DUNCAN HUNTER Champion of Property Rights and Real Free Trade!

TheTownCrier ^ | Mar. 5, 2007 | TheTownCrier

[AuntB]

That's what happens when I get snowed in for 2 weeks!! LOL

[Calpernia]

Then that was a worthy snowbound.

But stay off the roof next time!

;)

[AuntB]

Today you have to make about $70,000 a year to be able to qualify for the median priced home in San Diego County, and that means that our young couples are not able to buy homes. Actually, it's a hell of a lot more than that. The median price is about a half-million. No way on God's green earth you're buying a half million dollar home on 70 grand. Even if you could somehow come up with $50 grand to put down, you're still looking at $3400 a month for a mortgage payment once you figure in taxes and insurance and at $70 grand a year, if you're LUCKY you might bring home $3800 after taxes...

I see your point, remember though that was written in 1999. Can you imagine how bad it is by now.

[Leatherneck_MT]

hmph

patience my arse, I wanna kill something :P

[RockinRight]

Didn't catch that - when I re-read it it said that the average price was 260 or something...it's insane to think it's doubled in 8 years.

[Calpernia]

Companies that belong to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1788628/posts

Need to be set up overseas for cheaper manpower? Let Kissinger Associates show you the way!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1639090/posts?page=65#65

[AuntB]

Regarding China, yes, Hunter has warned us for years!


AUTHORIZING EXTENSION OF NONDISCRIMINATORY TREATMENT (NORMAL TRADE RELATIONS TREATMENT) TO PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
(House of Representatives - May 24, 2000)



Mr. HUNTER: Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, in March of 1941 our former colleague, Carl Anderson, a Representative from Minnesota, warned us about the danger of arming potential adversaries. He said then that the chances of war with Japan were 50-50, and, that if our fleet had to meet the Japanese fleet, we would meet a fleet which was built with American steel and fueled with American petroleum.

A few months later at Pearl Harbor, 21 American ships were destroyed, 300 planes were destroyed, and 5,000 Americans were killed and wounded by a Japanese fleet that was built with American steel and fueled with American petroleum.

Well, whichever side of this debate one is on, everyone here has to concede American dollars are arming Communist China today. Let us look at what they have done with the $350 billion that they have amassed in trade surplus over the last 8 years. The Sovrenny class missile destroyers, straight from the Russians, designed for one purpose, to kill American aircraft carriers, were purchased with American trade dollars. The SU-27 fighter aircraft, high performance aircraft, capable of effective warfare against America's top line fighters, were purchased with American trade dollars. On top of that, kilo class submarines, AWACS aircraft, air-to-air refueling capability, sophisticated communications equipment, all purchased with American trade dollars, and compounding the danger, China's own sales to nations like Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria and North Korea of components for weapons of mass destruction.

Mr. Speaker, we have just left the bloodiest century in the history of the world. In a way it is a century of triumph for America. The story of the 20th century is the story of a great Democrat President, FDR, who stood with Winston Churchill against Germany's Hitler. It is the story of a great Republican President, Ronald Reagan, who faced down the Soviet empire and disassembled Soviet Union.

But it is also a story of tragedy, because 617,000 Americans lie in cemeteries across this country and in the oceans of the world and the battlefields of the world as people who were killed in action saving the world for freedom in this last century.

Many of them fought in wars for which we were unprepared; that is a tragedy of the 20th century. But the greater tragedy, which could be the tragedy of the 21st century, could happen if this country, having fought and bled and sacrificed to dissolve the Soviet empire, through a massive infusion of cash produces, by our own hand, another military superpower, and if the cemeteries of this country one day hold the bodies of Americans in uniform killed with weapons purchased by American trade dollars. That will be the greatest tragedy of this new 21st century.

Mr. Speaker, let us avoid that tragedy. Vote no on PNTR.

http://www.house.gov/hunter/news_prior_2006/PNTR-flrspch.htm

[Sun]

1. Forced to Make Clothing for Export

Zhou Yanchun, female, 33, product Inspector of the Shenyang Antibiotic Factory 104 workshop (illegally dismissed because she practices Falun Gong), resident of Haiwang Street construction working committee, New Town District, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, ID number: 210113680412642

On October 14, 1999, police arrested Ms. Zhou Yanchun when she went to Beijing to appeal to the central government to stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. On October 31, Ms. Zhou was imprisoned at the Masanjia Labor Camp.

In the labor camp, Ms. Zhou was forced to make products for export, such as clothing, handicrafts, and embroidered goods, for the “Xinghua Clothing Manufacturer.” She was forced to work from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., and sometimes even until midnight, with no breaks, no weekends off, and no compensation. Her hands were often swollen and covered with blood blisters, and her finger joints ached from the strenuous work. She was only given a limited amount of mildewed cornbread to eat. Her health declined rapidly. Due to the long work hours and appalling conditions, her face and eyes were swollen and she suffered intense abdominal pain. Yet, she was still not allowed to take any breaks. If she ever slumped over from weariness or showed signs of fatigue, she would be shocked with electric batons by the guards.

http://falunhr.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1330&Itemid=0

Well, if this doesn't make us call our reps and the White House, and tell them to stop trade with China, I don't know what will.

I also contacted large stores to ask them to stop carrying products Made in China, because of their human rights abuses.

[Toddsterpatriot]

They do not overpay for our products, they peg their currency to the dollar.

Let's say the "real" value of the Yuan is 5 to the dollar. But they peg it in the 7.75 Yuan to the dollar area.

If they bought a barrel of oil, with no peg, it would cost them about $60 x 5 = 300 Yuan. With a peg, $60 x 7.75 = 465 Yuan. I'm guessing paying 300 is cheaper than paying 465.

Thought you might want to know that

Math is hard. I see you already know that. LOL!

If they let their currency float like other countries, they would go up significantly versus the dollar.

Maybe.

Making our products cheaper and theirs more expensive.

You mean they'd buy cheaper and sell at a higher price? Sounds like what I said in an earlier post.

[Calpernia]

And when Sun says companies, he doesn't just mean retail! That includes pharmaceuticals and universities who harvest the slaves and prisoners bodies!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=bodybrokers

Just like back in the days of Unit 731!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/1521072/posts

[mr_hammer]

Peter Morici is a professor at the University of Maryland School of Business and former Chief Economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Democrats won control of Congress, in part, promising to address income inequality. Unfortunately, many seem more determined to help union leaders than address the real problems workers face.

Early in the Twentieth Century the phonograph and motion picture made Enrico Caruso and Al Jolson international stars but also destroyed the livelihoods of entertainers whose sphere of fame was the local music hall.

Today, this principle applies to more workers. Jet travel, the internet and an increasingly service-based economy permit U.S. bankers, software designers and even professors to peddle services on five continents, while cheap ocean transportation and global supply chains drive down wages for North Carolina furniture makers and Pennsylvania machinists.

Since fire and the wheel, mankind has been learning to make and move products better, quicker and cheaper. Societies connect, specialize and get richer, but particular workers, unemployed by trade, become poorer. Since productive lives of the displaced are short but benefits are enduring, economists advocate assisting those workers to accomplish permanent progress.

Washington has offered trade-displaced workers retraining and financial assistance but these programs have largely failed. The government is not good at delivering effective retraining to mature adults and offers too little money to patch together disrupted lives.

Compounding these problems, unions who profess to help common folks build better lives ardently resist change and exacerbate conditions, because their leaders can't get elected if they deliver bad news.

For example, the United Autoworkers leadership wins admiration from members by defending compensation structures and work rules that make hourly labor much more expensive at GM than at U.S.-based Toyota plants. With thousands losing their jobs year after year thanks to such poor leadership, it is no surprise workers shun unions. Union membership has fallen from about 35 percent of the private sector workforce in the 1950s to 7.4 percent today.

Thanks to teachers unions, schools in cities like Washington and Detroit socialize children to expect the kind of rules-bound workplace that unions defend, and high-tech companies either won't locate in those places or bring in skilled workers from outside.

Equally disturbing, China and others countries are cheating on the system, boosting exports with subsidies and undervalued currencies to capture market shares in industries where they have no comparative advantage like autos and steel. This artificially multiples the income inequality imposed by globalization and dysfunctional unions and urban schools.

Enter Nancy Pelosi�s Democrats, eager to reward unions for helping win control of the House of Representatives.

House Democrats have passed the Employee Free Choice Act, which would replace secret ballots for certifying unions with �card check.� Curiously, proponents argue workers in private voting booths are subject to arm twisting they would not be if offered a signature card by a husky union organizer in the washroom.

Democrats are offering to renew President Bush�s authority to negotiate trade agreements, which expires June 30, if he will seek safeguards regarding child labor and workers rights. Under existing World Trade Organization agreements, the United States has latitude to exclude products made in factories that violate internationally recognized workers rights, but both the Clinton and Bush administrations have failed to act. Moreover, most imports causing American workers fits are not made in establishments that violate internationally recognized norms. This debate is meaningless without a President with courage on the issue.

Similarly, the Bush Administration has refused to apply U.S. trade laws against unfairly subsidized Chinese imports. It has even denied that China and other countries manipulate currencies to boost exports, although Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has fingered the problem.

If the Democrats want to help workers harmed by globalization, they should take five steps.

Give trade-displaced workers significant cash payments, and let them use those as they please to rebuild their lives.

Put children first, stop opposing school vouchers, and subject urban public school teachers to robust competition.

Tell their union friends in private industry to get serious about negotiating compensation and work rules that permit employers to compete in global markets, and try earning the trust of nonunion workers instead of seeking a license to engage in strong arm tactics.

Hold up the President�s trade negotiating authority until he takes action against imports made by child labor and abused workers.

Pass the bill sponsored by Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Tim Ryan (D-OH), or similar legislation, that would permit businesses harmed foreign subsidies and undervalued currencies to obtain tariffs that nullify the advantages those practices create.

Those actions might not speak to Speaker Pelosi�s liberal sensibilities or the undemocratic agenda of organized labor, but it would actually do working men and women, and their children, some good.

This article was by;
Peter Morici is a professor at the University of Maryland School of Business and former Chief Economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission.

[Calpernia]

Yes, let's whip out a chart to justify blood money.

::blank stare::

[Sun]

DUNCAN HUNTER announcement speech

"China is cheating on trade. They are piling up over 200 billion U.S. dollars each year as a result and they are buying ships, planes and missiles with American trade dollars.


They have purchased Russian Sovreignny Class missile cruisers designed to destroy American aircraft carriers.


They have built between 750 and 1,000 medium range ballistic missiles and they have 17 submarines under construction.


How are they cheating? China gives 17% tax rebate to their exporters and a 17% penalty to our businesses who export to them. In addition, they maintain a 40% currency devaluation just to make sure the U.S. business doesn’t win.


This is not free trade. This is not fair trade. It’s cheating and if we put up with it, then we are disserving not only business and workers, but also our security.


If this was a football game, it means China has put 74 points on the score board before the opening kick-off.


Our own head of the Federal Reserve Board, Mr. Bernanke, went to China a few weeks ago and wrote a speech describing China’s currency manipulation as a “subsidy.” Then he pulled those words out so as not to anger his Communist hosts.


I thought Republicans didn’t believe in appeasing Communists.


This isn’t a game. It is pulling apart American’s Arsenal of Democracy which has saved the world three times in the last century and will be called on to do so again.


As President, I will make sure that our businesses and workers get a level playing field. I will do this because our security is at stake."

excerpt: http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2008/hunter/hunter012507sp.html

[Toddsterpatriot]

Sorry if remembering math class still gives you the chills.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Using cheap foreign slave wage labor gets ya rich for sure.

IIRC, the North was richer than the South.

[Calpernia]

[Calpernia]

>>>Put children first, stop opposing school vouchers, and subject urban public school teachers to robust competition.

That one is a double edge sword. :(

It sounds like a good idea; but the monies come with strings and the string tied monies make it into the private schools with terms and conditions, unfortunately.

Maybe shutting down NGOs? NEA? Stop allowing NGOs to partner with government agencies?

I don't know.

[AuntB]

Using cheap foreign slave wage labor gets ya rich for sure. IIRC, the North was richer than the South.

You recall correctly. The north didn't mind one bit using the South and its slaves for profit.

[AuntB]

Stop allowing NGOs to partner with government agencies?

We could start by not letting the NGO's write legislation. Someone told me that's what congresscritters are for.

[Toddsterpatriot]

So keeping those slaves didn't make the South rich?