[BMiles2112]

I think the best response to this "living wage" crap is your 747 example. That's why I love these threads. You hear the argument on all the other threads that "Liberals deal with emotions, conservatives with facts", then you go to one dealing in the economy and hear nothing but sob stories about the unemployed, the homeless, etc. Not that I don't care about these problems, but the proposed solutions many times could have come straight from Hitlery herself.

[harpseal]

No living wage crap heremerely the fact that there are less people employed today than on January 1, 2003. Further there are substantial numbers under employed. Further, the layoffs appear to be increasing. Our current account trade deficit continues to rise. The deficit with China is rising fastest and is I believe I could be wrong the largest of any nation.

Given the current state of the economy and government policies there is a whole lot that can and needs be done.

1. Get rid of government subsidies for offshore investment of US companies. OPIC is the first such program which should go but support of World Bank programs that subsidize the outflow of Capital would be another.

2. Use tariffs on those nations which are engaged in unfair trade practices such as currency manipulation (China and India for example), those nations which refuse to open their markets to US products (China for example with uts 50% tariffs on US consumer goods and non tariff barriers), those nations that subsidize competition to American Industry(airbus for example) and those nations which have slave conditions for their workers.

3. Use tariffs and other means to prevent the relocation of jobs offshore that are essential to the national defense. If necessary take control of the company seeking to export vital technology or industry by means of eminent domain (No I do not like this last option and I will only defend its use as an absolute last resort like say in the case of rare earth magnets essential to smart bomb technology).

4. An immediate end to guest worker programs. If people wish to come to the USA to work and make a life let them immigrate according to the rules.

5 Provide economic development zones where the corporate income tax is zero for operations within these zones. In order to operate in this zone a company must agree to only purchase American components if available and employ only American citizens or legal immigrants in these operations.

6. Scale back unnecesary regulation.

7. Increase the domestic content in purchases by the Department of defense and give absolute preference in non-domestic content to proven allies of the USA over say the French or Germans.

8. Do not allow expense involved in moving operations overseas to be included in business expenses under the IRS code.

9. Prosecute for perjury anyone who has made a false staement in order to employ an H1B or L1 visa worker. I will be lienient on the actual perjurer if he/she was ordered to make this false statement and he/she provides testimony to aid in the conviction of the person ordering the perjury. Just because a person is a CEO does not give them a pss on criminal behavior.

10. Prosecute anyone who orders the transfer of vital defense technology overseas except to stroing allies of the USA. The UK, and Australia come to mind as meeting these criteria first.

Absolutely nothing there is socialist. It is entirely centered on the free market.