President Obama faced two challenges in his State of the Union. First, to restore the people's confidence in their government. Next to make the people confident that their government could solve the problem with the economy. As to the first, the president did a masterful job. He spoke as if he knew what he was talking about and, most importantly, felt what he was talking about. Sure enough the Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal, came with the same old Republican politics. Jindal waxed: "The strength of America is not found in our government." Since Ronald Reagan, the Republican creed has been: "Government is not the solution, government is the problem." And with the recent antics of our Secretary of the Treasury on the bank problem, people are beginning to believe that government is the problem. Obama brilliantly dispelled this thought. "History reminds us that at every moment of economic upheaval ..." that government "has responded with bold action and big ideas."
But as to the principal problem with our economy -- the offshoring of the nation's investment, research, development, production and jobs, i.e. the economy, he barely mentioned it. And only as a tax equity problem. Globalization is nothing more than a trade war with production looking for a country cheaper to produce. Every industrialized country on the globe engages with a fierce competition - subsidies, tax benefits, currency distortion, everything imaginable. For example, China just promised Russia steel for a 20-year delivery of $20 a barrel oil. All nations are fighting for their economy, but in this trade war the United States is AWOL.
Two years ago, the Princeton economist, Alan Blinder, estimated that in ten years this nation will lose thirty to forty million jobs to offshoring. The president covered his stimulus plan to create jobs, but said nothing about losing jobs faster than any stimulus could create. At present, the government is the problem. Offshoring is caused not by the little tax cost to producing in-country because corporations pass this on in the price of the product. It's the high standard of living that is required for production in America: Social Security, Medicare, labor rights, minimum wage, clean air, clean water, safe working place, safe machinery, plant closing notice, parental leave, anti-trust, etc. Economists usually measure competition in manufacture by productivity. But in globalization, it's government. The Chinese government controls labor and has none of our environmental restrictions. Moreover, production in China also has a 17% VAT tax advantage - rebated at export. The United States doesn't rebate corporate taxes. In short, the problem with our economy is that, unless business is local, like a laundry or a restaurant, business can't make a profit in our country. This sounds crazy, but in globalization, it's a fact. You can have a wonderful industry producing for a profit, but if your competition goes to China, India or Mexico and you continue to work your own people, you'll go broke. In short, the affirmative action policy of the United States government is to get rid of jobs, get rid of the economy. And President Obama, with his "free trade" economic team, continues our demise.
The president mentioned Teddy Roosevelt's call for reform of health care costs, but he should have spent more time on Teddy Roosevelt's exclamation: "Thank God I'm not a free trader." Business opposes our competing, cautioning "Free Trade," "Protectionism," "Don't start a trade war." The banks, Wall Street, and a substantial amount of our production, have long since offshored making big profits. They even have the United States Chamber of Commerce objecting to "Buy American" in the president's stimulus plan. But the American people are the most productive, the most competitive. The people are proud of our high standard of living and they don't want to go back to dirty air and no labor rights. They were looking to hear from their wonderful president his plan to compete in globalization. It wasn't mentioned.
Big-shot executives have been dilligently moving all of our jobs offshore because their own salaries and bonuses were based on the profits achieved by any means. Their demands for increased profitability each and every quarter are chalked up to the tyranny of the shareholders, but just who are the majority shareholders in most corporations but the executives and boards of directors? People lose their jobs because "everybody else is doing it" and the possibility of making slightly less profit one quarter as compared with some other soulless org chart is deemed unacceptable. Quarterly profits rank as more important than the livelihoods of the thousands of American workers.
Once upon a time, the purpose of business was to make a sustainable living for all of its participants by producing a valuable product. If people were striving to make a good living over time rather than to attain stratospheric wealth this year, they might see the value of goods produced in America, particularly in light of the quality issues (including health and safety concerns) associated with goods from China or India.
Overrun with war and uncontrolled leaders
Our world becomes more dangerous each day.
Dishonest politicians, criminals and the media
Survive by their falsehoods at play.
Bible believers preach, that the end is near
Our world as a whole is beyond reform.
God will eradicate all which is wicked
By His fire of eruption and storm.
To evil’s victory, I will never concede
May its supporters anguish in hell.
By the grace of God and the power of faith
The goodness of man will prevail.
What we accomplish is heaven’s measure
As patriots respond to the threats of man.
Protect and defend what we love till death
As the soldiers of Satan arise from the sand.
By Tom Zart
Most Published Poet
On The Web
Very simple.....Cut the corporate taxes to make it a lot more cost effective and corporation friendly to do business in the United States. Look at what Bobby Jindal has been doing with the economy in Louisana, cutting taxes and growing jobs. According to the labor statistics of job loses in December, Louisana and DC were the only 2 areas in the United States not losing jobs.
Stop penalizing success by trying to tax it to death!
What new industries do you see that has brought growth to Louisiana? The year of crazy oil prices brought speculators huge profits and some response in increasing oilfield jobs but as oil prices fall to the levels of the 70s, that is quickly evaporating and now the boom for oilfield workers in a bust. Two large manufacturing firms moved away to foreign countries and the forest products industry if hurting because of the slowdown in construction. I think you better get your facts straight.
AND No! The corporate rush to flee to third world countries isn't so simple. The main goal is seeking cheap (read near slave) labor and being able to mitigate environmental law and pay little or NO TAXES at all.
A well published fact, from what is available for all to find, is that most corporations that accept corporate welfare here in this country, and they pay much less than the % you state. Those not on the dole, get out of paying that rate by donating big bucks to political candidates and hiring lobbyists to get favorable legislations passed couldn't have been hurting all that bad could they?
However, that's not what we have now. One way free trade is insanity. We need trade that is free and fair. This means having free trade that takes into account labor and environmental policies of the two countries as well.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-fraad-wolff/partisans-and-sinking-shi_b_169681.html
Maybe I am looking at this askance, but I have always thought that as industrialization evolves, with robotized machinery replacing manpower decreasing the number of jobs and population increases increasing the need for jobs that sooner or later in a manufacturing economy-(such as we have)- the unemployed numbers would increase and continue to increase as population increases.
Offshoring may have cost the USA jobs, but in the long run it will be the industrial revolution coupled to synthetic intelligence that will make capitalism no longer a viable form of economics, or at least not the dominant form of economics. Some sort of barter system and return to manual labor is the only solution I can see. The machines freed us, but the trade off is not one sustainable for man's self-esteem. And our current system only leads to war as a means of reducing the excess production as Eric Blair so thoughtfully explained it. Our weaponry will undo us also unless we undo it first.
My grandparents and my parents both survived the southern flight of the mills. I would further argue that the increased northern labor cost was driven by unionization. But that is another argument for another day. Or is it, Detroit?
http://www.fxstreet.com/fundamental/economic-time-series/data/blsce/ces3000000001.aspx
The simple fact of the matter is that Government through ever increasing regulation and taxes, has increased costs beyond productivity gains. And lets not forget the unions. Unions have caused even more job erosion by increasing cost on end products, such as automobiles. In order to pay these union contacts Auto companies have been forced to buy components and sub assemblies so cheaply that suppliers were forced to pay lower and lower wages until finally the products were produced off shore. This all to support fat union contracts and even fatter government spending. The result ends up having one class of worker getting poorer to support another class of worker (Union Employees inside and outside government).
And its not an analogy, they are facts.
If you disagree, please explain with something other than OH HUH.
International trade is important and worthwhile. But protecting your own economy, manufacturing, and jobs is even more important. The cheap goods you get from outsourcing all your labor winds up being very, very expensive indeed.