Stop the Madness! People Should be SHOCKED
by Ernest F. Hollings on June 11, 2010 - 8:20am
Economy in Crisis

Publisher's note: It is so obvious that our system is antiquated, obsolete and failing at every level. We have no way of removing failed political leaders. Our present condition attests to this:

Senators: 6 years in office
The President: 4 years in office
Congress: 2 years in office

Look at our condition, our need for change is obvious. Never in history has a country ascended to such affluence, influence and power is such a short time and then so quickly descended to complacency, poverty and weakness. Wake Up! Stop the madness! People will ­­not be shocked if the president and Congress continue to do nothing, but they should be. They should be replaced by leaders that will be shocked. After you read this article, share what you have learned with your friends. Shock them into action, and together do something, we can make this country great again!


[hollings jpg]
Bio: Former
Senator (D-SC)

People are shocked to learn:

1. That almost a year before the recession, in February 2007, the Princeton economist, Alan Blinder, estimated that in ten years we would be losing 30 to 40 million jobs to offshoring. That’s about 300,000 jobs a month lost to offshoring.

2. President Obama has stimulated to save or create jobs lost from the recession, but totally ignores the 300,000 jobs lost to offshoring.

3. President Bush and the Federal Reserve stimulated the economy $7.5 trillion during his eight year term, and household debt during the same time stimulated the economy another $7 trillion for a total of a $14.5 trillion stimulation. President Obama stimulated the economy his first year over $1 trillion, and we have already stimulated the economy this year $1.142 trillion (6/9/10) with four months to go. So we have borrowed and stimulated the economy over the past nine and a half years $16.6 trillion, and the private sector is only creating 41,000 new jobs a month.

4. Stimulation is spent. We keep bailing out the economy boat as fast as we can with stimulation and refuse to plug the offshoring hole in the bottom.

5. Corporate America wants to keep the offshoring hole in the bottom of the economy unplugged. In short, Corporate America would rather produce in China than the United States. Producing in China, there is no hassle over labor, health costs, safety rules and environmental costs. The profit is almost guaranteed and there is no legacy cost. So Corporate America is only interested in stimulating consumption in the United States so that its Chinese production can be consumed in the United States. Looking at imports, the little stimulation experienced is in China, not the United States.

6. The economists for Corporate America, Wall Street, the big banks and the financial community, all act like globalization or offshoring is a given. Nothing can be done. We in the United States have to reconcile the fact that anything can be produced anywhere and our environment, safety and standard of living, will have to be adjusted downward in order to survive.

7. Corporate America wants to keep its stock up on Wall Street with offshored profits. To keep its stock up and continue offshoring, Corporate America and its economists, its entities, like the Business Roundtable and the United States Chamber of Commerce, its editorialists and its political pundits, all engage in a charade of “free trade,” “protectionism,” “don’t start a trade war.”

8. As Henry Clay stated on the floor of the United States Senate in 1832: “Free trade! Free trade! … It never existed; it never will exist ….” And as Teddy Roosevelt stated: “Thank God, I’m not a Free Trader.” Globalization is nothing more than a trade war with production looking for a cheaper country to produce.

9. Countries in Europe and the Pacific all engage in the trade war, which has developed not only for production and jobs, but investments, research, technology and development. Intel has left Silicon Valley for China, and Microsoft research is in China. Germany, with its 19 percent VAT, recently announced the production of windmills in Charleston, S. C. With parts produced in Germany and exported at a 3 percent cost to Charleston, German production in the United States enjoys a 16 percent advantage over domestic production. Highballing the cost of producing parts in Germany, little income tax is paid for production of its windmills in the United States. Germany has established a beachhead to take over the energy jobs that the president and Congress keep saying we ought to develop.

10. The United States has to come in from the cold in the trade war and engage or compete in globalization.

11. Fortunately, we have trade laws in place to protect our economy. And President Obama can move immediately with a change in our tax laws and enforce our trade laws and make it profitable for Corporate America to produce in the United States:

(a) President Obama could move like President Nixon in 1971 with an import surcharge to repair our devastating deficit in the balance of trade; and put the world on notice that the United States has come in from the cold in the trade war and now will compete in globalization.

(b) President Obama, like President Kennedy in 1961, could enforce the War Production Act of 1950, making sure that the United States did not have to depend on foreign supply for materials necessary for our national security, but have a domestic production and supply creating millions of jobs.

(c) President Obama doesn’t have to wait for Corporate America to go bankrupt needing a bailout, under Section 201 of the Trade Act he could move with tariffs or import quotas to protect vital domestic production that is endangered.

(d) As other countries require of themselves in the trade war, enforce “Buy American” on U.S. government contracts.

12. Unfortunately, if the president or Congress moves to change our trade laws enforced, coming down on the head of the president and Congress in opposition will be Wall Street, the big banks, the financial community, Corporate America, and their economists, editorialists, political pundits, and their entities, like the Business Roundtable and the United States Chamber of Commerce, crying “free trade,” “protectionism,” “don’t start a trade war.” This is the crowd that will contribute to your re-election if you are for “free trade” and do nothing. And this is the crowd that will contribute to defeat you if you are for competing in globalization and do something.

(13) Under the Constitution, all trade and tax laws must originate in the House of Representatives and no House Member will introduce a tax or trade bill unless sanctioned by the president. Our only hope is for President Obama to enforce our trade laws to protect the economy and make it profitable for Corporate America to produce in the United States in the trade war. But Corporate America objects.

People will not be shocked if the president and Congress continue to do nothing.

LINK

https://www.economyincrisis.org/content/stop-madness-people-should-be-shocked