The Bleeding Of American Jobs

King Features ^ | 02/20/04 | Charley Reese

[Joe Bfstplk]

The Bleeding Of American Jobs

The United States must stop the bleeding of American jobs to cheap-labor countries. If we don't stop this job loss, we will eventually impoverish ourselves, since the overwhelming number of Americans must work in order to live.

There is only one way to stop this loss of jobs. Scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement, withdraw from the World Trade Organization and do what our Founding Fathers intended for us to do — negotiate trade agreements with individual countries.

With those countries whose living standards, wages, health and environmental regulations are the equal of or are superior to our own, such as Japan and Canada and Western Europe, we can negotiate free-trade agreements. Nobody is likely to close an American plant and move the jobs to Germany or Japan, where wages and benefits are as high as or higher than those in the United States.

With cheap-labor countries, however, we must impose not only protective but punitive tariffs. That is the only way to stop American capitalists who care nothing for their workers or for the country from moving jobs to cheap-labor countries.

So-called free trade, as it has been practiced, is a racket. If you haven't figured that out yet, let me explain it. The free-trade agreement with Mexico, for example, isn't designed to allow us to import tequila and tamales duty-free. It is designed to allow American manufacturers to close their American plants and relocate them to Mexico — where they can pay Mexican workers a pittance and ignore health, safety and environmental regulations. Then their products are shipped back to the United States to be sold at a fat profit.

Ditto with China and the rest of the cheap-labor countries. Most of these countries frankly have nothing to export. What they have is a surplus population and hence a huge supply of cheap labor. If we levy, say, a punitive tariff of $100 a pair on Nike shoes made in cheap-labor countries, I guarantee you Nike will reopen its American plants or go out of business.

As for American companies that farm out service jobs to cheap-labor countries, the answer is a punitive tax; say $5,000 per foreign worker. This would be fair, since there is a public cost for every unemployed American.

Economics is a lot simpler than economists and ideologues would have you believe. Capitalists are motivated by greed. End of story. To change their harmful behavior, you have to take away from them the only thing they care about — money.

By negotiating separate agreements with individual countries, as logic dictates, we can avoid the past problems caused by across-the-board protective tariffs. We could, as I pointed out, have free trade with other industrial countries. There is no reason to protect Ford from competition with Toyota. There is a good reason to prevent Ford from moving its manufacturing plants to Mexico.

Today is not yesterday, and today's problems are not yesterday's problems. The old argument of protective tariffs versus free trade is no longer applicable in this global economy, dominated as it is by huge transnational corporations. Capital is mobile; workers are not. Profits made at the expense of American workers and the American treasury should be viewed as hateful and wrong.

We now have a choice. We can stick with theory, even though it no longer fits the facts. We can continue to let big corporations buy favors from politicians. Or we can seize control of our own government and impose restraints on corporate greed.

To do nothing is to condemn our grandchildren to a bleak future.

[Joe Bfstplk]

When will the sheeple demand the hemorrage be stopped?

[supercat]

IMHO, a good starting point for tarrifs would be to ensure that the U.S. government gets at least as much in tax revenue from the importation of an item from overseas as it would get from the production of that item domestically. If it doesn't, that difference in taxation will severely impact the U.S. products' ability to compete in the global marketplace.

[lelio]

The free-trade agreement with Mexico, for example, isn't designed to allow us to import tequila and tamales duty-free. It is designed to allow American manufacturers to close their American plants and relocate them to Mexico

Bumps to that.

[america-rules]

Oh goody. Over tax imports to raise prices and put us in to another depression ?

Really smart !

[Penner]

The United States must stop the bleeding of American jobs to cheap-labor countries. If we don't stop this job loss, we will eventually impoverish ourselves, since the overwhelming number of Americans must work in order to live.

What right do you have to criticize globalism? You're not an economist!

[Huck]

Vote for John Edwards. Hasn't he taken all these positions?

[thedugal]

With cheap-labor countries, however, we must impose not only protective but punitive tariffs. That is the only way to stop American capitalists who care nothing for their workers or for the country from moving jobs to cheap-labor countries.

What about jobs that disappear to robots or other inventions? Will you put a tax on innovation? There is no way to stop jobs going to cheap labor countries without causing greater harm than good.

[lelio]

What about jobs that disappear to robots or other inventions?

Where did those innovations come from? They just didn't drop out of the sky. Companies were setup, research and development done, and people made the products. There's a natural cycle from going from doing basic work to making machines that will do it for you.

The reason for this innovation is scarcity in the job market. You don't innovate if there's cheap labor to be found. Why invest in a $100k machine if you can send work over to China to be done for a fraction of the cost? Why invest in a new lettuce picker when you can get an illegal to do it for $2/hr?

What I believe should be done is to totally revamp our tax system making it more initicing to start a business here versus just sending all the work abroad, and that's done by lowering internal taxes and raising tariffs.

[billybudd]

Why stop American companies from using cheaper overseas labor? It lowers prices here, that's why. Keeping jobs here through tarrifs means raising prices for society over and above the economic benefit to affected workers. Go read an econ textbook.

[Richard-SIA]

Senator John Ensign (R-NV.) tried to get a bill passed that would have allowed U.S. companies to bring billions of dollars BACK to the U.S. without the incredibly punitive tax's that currently make such American re-investment virtually impossible.

He could not get the bill out of committee, no one in the senate would join him in the effort.

As he explains it, not only do current tax laws virtually force corporations to invest overseas, they prevent companies from bringing the profits back home!

As a result our current tax laws guarantee a continued hemorrhage of U.S. capitol out of the country.

With little incentive to invest in America few companies will continue to do so.

[Cacique]

ping

[Balto_Boy]

When will the sheeple demand the hemorrage be stopped?

The sheeple are enabling it, by making it profitable for businesses to outsource. The problem comes when it's their own jobs that are outsourced.

The sheeple can stop it themselves by using their power as consumers to make it profitable for companies to use American labor.

[Monty22]

Exxonmobil here is sending the entire support center to Canada. We're gonna be gone at the end of the year.

Want to know what EVERYONE'S saying now? Vote Kerry, he'll stop it.

Bush is going to get destroyed unless he gets out on this and does something drastic, and real real soon.

[Poohbah]

Bush is going to get destroyed unless he gets out on this and does something drastic, and real real soon.

Like what?

[Monty22]

I don't know, outright banning it? Heavy tax incentives to use American employees?

Something has to be done, cause there won't be a skilled job left in this country very shortly. It's happening at an incredible rate.

[Monty22]

And let me tell you, this is in Dallas, TX.. A Bush stronghold. He's losing a ton of support, almost everyone I know is bashing him over the jobs issue.

The fact is, he's going to lose unless there's a massive turnaround or he does something.

[Poohbah]

I don't know, outright banning it?

Could you show me where the Constitution grants this sort of authority to the President?

[TXBSAFH]

Hopefully soon.

[Poohbah]

And let me tell you, this is in Dallas, TX.. A Bush stronghold. He's losing a ton of support, almost everyone I know is bashing him over the jobs issue.

You must work with some extremely stupid people, which makes me wonder if the jobs are as skilled as you describe...

[Monty22]

You don't know what you're talking about.

I guess you don't care we'll be heading to 3rd world status with the middle class totally gone. Welcome to Brazil life.

Guess you already 'have yours', so to hell with everyone else. But these are some intelligent people that are saying this. We simply can not compete against these other countries anymore. So we have 2 choices. Try to stop it, or give up and go 3rd world.

Looks like the free traders want 3rd world.

[Poohbah]

Guess you already 'have yours', so to hell with everyone else.

Actually, I don't "have mine" yet. I keep working at it. It used to be called the American Dream. But, somewhere, somehow, some folks thought it was the "American Birthright."

I think I need to dig up the Bill of No Rights and repost it.

But these are some intelligent people that are saying this.

No, they're really f***ing stupid.

We simply can not compete against these other countries anymore.

And there's your problem: you have a seriously FUBAR'd attitude.

If anyone--be he from a 3rd-world country or from the United States--can pick up your job and do it as well or better than you can, for less money, you are being overpaid.

[meadsjn]

Oh goody. Over tax imports to raise prices and put us in to another depression ?

Repeat a lie often enough ... and it's still a lie.

"Overtaxing imports" had nothing to do with causing the Great Depression or causing it to get worse.

Overtaxing Americans and American production caused the depression and kept the economy depressed until World War II. Taxes did go even higher during the war, but the increased production helped offset them.

[Poohbah]

"Overtaxing imports" had nothing to do with causing the Great Depression or causing it to get worse.

Except that retaliatory tariffs caused American exports to take a disproportionately heavy blow.

[Balto_Boy]

Do you have any stats on this? The economy was so bad throughout Europe during the depression that "retaliatory tariffs" could hardly have made much of an impact.

[supercat]

Why stop American companies from using cheaper overseas labor? It lowers prices here, that's why. Keeping jobs here through tarrifs means raising prices for society over and above the economic benefit to affected workers. Go read an econ textbook.

Why tax American production more highly than foreign production?

[<1/1,000,000th%]

The United States must stop the bleeding of American jobs to cheap-labor countries. If we don't stop this job loss, we will eventually impoverish ourselves, since the overwhelming number of Americans must work in order to live.

God forbid we should lose a bunch of $3 an hour jobs. Maybe we should lower the minimum wage. Sounds like the dems talking points again.

[billybudd]

Are you referring to labor standards? Yes, that does end up costing American production relative to foreign production, and it's one of the competitive advantages of foreign production. All this does is get us the economic benefits of lower production costs, without the social costs of loose labor standards.
I'm not sure how this answers my original argument.

[raloxk]

"When will the sheeple demand the hemorrage be stopped?"

And how do you do that?


What free trade agreement do we have with India? Vietnam?
China has MFN, but that isnt free trade.

There is little that can be done to stop this. I will read all the threads, my guess is not one single proposal to this problem

[raloxk]

Ask them how Kerry will stop it.

[raloxk]

you can outright ban it. If you did, not a single new job would be created in the US again.

And what is to stop a company not from out-sourcing and laying off people, but from conducting all their expansion overseas? See not a single job outsourced, but all expansion goes on overseas.

[raloxk]

stop your whining
for God sake ive been unemployed since Oct 2001.

[raloxk]

Hello??????


CANADA is not a 3rd world country. And yes, we can compete with them. Ask yourself this, is the wage gap between the US and the rest of the world, more or less than it was 30 years ago. Also why didnt firms off-shore 30 years ago?

[raloxk]

"Overtaxing imports" had nothing to do with causing the Great Depression or causing it to get worse."


Sorry but you are wrong. Smoot-Hawley was in-fact one of the many contributors to the Global Great Depression

[supercat]

Are you referring to labor standards?

Actually, I was referring to the income and payroll taxes, plus the "hidden" taxes like unemployment, etc. If someone buys a $100 item that's made in the U.S., the government will end up collecting a lot of tax dollars from the production of the good, and will collect more tax dollars if the people who were paid to make the good buy more goods made in the U.S. By contrast, if someone buys an item made overseas, the U.S. government doesn't get to collect nearly as much in tax.

[billybudd]

Oh, ok. You're right, if taxes in general were lower here in the US, businesses would face much lower costs and have less incentive to move operations overseas. Keeping more business here would actually end up increasing tax revenues in the long run. Besides taxes, there are a number of systemic impediments to business and jobs growth; strict environmental and labor standards, regulations/bureaucracy, unions - all these act to artificially depress the job market.