Selling Out America
The transshipment provisions of the new African Trade Act are so inadequate that countries such as China can ship their goods through Africa to take advantage of duty free access to the American market. When did China become an African nation?
Today, over half of the American market has been lost to foreign imports in a vast variety of manufactured products. Foreign goods now account for over half of American consumption of these products:
- textile machines and parts, 67 percent;
- machine tools for metal forming and parts thereof, 55.3 percent;
- semiconductor manufacturing equipment, robotics, 51.9 percent;
- aircraft engines and gas turbines, 70.3 percent;
- microphones, loudspeakers, and audio amplifiers, 77.9 percent;
- tape recorders, tape players, video cassette recorders, turntables, compact disc players, 100 percent;
- radio transmission and reception apparatus, 57.9 percent;
- television apparatus, 68.5 percent;
- electrical capacitors and resistors, 69.5 percent;
- automatic data processing machines, 51.6 percent;
- optical and opthalmic goods, 51.5 percent;
- photographic cameras and equipment, 63.8 percent;
- watches, 100 percent;
- clocks and timing devices, 62.2 percent.
The list goes on and on:
- drawing and mathematical calculating and measuring instruments, 71.4 percent;
- luggage, handbags, and flatgoods, 79.7 percent;
- musical instruments and accessories, 57.2 percent;
- umbrellas, canes, etc., 81.1 percent;
- silverware, etc., 59.9 percent;
- precious jewelry, 55.8 percent;
- men's and boys' coats and jackets, 62.5 percent;
- shirts and blouses, 62.9 percent;
- sweaters, 76.4 percent;
- robes, nightware, and underwear, 68.8 percent;
- gloves, 76.1 percent;
- footwear and footwear parts, 84.2 percent;
And the list of cited items is by no means all-inclusive.
Finally, take a look at who is directing the U.S. government to sacrifice patriotism and American jobs for the sake of multi-national profits. Here are just some of the big businesses which endorsed the African trade giveaway: Gap Inc., Ford Motor Company, Chevron Corporation, Kmart Corporation, Bechtel, Exxon Corporation, Bank of America, Mobil Corporation, Boeing Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, National Retail Federation, Caterpillar, Inc., Archer Daniels Midland Company, Eastman Kodak, Eli Lilly and Company, Texaco Inc., Flour Corporation, General Electric, General Motors Corporation, Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical, Lehman Brothers, McDonald's Corporation, National Softdrink Association, Phillip Morris, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Raytheon, Weststar Group, Inc., and, of course, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Add to the power of these multinational business interests the support of do-gooder internationalists like the National Council of Churches, World Vision, the NAACP, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the political clout of the National Association of State Legislatures, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and you get a panoramic depiction of how the sell-out of American workers is being accomplished.
Once Upon A Time:
Personal debt at all-time high.
Corporate debt at all-time high
Personal bankruptcy at all-time high.
Corporate bankruptcy at all-time high.
States in fiscal crisis.
Tax burden on taxpayers at all-time high, well, just call it slavery.
Regulations at all-time high.
How big is our government debt?
HOW BIG IS THE GOVERNMENT'S DEBT? - $33.1 TRILLION
"This "total debt" is more than three times the size of the nation's total output in 2001, and amounts to $116,381 for every man, woman and child in America."
How does our government perform their accounting skills?
Looking for cooked books - Try Uncle Sam
$3,400,000,000,000 (TRILLION) OF TAXPAYERS' MONEY IS MISSING
I won't list all of Bush's socialist spending as it would take too long. Just a couple of links.
GWB's BIG GOVERNMENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
How much in taxes did just one of those bills cost the American taxpayer?
Since President Bush took the oath, the Dow Jones has fallen over 33 percent, the Nasdaq 75 percent, Standard & Poor's 500 is down 45 percent.
The Wilshire 5000 tracks "every publicly traded U.S. company. The Wilshire hit its ceiling on March 24, 2000. Since then, the market has lost more than $7 trillion in value and shed more than 1,000 companies."
Forty-one percent of the value of all publicly traded stocks in the United States has disappeared in 28 months.
In just one day, July 22, 2002, $300 billion vanished from stock funds and 401(k) retirement nest eggs.
Since the bust began in March of 2000, the three major markets have declined from an average price-to-earnings ratio of 67.43 to 28.87. This has led all the media cheerleaders to hope that the worst is over. But it isn't. Prior to the Great Crash of 1929, the Dow's P/E ratio was only 32.6, while the historical market norm is a ratio of 14 and the average bear-market bottom is reached at 7.6. In other words, even if one somehow concludes that the biggest boom of all time will not be followed by the biggest bust of all time, the markets still have to fall more than they have already fallen simply to remain in line with the expected averages.
Financial Sense On-Line
"a very frightening situation is developing in our credit markets. The Fed is inflating the banking system along with quasi government entities such as Fannie and Freddie through the securities market. The Fed lowers interest rates by injecting reserves in the banking system through its purchases of Treasuries from the banks. This increases their lending base, which can be multiplied through our system of fractional reserve banking. The GSE’s are also fueling the credit cycle through the securitization of mortgages. Financial intermediaries are also inflating credit by securitizing everything from auto loans to credit cards. Today most kinds of loans can be turned into asset backed mortgages. This is creating another bubble in the bond market. The money that has been fleeing stocks is going into bonds, mortgages and real estate. All three are becoming bubbles and are dependent on a Ponzi scheme structure that is going to implode in the same way as the Nasdaq and Internet mania of only a few years ago."
The telecoms bust is some ten times bigger than the better-known dotcom crash.
The U.S. merchandise trade deficit in November shot over $500 billion a year.
We are shoveling out dollars at the rate of $1.5 billion a day to satisfy our craving for foreign goods.
We are running a trade deficit near $500 billion a year.
We are running a budget deficit headed for $300 billion.
We have a dollar that is falling against the euro, against the yen and against gold.
Oil prices near $35 a barrel.
Costs are rising on many things. [oil,gas,food,water,sewer,garbage,fees,heating,cable,medical,housing,insurance,tutition,vehicles,rent,homes,etc.]
The Bush administration said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have funded their rapidly growing asset portfolios by increasing their debt outstanding and warned that the two companies may be taking on more risk with subprime loans.
Many of the top banks such as J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank America are also the nation's largest writers of derivatives. These three banks have derivative portfolios totaling close to $40 trillion in notional value or roughly 87 percent of the derivative portfolio of the nation's top 354 banks. This is a high concentration in just a few players in what is a very risky business.
On top of making bad loans, the banks also have exposure as the largest underwriters in the derivative business. J.P. Morgan Chase is leveraged over 700-1 when you look at the bank's exposure to derivatives. In a report issued by the U.S. comptroller of the currency, the total amount of derivatives in U.S. insured commercial bank portfolios rose by $3.8 trillion in the second quarter, to $50.1 trillion.
Japan in Depression.
Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Uruguay all toast. South America, for the most part, toast.
Germany is toast.
Argentina – which has defaulted on scores of billions of dollars in private loans. Recently acquired IMF funding, which will, of course be paid by American taxpayers, and is a total scam.
Deadbeat nations everywhere are stiffing the IMF, who will bail them out, and again, through a variety of methods will extract the payback from American taxpayers.
Shadow Government of The United States and the Decline of America
There's nothing wrong with this economy, and I'll donate a dollar to prove it
"This economy is strong"
George W. Bush - December 28, 2002 - SOURCE