Posted on 11/06/2003 7:03:18 PM PST by buzzyboop
Imagine this: You're in a Corvette with Democratic presidential hopeful Dick Gephardt. He's driving 100 mph down the interstate, sixth gear, top down, wind in his helmet-like coif, and then he realizes he's missed his exit -- five minutes ago!
Funny thing is, Gephardt still thinks he can make the off ramp.
You know he's nuts, and most importantly, he knows he's nuts. But he just can't stop reassuring you that he can make that turn.
Sound weird? Not if you're an American manufacturing employee. You're used to Gephardt's brand of "logic." Because Democratic presidential candidates are telling them every day: We can make the off ramp -- to the 1960s, turn back the clock on a decade of free trade pain and jobs that have fled our shores.
Make no mistake. The pain is real. Manufacturing employment, between 1967 and 1998, accounted for a relatively constant 18 million workers. As of August, that number was down to just 14.6 million. That's the loss of 3.4 million jobs that pay middle-class wages and benefits to workers, few of whom have college degrees. Meanwhile, manufacturing's share of gross domestic product dropped from 16.3 percent in 1998, to 13.9 percent in 2002.
Those are some scary numbers for Democrats. Union voters pull the lever for Dems, and unions themselves are hellacious organizers that get out the vote come Election Day.
It's created a situation where the candidates are making promises they can't keep: They're going to staunch the bleeding of our manufacturing jobs by using America's economic might to enforce fair trade, not just free trade. They're going to make the countries we negotiate with adopt our labor standards and our protections for the environment. They're going to level the playing field. The good ol' days can return. It's just a vote away.
Too bad it's bull(crap).
The manufacturing jobs we've lost are gone, and no matter what we do, few if any, are coming back. Second, using trade negotiations as a club to bend countries to our will actually undermines the democratic principles we say we want to promote abroad. Third, America is one of the world's worst offenders when it comes to fair trade, and our policies -- negotiated primarily by the Clinton administration -- are responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people and the impoverishment of millions of others.
So Democrats are stuck with something of a Catch-22: Tell some fibs and hope the blue-collar vote buys it, or tell the truth and pray blue-collar workers can stomach it.
(Excerpt) Read more at atlanta.creativeloafing.com ...
"The manufacturing jobs we've lost are gone, and no matter what we do, few if any, are coming back..."Agreed. And the words "the economy is coming back" means nothing. Why you ask?
1. Lower unemployment figures do not account for all those stepping down to a lower paying job (manager to fry cook at Burger Queen) or pay reductions for those empoloyed.
2. Higher corporate profits (AMR for instance) does not mean more jobs. This profit was acheived by thousands of lost jobs and pay/benefit cuts for those employed. Is MY economy as an employee better? Heck no.In 1960, a married couple could feed and educate a family from one middle class income (such as a teacher) and even own a home. They can now scarcely do either with both working full-time along with the kids and the dog. Chuck Harder got it right a long time ago.
There is no law which says you have to use credit cards, or which prevents you from paying them every month.
some liberal so-called 'consumer' advocate doesn't speak for me. To paraphrase one of Rush's comments at the unemployment height of this fast-ending recession: 6% unemployment means that 94% of us who want to work are working!
Why are some manufacturing jobs exported? One reason and one alone: we are no longer competitive. What has happened in past instances of job loss? We nurtured R&D departments. How to do that you say? Tax cuts that provided seed money for innovation. This happened last after the 1980's Reagan tax cuts, and it's happening again.
I do realize the axiom that it's only a recession to you if you're not working. Been there, done that. Besides, unemployment changes is a lagging indicator of an economy's soundness.
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