Global Economy? 23 Facts showing Std. of Living Of our Middle Class pushing to 3rd World Levels

The Economic Collapse ^ | 03/03/2011 | Michael Snyder

[SeekAndFind]

Global Economy? 23 Facts Which Prove That Globalism Is Pushing The Standard Of Living Of The Middle Class Down To Third World Levels

From now on, whenever you hear the term "the global economy" you should immediately equate it with the destruction of the U.S. middle class. Over the past several decades, the American economy has been slowly but surely merged into the emerging one world economic system. Unfortunately for the middle class, much of the rest of the world does not have the same minimum wage laws and worker protections that we do. Therefore, the massive global corporations that now dominate our economy are able to pay workers in other countries slave labor wages and import the products that they make into the United States to compete with products made by "expensive" American workers. This has resulted in a mass exodus of manufacturing facilities and jobs from the United States.

But without good, high paying jobs the U.S. middle class cannot continue to be the U.S middle class. The only thing that the vast majority of Americans have to offer in the economic marketplace is their labor. Sadly, that labor has now been dramatically devalued. American workers now must directly compete for jobs with millions upon millions of workers on the other side of the world that toil away for 15 hours a day at slave labor wages. This is causing jobs to leave the United States at an almost unbelievable rate, and it is putting tremendous downward pressure on the wages of millions of jobs that are still in the United States.

So when you hear terms such as "globalization" and "the global economy", it is important to keep in mind that those are code words for the emerging one world economic system that is systematically wiping out the U.S. middle class.

A one world labor pool means that the standard of living for the U.S. middle class will continue falling toward the standard of living in the third world.

We keep hearing about how the U.S. economy is being transformed from a "manufacturing economy" into a "service economy". But "service jobs" are generally much lower paying than "manufacturing jobs". The number of good paying "middle class jobs" in the United States is rapidly decreasing. So how can the U.S. middle class survive in such an environment?

What makes things even worse for manufacturers in the United States is that other nations often impose a "value-added tax" of 20 percent or more on U.S. goods entering their shores and yet most of the time we do not reciprocate with similar taxes.

But whenever someone mentions how incredibly unfair and unbalanced our trade agreements with other nations are, they are immediately labeled as a "protectionist".

Well, someone should be looking out for U.S. interests when it comes to trade, because the current state of the global economy is ripping the U.S. middle class to shreds.

Right now, the United States consumes far more wealth than it produces. This nation buys much, much more from the rest of the world than they buy from us. This is called a "trade deficit", and it is one of the most important economic statistics. The U.S. runs a massive trade deficit every single year, and it is wiping out our national wealth, it is destroying our surviving industries and it is absolutely shredding middle class America.

We cannot allow tens of thousands of factories to continue to leave the United States. We cannot allow millions of jobs to continue to be "outsourced" and "offshored". We cannot allow tens of billions of dollars of our national wealth to continue to be transferred into foreign hands every single month.

The truth is that the global economy is bad for America. The following are 23 facts which prove that globalism is pushing the standard of living of the middle class down to third world levels....

#1 From December 2000 to December 2010, the U.S. ran a total trade deficit of 6.1 trillion dollars.

#2 The U.S. trade deficit was about 33 percent larger in 2010 than it was in 2009.

#3 The U.S. trade deficit with China in 2010 was 27 times larger than it was back in 1990.

#4 The U.S. economy is rapidly trading high wage jobs for low wage jobs. According to a new report from the National Employment Law Project, higher wage industries accounted for 40 percent of the job losses over the past 12 months but only 14 percent of the job growth. Lower wage industries accounted for just 23 percent of the job losses over the past 12 months and a whopping 49 percent of the job growth.

#5 Between December 2000 and December 2010, 38 percent of the manufacturing jobs in Ohio were lost, 42 percent of the manufacturing jobs in North Carolina were lost and 48 percent of the manufacturing jobs in Michigan were lost.

#6 In Germany, exports account for approximately 40 percent of GDP. In China, exports account for approximately 30 percent of GDP. In the United States, exports account for approximately 13 percent of GDP.

#7 Do you remember when the United States was the dominant manufacturer of automobiles and trucks on the globe? Well, in 2010 the U.S. ran a trade deficit in automobiles, trucks and parts of $110 billion.

#8 In 2010, South Korea exported 12 times as many automobiles, trucks and parts to us as we exported to them.

#9 The U.S. economy now has 10 percent fewer "middle class jobs" than it did just ten years ago.

#10 The United States currently has 7.7 million fewer payroll jobs than it did back in December 2007.

#11 Back in 1970, 25 percent of all jobs in the United States were manufacturing jobs. Today, only 9 percent of the jobs in the United States are manufacturing jobs.

#12 In 2002, the United States had a trade deficit in "advanced technology products" of $16 billion with the rest of the world. In 2010, that number skyrocketed to $82 billion.

#13 The United States now spends more than 4 dollars on goods and services from China for every one dollar that China spends on goods and services from the United States.

#14 In China, working conditions are so bad that large numbers of "employees" regularly try to commit suicide. One major employer, Foxconn, has even gone so far as to install "anti-suicide nets" in an attempt to keep their employees from jumping off of their buildings.

#15 Wages for workers in China are incredibly low. For example, one facility in the city of Longhua that makes iPods employs approximately 200,000 workers. These workers put in endless 15-hour days but they only make about $50 per month.

#16 In Bangladesh, manufacturing workers toil in absolutely horrific conditions and make an average of about $38 per month.

#17 In Vietnam, teenage workers often work seven days a week for as little as 6 cents an hour making promotional Disney toys for McDonald's.

#18 Since 2001, over 42,000 manufacturing facilities in the United States have been closed.

#19 Half of all American workers now earn $505 or less per week.

#20 In the United States today, 6.2 million Americans have been out of work for 6 months of longer.

#21 8.4 million Americans are currently working part-time jobs for "economic reasons". These jobs are mostly very low paying service jobs.

#22 When you adjust wages for inflation, middle class workers in the United States make less money today than they did back in 1971.

#23 According to Willem Buiter, the chief economist at Citigroup, China will be the largest economy in the world by the year 2020, and India will surpass China by the year 2050.

Those that promote "free trade" can never explain how the U.S. middle class is going to continue to have plenty of jobs in the new global economy.

By merging our labor pool with the rest of the world, we have also merged our standard of living with the rest of the world. High unemployment is rapidly becoming "the new normal" in America, and wages are going to continue to decline in many, many industries.

Already, there are quite a few formerly great U.S. cities (such as Detroit) that are beginning to resemble third world hellholes. If something is not done about our massive trade imbalance, even more cities are going to follow Detroit into oblivion.

Unfortunately, most of our politicians continue to insist that globalism is good for our society. They continue to insist that we should not be worried that jobs formerly done by middle class American workers are now being done by slave laborers on the other side of the globe. They continue to insist that having 43 million Americans on food stamps is a temporary thing and that soon our economy will be better than ever.

Well, it is time to stop listening to the politicians that are promoting "the global economy". They are lying to us.

Globalism is great for nations such as China and it is helping multinational corporations make huge profits, but for the U.S. middle class it is an economic death sentence.

If you want an America where there are less jobs, where more Americans are on food stamps and other anti-poverty programs and where our cities continue to be transformed into deindustrialized hellholes, then you should strongly support the emerging global economy.

But if you care about the standard of living of the U.S. middle class and you want for there to be some kind of viable economic future for your children and your grandchildren then you had better start caring about these issues and doing something about them.

Please wake up America.

[SeekAndFind]

I am simply talking about the GRAPH presented by Uncle Miltie. That graph stopped 4 years ago. How has median income been since then? I said nothing about cause and effect.

[Toddsterpatriot]

The U.S. trade deficit was about 33 percent larger in 2010 than it was in 2009.

OMG!

2010 was 29% lower than 2008.

29% lower than 2007.

34% lower than 2006.

30% lower than in 2005.

Do you remember when the United States was the dominant manufacturer of automobiles and trucks on the globe?

Was it after every other manufacturer of automobiles and trucks had their factories destroyed in WWII?

Those that promote "free trade" can never explain how the U.S. middle class is going to continue to have plenty of jobs in the new global economy.

I can explain how. Cut corporate and capital gains taxes in half. Cut regulations by two thirds. Build a wall and deport 10 or 12 million illegals. Cut government spending by one third, to start.

[FromLori]

“Depends if one believes the government statistics on inflation used to calculate real income.

I do not.”

Nor do I or many others they changed how it is calculated for one thing and do not take food and energy into account any longer.

How Inflation Could Be 66% Higher Than the Fed Reports

See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/hVHkw8

[Toddsterpatriot]

and do not take food and energy into account any longer.

LOL!

Stop it, you're killing me!

[FromLori]

How about just the inflation in food and fuel holy cow contrary to what some people claim they do NOT count it as a measure of inflation any longer..

You see, some wise government officials decided a few years back to exclude “volatile” Food and Energy from the standard cost of living measurement that he refers to as a measure of inflation!

But while Americans were feeling the pain of price increases at the pump and elsewhere, the Fed will maintain its focus on the so-called "core index," which excludes food and fuel prices.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Our broadest and most comprehensive CPI is called the All Items Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the U.S. City Average, 1982-84 = 100.

In addition to the All Items CPI, BLS publishes thousands of other consumer price indexes. One such index is called "All items less food and energy". Some users of CPI data use this index because food and energy prices are relatively volatile, and these users want to focus on what they perceive to be the "core" or "underlying" rate of inflation.

Again, while we publish many indexes, our broadest measure of inflation includes all items consumers purchase, including food and energy. In addition, when CPI data are reported, these data can be reported on a not seasonally adjusted basis as well as a seasonally adjusted basis.

Source

[Will88]

And, of course, the Feds have also played games with the unemployment computations, and who knows what else. When they eliminate food and fuel costs from their “core inflation” it’s an almost meaningless statistic for lower income earners for whom food and fuel are two of the biggest and most volatile living expenses.

[TopQuark]

Another doom-and-gloom prophet. He proves once again that writing is easier than thinking:

But without good, high paying jobs the U.S. middle class cannot continue to be the U.S middle class...

Well, sir, I hate to point out that the middle class is, well... in the middle. There is always something in the middle. A middle exists --- even in a donut, although you can't eat it.

He has to do a better job in explaining why middle class may disappear. But he is not trying to do that: it's more important to tear at your heart, scare and inflame.

...The only thing that the vast majority of Americans have to offer in the economic marketplace is their labor...

That's patently untrue. Collectively, middle class owns a great deal of real estate. Who does the author think owns those homes --- Goldman Sacks, the Fed and the rich CEOs?

In addition, hundreds of millions of Americans own large American and foreign companies: AIG, JP Morgan, Citi, BP, ExxonMobil, etc. Each of these companies is owned by tens of millions of people --- it's only commie propaganda wants you to believe that they are owned by a small number of "rich people."

So the author's statement is patently false. He first decided on the conclusions he wanted to reach and now shamelessly manipulates the facts.

Sadly, that labor has now been dramatically devalued.

What is the evidence of that devaluation? Any numbers, any measures he used to reach this inflammatory conclusion?

Of course not.

the American workers now must directly compete for jobs with millions upon millions of workers on the other side of the world

Nonsense. American workers have always competed with workers around the globe. The difference is that they used to win hands down, but now the victory is harder. But there is nothing new here.

...that toil away for 15 hours a day at slave labor wages.

That is anti-capitalist nonsense that they do not tire to repeat. People he is talking about do not consider their wages to be slave wages. All those engineers in Russia who were paid $50 per month after the fall of Communism enjoyed those wages as a considerable improvement.

What he is trying to sell here is the usual falsehood: we cannot compete with them unless we agree to Chines wages and 15-hour days --- total falsehood.

From here he wants to reach the only conclusion: since we cannot compete on OUR, "civilized" workplace standards, we must shut them off --- down with free trade. None of this makes sense. But, as I said earlier, he is shamelessly selling propaganda.

This is causing jobs to leave the United States at an almost unbelievable rate, and it is putting tremendous downward pressure on the wages of millions of jobs that are still in the United States.

Competition always puts pressure on prices, and we always had competition. He has to explain to us what's new but he does not even try to do so.

And this is just one paragraph. Nice, really nice article.

[FromLori]

“And, of course, the Feds have also played games with the unemployment computations, and who knows what else. When they eliminate food and fuel costs from their “core inflation” it’s an almost meaningless statistic for lower income earners for whom food and fuel are two of the biggest and most volatile living expenses.”

Yes those unemployment numbers are a joke they changed the way they report those as well. The real rate would be closer to 22% if it was correctly reported. You could say the Fed. lit the fuse that started the Middle East on Fire in fact many people are talking about that. Some call it Bennocide.

[rabscuttle385]

We keep hearing about how the U.S. economy is being transformed from a "manufacturing economy" into a "service economy". But "service jobs" are generally much lower paying than "manufacturing jobs". The number of good paying "middle class jobs" in the United States is rapidly decreasing. So how can the U.S. middle class survive in such an environment?

Kooks like this one would have lamented the loss of good-paying "agricultural jobs" for "manufacturing jobs" in the nineteenth century too.

[r-q-tek86]

Ping

[Wuli]

I will respond later, but suffice it to say at the moment, that the data behind quite a few of the “facts” listed do not support the authors interpretation of what the data means, in terms of our economy. or the economies of other countries. More, later.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

Hyperbole is useful to make a point, but no, the US is not even close to a 3rd world country.

Our poor are fatter, warmer, better entertained, better traveled, and far more prosperous than 80-90% of the middle class on earth.

You’ll know it when the USA approaches 3rd world status. But it probably is coming. The New World Order can prosper from the labor of the world now. They don’t need to skim the cream off only the American economy, so they are doing everything they can to destroy the American economy and drain our influence on the world stage. They know we pose too great a risk because we are too free. The current model they like is China. Grease a few palms among the elites and let them make you rich off the sweat of their slave class.

[Gamecock]

***Global Economy? 23 Facts Which Prove That Globalism Is Pushing The Standard Of Living Of The Middle Class Down To Third World Levels***

Sorry. I have been to several countries in the 3rd world, as well as the 2.5 world. As much as things suck, we have it better.

[Gamecock]

***Global Economy? 23 Facts Which Prove That Globalism Is Pushing The Standard Of Living Of The Middle Class Down To Third World Levels***

Sorry. I have been to several countries in the 3rd world, as well as the 2.5 world. As much as things suck, we have it better.

[Pagey]

bttt