Posted on 12/21/2011 6:27:22 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Republicans and Democrats, liberals as well as conservatives, have bought into anti-Chinese trade demagoguery.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that tariffs against China are a "key part of our 'Make It in America' agenda."
During his 2010 campaign, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called his Tea Party-backed Republican challenger, Sharron Angle, "a foreign worker's best friend."
In a recent news conference, President Obama gave his support to the anti-China campaign, declaring that China "has been very aggressive in gaming the trading system to its advantage," adding that "we can and should take action against countries that are keeping their currencies undervalued ... (and) that, above all, means China."
Republican 2012 presidential candidates have also jumped on the anti-China bandwagon.
Mitt Romney wrote: "If I am fortunate enough to be elected president, I will work to fundamentally alter our economic relationship with China. ... I will begin on Day One by designating China as the currency manipulator it is."
Former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., was even more challenging, saying, "I want to go to war with China."
Let's look at the magnitude of our trade with China. An excellent place to start is a recent publication (8/8/2011) by Galina Hale and Bart Hobijn, two economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, titled "The U.S. Content of 'Made in China.'"
One of the several questions they ask is: What is the fraction of U.S. consumer spending for goods made in China? Their data sources are the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
You can scarecly string 3 words together, so it’s rough dealing with you, but again, I am not in favor of illegals the way you are in favor of giving Obama dictatorial power, and stop changing the subject.
“China is committing economic war and terrorism against the U.S.. China is deindustrializing the U.S. more effectively than a massive bombing campaign against the U.S. factories , leaving hunks of rotting , decaying metal were there were once U.S. factories, and sections of cities ( think Detroit)”.
China is just taking advantage of the effects of almost two decades of Agenda 21 being implemented.
Maurice Strong, UN high official & Chair of the ‘92 Earth Summit is quoted saying that “...isn’t it our responsibility to bring about the collapse of the industralised countries?”
That is the aim of the Koyoto deal he was part of.
NAFTA had a published goal (Preamble) of promoting Sustainable Development (Agenda 21). De-industralise the country.
John Holdren, obama’s “Science Czar” has stated that we must “de-develop” the country.
Its really the economic attack that Agenda 21 represents that is the cause of our economic decline. Just as it was planned to do.
Williams has a way of cutting to the chase, if not the quick on economics.
Post something that shows they’re wrong
Gotta wonder how many of those posting comments read past the headline.
what kind of work do you do? painter?
go to walmart and look at the labels.
go learn some economics. That label doesn’t tell anything but where it was assembled. Do you know where the basic components were made? Likely not. They were produced through oil on the Gulf Coast of America. The USA is still the largest producing country on the face of the Earth
And how is keeping prices high to consumers good to anyone but overpaid union workers?
China is fighting a losing battle and they know it
China is well on its way to major implosion.
All these people in total fear of China taking over this and that are blind to basic reality.
Central planning never works. It won’t work for China. Its had its run and the end is near.
And regarding jobs, we’ve been destroying our own jobs through hostility to business for decades. Heavy taxes and heavy regulation do not spur jobs. It displaces jobs to where those barriers are lower.
There’s a basic law of nature, you reward something you get more of it, you penalize something you get less of it.
How about India, Walter? I personally know of a two dozen high paying U.S. jobs that went bye-bye to the cheap Bangalore labor of India.
And what percentage of one’s income is spent at places like Wal-Mart? Short of food, not a lot.
Will have to go with your two brains over the scholars you mention , who only claimed one. Why don’t you go by your given name, you must be a godsend with your elevated intelligence. I bet we would know you instantly by your real moniker
Thanks, Walter Williams, you are always the voice of sanity. Thanks.
BTW Walter, have you considered accepting replacing, in 2013, the current Sheriff of Nottingham Timmy Gee?
Absolutely true! (We "build" virtually all the hamburgers and tacos!)
How's it going.
I'd guess not well.
And what is it you think should happen? That business shouldn't be able to hire somebody in India to produce something? Or that government should put tariffs on hiring somebody in another country from doing something for you? Why is it any of the government's business if you want to hire somebody in another country to do something for you if it isn't criminal activity?
Any report from the federal government is suspect in today’s time. How many times do they have to cook the books on stats claiming the economy is recovering when all you have to do is look at the food stamp enrollment go up and up and up to 48 million (currently). Those are the folks who no longer get counted against unemployment stats (which tends to float around 20% when you roll all the categories of unemployment up). The government is simply not trustworthy on economic data at this time.
Bottom line is simple, we have been in a trade war for decades and lost. The fake ponzi-scheme economy ran by the Wall St. brain trust and blessed by their political sock puppets in D.C outsourced the real economy (our industrial base) and insourced cheap labor (illegal immigrants) to rake in the bucks and put us in the position we find ourselves today. Globalists have done quite nicely at our expense. The first step in fixing this mess is to quit living in a day dream and refusing to admit that global “free” trade has been a disaster for our country. It takes decades to destroy a complex industrial ecosystem and it will take decades to rebuild. The longer it takes to start doing it, the worse off our future is going to be, because a real economy is based on making things people need and want, not circulating money through the system that is created out of thin air (like the ponzi-scheme system that is currently collapsing). It is unfortunate that people will most likely continue business as usual until it finally collapses, and then will complain that they never saw it coming.
On a final note, I read a book about a woman and family that tried to not buy anything from China for a year. It was pretty much impossible and she quickly realized they now make everything. Once more, reality is to painful to admit that we have been steam rolled by China economically, as they did this by simply taking advantage of our own greed and stupidity.
The company its board of directors and management ought to feel out of their own will some responsibility to the community, and to the country that provides it with a favorite business climate. Here’s what happened: the company moved its headquarters to the sticks, where none of the commuting employees live, and the company donated $10,000 to the local school where none of the employees’ children attend. A nice tax write-off. Then, as the profits grew, even during the last recession, the company started to export jobs to India, something that wasn’t possible 10-20 years ago, and byt some miracle trhge company had survived.
Do you know why SAFEWAY, established decades ago, called itself that? Because it recognized its responsibility to the community and to its employees. That ended in the 1980s, and the WSJ had a series of articles describing how tragically it ended to many of the company’s employees, who thought and had been promised employment for life.
I didn’t once mention the government, you thought you read my thoughts (congratulations!) and you did!
P.S. You can repeat the standard cliche of companies having responsibility ONLYto the shareholders, but we’ve heard it and all the other excuses all before. Most of the shareholders are Wall Street sharks in and out of the stock in minutes and seconds. The coupon clipping old ladies hold stock in GE and in their local utility.
The Republicans have strayed far from their high-tariff roots: most people see them as the free-trade party, because the Democratic Party is beholden to the labor unions. However, if we are willing to tax domestic corporations at a rate of 35%, why not foreigners?
Seriously, if we have a tax rate for corporations at 9% or 10% (as some Republican candidates have proposed), why should the average tariff be only 2.5%? Even if we double import taxes to 5%, that’s still only half of what we charge citizens to do business in America. Free trade is great in theory, but why favor non-citizens?
IF we are China's best customer, why would they seek to destroy us? It seems to me they'd prefer we prosper so we could buy more of their products, right? Would your local grocery store seek to alienate their customers?
If you really want to place the blame on anyone for jobs moving overseas, look no further than our own federal government. They're the ones who place barriers via excessive taxation and regulations that drive away business. California's anti-business climate is a good example. California has succeeded in driving scores of businesses out of state.
BTW, I have read Williams and Sowell. They make perfect sense to me.
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