies and tax laws. They have carved out a sharply uneven playing field for American companies and workers. American workers are competing against those in other nations earning far less per hour, and yet our laws and treaties only encourage American companies to move offshore.
Meanwhile, foreign manufacturers, especially in China, operate with assistance from their own government to keep prices even lower, giving them an unfair trade advantage against the United States.
Some are advocating "buy American" requirements in the stimulus bill -- in which, with some exceptions, stimulus public works projects would be required to use American iron, steel and manufactured goods.
Such proposals, as good as they sound, may run afoul of international trade agreements, and indeed some other countries have complained.
Protectionism isn't the right avenue anyway, as Depression-era experience with the Smoot-Hawley Act proved: Lower trade caused by tariffs deepened the Depression.
Instead, trade needs to be expanded -- and it needs to be made fairer. We never agreed with the Bush administration's worshiping at the altar of free trade, and said so often; we think the answer is fair trade.
We urge the Obama administration to fix our trade policies as soon as possible. The American worker can compete with anyone in the world, if he doesn't have his arm tied behind his back.
Bringing sanity to our trade policies, and inspiring a manufacturing renaissance in America, would be the best and longest-lasting stimulus we can think of.
Comments
Found this nugget yesterday....Yo, AC, take a look at it..... http://www.mcclatchydc.com/215/gallery/61305-a61567-t3.html
"Protectionism isn't the right avenue anyway" ---- What do you expect businesses to tell folks that it's good for the country?? All businesses want is what got us into this economic mess in the first place -- less regulations; no oversight; more "free trade" (when is anything free, Mr. Business people??). Now how much debt due we owe China now? How much are we controlled by OPEC? Then how will be really be about "free trade" when we really just want to trade but without the strings (no Kyoto treaty; international courts for disputes, and things like an international peanut scandal?). You don't want "free trade" you want to rule the world on your terms, and people giving their money right back to the company store (remember those 401ks??). What a farce. I'll take protectionism any day over this mess.
The problems is that people of other countries can do without the items we deem necessary. We go in debt to buy what we are brainwashed to believe we need. Our personal per capita debt is tremendous while the people of poor countries like India and China, instead of having debt, actually have savings. Fiscally, you have to say those poorer people are better off than ours because they are not in debt. They are loaning us money. We can't continue to prop up needless spending which is what our government officials are trying to do now.
Our state and federal government is the most ridiculous of spend thrifts and we, as voters, continue to send the same fools to office. As a result, the tax system is manipulated so most of our taxes are hidden and included as "cost of doing business". We, the consumer, pay all of them. The "free trade" items become more attractive as a result of lower cost. The result, trade deficit. Save the country, Obama. Initiate the Fair Tax, as written. Attract manufacturing concerns, and jobs, from around the world. Leave a better legacy than the one you're striving for.
Fastest way to end this free for all is do away with the federal income tax, as these bozos are depending on it to spend. But noooooooooo the businesses need the "free welfare" instead. Really getting sick of this spending and ZERO accountability, as they're spending so much so fast that an army of federal bean counters can't keep tabs. These are the same bean counters that can find your purchase of toilet paper 5 years ago, but can't even account for 100 million that simply disappears --- my butt, Uncle Sam knows where that money is going, but don't want the taxpayers to know about it. In game development it's common of project managers to set aside some money from the current project for a future one (seed money), have a funny feeling that's where this missing money has gone (and in Iraq, the CIA ate it, like they ate the cocaine in South America. The CIA gets "unknown" money all the time for "security" reasons).
Federal income tax = free welfare?
A vicious circle----Increased manufacturing is followed immediately by increased union activity, driving up the cost of labor and making us less competitive. Making/inventing the product is not the problem for American labor, at what cost is.
Is it just me or did anyone else ever notice how long winded & pointless both Sandy & Cain are? Could it be a sinister relationship here?
When our own large businesses embraced the idea of Globalization, they went charging merrily down the path to greater wealth. What they forgot to include in their decisions is that when work is outsourced to other countries on the scale we see today, where are the consumers in this country (who have lost their jobs) going get the money to buy the goods that are imported. Instead of expanding jobs to other countries, these businesses moved the jobs to other countries! Since our fine financial institututions were extolling GNP growth, they fell apart when the economy began to collapse. Can't pay the mortgage if you don't have a job! Our government can only put band-aids on the real problem. President Obama can talk to us all he wants. Until there are jobs for U.S. workers, there can be no permanent "fix" for the U.S. economy. Believe it or not, that is the truth to the matter.
"Federal income tax = free welfare?" ---- Yep, as you're opening your wallet and giving your money to congress every April 15th with a smile.
"Is it just me" ----- Yes.
The Chuch of the unFair Tax pops up. THe worshippers thin it will fix everything. Don't worry, maybe Boortz and Linder will just rapture you into unFair Tax heaven. The American worker is the most productive in the world yet receives far less vacation and other benefits than other industrialized nations. "Fair" trade doesn't matter. When companies are allowed to set up a PO box offshore and skip taxes or when they can move the jobs where they can pay $10 a week instead of $10 an hour we don't stand a chance. Corporate America doesn't give a d*mn about it's workers or the country at large. They just care that those at the top can rake in their millions.
The "Huckster" doesn't care that the stimulus check (at least in our case) went to pay bills. In his world I'm sure that little $1200 was pocket change, but to millions of hard working Amercans it helped out. I can't figure out the difference between giving a family a $1200 tax cut and sending a family a $1200 stimulus check. It's still $1200. The right wing is just upset that it's a set amount, not skewed so the working class gets a few dollars and those at the top get a higher percentage, like all the recent so called tax cuts. After all it's supposed to "trickle down". Ha!
There is strong evidence that free trade is very good for the economy. The only complaints come from industries that are no longer able to compete, and which ask the government to protect them from the free market. This is one of the few things that Bush got right.
Three trade deals when he started and 28 when he left. Who am I talking about? As to the comments about unions. I just don,t understand why people will absolutely not be happy with minimum wages, which is what business wants to pay. As to the flat tax folks, just looka at the raises in state taxes in Califirnia to see what that type system would bring, federal goes down, state goes up to make up for it. The only free trade should be within the USA because that is the only group governed by a common set of rules that all have to play by. The only way to equalize with the world is to impose fees on other countries if they are not following laws like ours in areas like emissions, legal rights, voting, wages etc. Only then do we have true free trade.
dis:The Constitution prohibits tarriffs between states.
The American worker is the most productive in the world yet receives far less vacation and other benefits than other industrialized nations. ...Techi at 9:35 AM...yep, the American worker produces more because he/she doesn't get six weeks of vacation, all religious holidays ( they are mostly Catholic) and unlimited sick leave (even a 30 day stay at a health spa on doctor's order), all with pay, as do such socialist countries as Germany where you MAY get 6-7 months of work out of the German worker. Of course, what they do earn is confiscated by the government at a rte far higher than ours (60+ %), high sales taxes, etc.
Techlover it is called the interstate commerce commission. Unfortunately the trading partners (overseas) of ours don't have to abide by the ICC, OSHA, FLRB or EPA rules like bussinesses in this country in this country have to. Given that little tid bit, why do we still call it the Free Trade Agreement(s)? Really it should be called our one sided trade agreemenr with (fill in the nlank). BTW JACK you should really study the german tax system before you criticisize it. You may find that when all your hidden taxes, fees and healthcare are included, you actually pay more. And one other thing, yes they have holidays but they generally celebrate their holidays with a day of relaxation, and the stores are generally closed on those days. its not a shopping day like here. Yeah they should be like us in Augusta and close down a week for MASTERS that is obviously so much more industrious.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2012. All Rights Reserved.
