When last we met, I talked about the failure of the United States to preserve its manufacturing base and called for a national manufacturing policy. Today I want to address some of the reactions I received. So get a beverage and/or a snack and let's get to it.
You may recall that I think the concept of the level playing field to be a fiction. The first step to prosperity is to re-tilt the playing field toward us. This sounds simple but it isn't. The World Trade Organization erects many barriers to fair trade. Tariffs and quotas are largely off the table unless we can make an effective case for dumping by our competitors. Please remember that we don't have trading partners, only competitors. Of greater difficulty is overcoming the opposition of those who are benefitting from the current situation.
My earlier comments resulted in my getting a few emails lauding "free trade." (n.b. Why do people send me emails instead of just posting in that comment box under the blog post itself?) They rehashed the usual arguments about the supposed benefits. They also rely on the belief that there is such a thing as free trade. Hey folks, there is no free trade. Manipulating currency and using banking rules to help your homeland companies is not free trade. Establishing quality criteria that only your homeland companies can meet without expensive testing that must be conducted in your homeland labs and takes weeks to complete is not free trade. Looking aside as your homeland companies violate intellectual property laws while rigorously enforcing them against foreign companies, including the actual IP holders, is not free trade.
Wake up and smell the melamine laced coffee! Until the United States gets the spine to address these issues, we will continue to suffer from repeated economic rape by off shore competitors. Until the United States stops using the tax code to reward companies for exporting American jobs, we will continue to be pistol whipped by foreign competitors. The Federal government is so incapacitated by partisan conflict that it can't decide anything. That is our fault. We voters need to clear out the inflexible ideologues who are allowing our nation to suffer continued body blows. This group is made up of right wing radicals and cowardly Democrats. Our votes matter. The future of the country depends on the use of our power to make our government do what must be done. If we don't act, the era of American ascendancy will end, and we will only be able to look back on the American Century and weep what we have given up.
Please share your views. Guess what? You can use that box right under this post! Nifty, huh?
My earlier comments resulted in my getting a few emails lauding "free trade." (n.b. Why do people send me emails instead of just posting in that comment box under the blog post itself?) They rehashed the usual arguments about the supposed benefits. They also rely on the belief that there is such a thing as free trade. Hey folks, there is no free trade. Manipulating currency and using banking rules to help your homeland companies is not free trade. Establishing quality criteria that only your homeland companies can meet without expensive testing that must be conducted in your homeland labs and takes weeks to complete is not free trade. Looking aside as your homeland companies violate intellectual property laws while rigorously enforcing them against foreign companies, including the actual IP holders, is not free trade.
Wake up and smell the melamine laced coffee! Until the United States gets the spine to address these issues, we will continue to suffer from repeated economic rape by off shore competitors. Until the United States stops using the tax code to reward companies for exporting American jobs, we will continue to be pistol whipped by foreign competitors. The Federal government is so incapacitated by partisan conflict that it can't decide anything. That is our fault. We voters need to clear out the inflexible ideologues who are allowing our nation to suffer continued body blows. This group is made up of right wing radicals and cowardly Democrats. Our votes matter. The future of the country depends on the use of our power to make our government do what must be done. If we don't act, the era of American ascendancy will end, and we will only be able to look back on the American Century and weep what we have given up.
Please share your views. Guess what? You can use that box right under this post! Nifty, huh?
Fareed Zakaria (currently TIME columnist) wrote about this, among other reasons, ion his 2007 book, "The Post-American World". You may recall Obama being criticized for reading it as those stupidly doing so pointed to Zakaria as a Moslem extremist.
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