An index of American decline

World Net Daily ^ | Feb. 23, 2004 | Patrick Buchanan

[Poohbah]

You want to bring back manufacturing jobs? It is simple, get rid of all computer operated machinery so that manual skill is required.

No, actually, you want to engage in another world war that wrecks most of the manufacturing infrastructure outside the United States.

The prosperity enjoyed by American manufacturing from 1945-1975 was an anomaly brought about by the loss of plant capacity in Europe and the Far East during World War II.

[mgist]

Our schools and colleges teach us how to work for someone else and that some else will hire you if you are young and cheap. Hit 40+ years old, you are out the door.

I'd say this is true in any country around the world, probably less of a problem in the US. It is an interesting question. What is the solution? More savings plans, more small business opportunities? I'm not sure.

[Poohbah]

The good news is the profits come back to the US, the bad news is that workers are not the prime beneficiaries.

Why should an unidentified group of "workers" be the prime beneficiaries of investments that they presumably didn't make?

[Glenn]

I've been trying, unsuccessfully I might add, to argue in favor of outsourcing in the hopes that someone formerly opposed would see the good in it.

Please remove me from your ping list.

[LowCountryJoe]

I'll pile-on and attack Pat too. If Pat got the tariffs that he pines for and after full fledged inflationary pressures decimated the real purchasing power of those living on fixed incomes, I wonder how long it would take for him to write a piece on the subject of unbearable inflation.

Democrats have to shave both their faces in the morning [Kerry is the exception with three long faces] but Pat doesn't have any such problem because it's impossible for him to shave with his own head stuck up his...

[LowCountryJoe]

Please remove me from your ping list.

I've got to have respect for those who see that the kitchen is too hot and therefore decide, on their own, to leave it.

[palmer]

You congratulate them on their job of course. There is no zero sum where someone will lose a job due to theirs. Where you apply your principles is when they spend the money from that job. Do they squander it on low quality imported consumables? The best example was last Christmas's cheap Chinese DVD players that shoppers stampeded for. I have no gripes with people who want to watch DVDs, but I do have a gripe with people who squander the savings from that purchase.

The free traders will give the spurious argument that the cheap DVD players raise our standard of living. They may do that, but it is temporary. It would be better for everyone including that consumer to buy one long lasting American product (e.g. shoes) than a cheap DVD player and a pair of cheap Chinese shoes, both of which will be worn out in a year.

Laugh all you want at my examples, but we are trading the family jewels for knock-off plastic trinkets.

[Poohbah]

I have no gripes with people who want to watch DVDs, but I do have a gripe with people who squander the savings from that purchase.

Ah, yes. You want to control how the "sheeple" will spend their money--for their own good, of course.

[palmer]

Did I say that? No, I want people to be more responsible. You lack of concern for our country's future is very telling.

[Poohbah]

Did I say that? No, I want people to be more responsible.

How do you propose to get them to be more responisble?

[skip2myloo]

Well, nobody here is analyzing WHY we are losing jobs.

Part of the issue is our productivity - quite simply, America has the most productive work force in the world. Per capita, we work harder, longer and more productively than any other population on the globe.

Our efficiency costs us jobs.

The downside is, we're also the most expensive, we have the highest wages and we have very nearly the highest cost of benefits, especially for retirement and health care.

To compete in a global market, our industries have to hold the line for the cost of goods sold as tightly as they can.

Meanwhile, our Congress keeps increasing the regulatory burdens on small and large businesses across the spectrum.

It is costly to do business in America because of OSHA, EPA and other extraordinary requirements. Mexico doesn't require an employer to report compliance with equal opportunity mandates.

Stanley Tool, like many other large American Corporations was ready to move offshore because of the high cost of taxes and IRS compliance rules for accounting.

We are a capitalist economy built on a free enterprise system. The job of a business is to be profitable at the bottom line and return earnings to its investors.

They do that by holding the line on costs and by playing effectively in a competitive market environment.

The primary purpose of a business is not to provide jobs. Like buying raw material, a company hires the people it needs to get the job done and the lowest possible price.

Yes, it is to their benefit to use all the Organizational Behavior techniques they can to enhance the efficiency of their workforce.

If we want to keep jobs in America, the labor force has to be competitive - we've got to make it more attractive for businesses to operate in America and hire Americans than it is to go overseas.

The government needs to quit tyeing the hands of businesses behind their backs.

It is not the government's duty to provide jobs - it is the government's duty to get out of the way of those who do.

[palmer]

Well there's always my soapbox. But seriously, if I can convince some Buchananite protectionists to promote individual buy-American policies rather than government mandates, I will consider it a success.

[Poohbah]

But seriously, if I can convince some Buchananite protectionists to promote individual buy-American policies rather than government mandates, I will consider it a success.

When the Big Kahuna Buchananite Himself can't be bothered to drive an American car, this is a loser of an idea.

[Poohbah]

BTW, the worst pair of shoes I owned were "Made in the USA," lasted three months (the sole came off the right shoe about halfway through a five-mile run), and cost about double what my made-in-China shoes I've worn the past 18 months did.

Bottom line: sell me crap once, I will *NOT* say "Thank you sir, may I have another" and buy a second time.

[dennisw]

Well done and Pat Buchannan has been right for years about American jobs, illegal immigration and trade deficits.

[palmer]

I believe he switched to a Caddie when he was called on the Mercedes.

[1rudeboy]

I couldn't figure-out where Mr. Buchanan gets his trade figures. For example, auto and auto part exports have been firm, and agriculture makes up just 8% of our total goods-exporting picture. I figured that he simply needed to make his point. But then I took a closer look at this excerpt, emphasis added:

After airplanes, our No. 1 export in terms of a trade surplus is ... soybeans. Corn is next, followed by wheat, animal feeds, cotton, meat, metal ore, scrap, gold, hides and skins, pulp and waste paper, cigarettes, mineral fuels, rice, printed materials, coal, tobacco, crude fertilizer and glass. Airplanes aside, the United States has the export profile of an agricultural colony.

Clearly, the "export profile" of the U.S. does not bother Pat a whit, as by his standard, we should export more corn and soybeans and concentrate on that increasing that share of agricultural goods exports from 8%. In other words, Pat (the economist) correctly identifies some of the comparative advantages, but Pat (the Luddite) looks at the largest exporting country on the globe and sees an "agricultural colony." His supporters, meanwhile, skip right-over the passage I emphasized. Nothing is more important than their faith in the idea that our economy sucks and that no one but Pat can save them.

[palmer]

I'm not going to claim all American products are better. I just want the free traders to focus a little more broadly than just on price and start looking for ways to promote American industry without protectionism.

[Poohbah]

I believe he switched to a Caddie when he was called on the Mercedes.

But he lacked the conviction to own a Caddie in the first place.

[dennisw]

Well there's always my soapbox. But seriously, if I can convince some Buchananite protectionists to promote individual buy-American policies rather than government mandates, I will consider it a success.

It's a vicious circle being created. Due to destruction of well paying jobs, vast swaths of our population can no longer afford American made even if they want to. The have to shop in Wal-Mart and buy crap from China and other foreign goods