Bush's "Ownership Society" Already Doomed by his Trade Policies

AmericanEconomicAlert.org ^ | Friday, September 10, 2004 | Alan Tonelson

[ninenot]

Communist China will not exist in 25 years without a shot being fired

"Capitalism" has worked really well in all those communist regimes, right? Name a few.

[ninenot]

While your understanding of the Loral treason is excellent, do not forget Loral's allies: Clintoon, Motorola, and Boeing.

[ninenot]

I will say that the next time we get a guy like Clinton or his wife in there, I do believe the Patriot Act will be abused.

Precisely why Jim Sensenbrenner, (R-WI) opposed some provisions of the Act. He has a 99.5% ACU rating and saw the same flaws.

[Siamese Princess]

American labor cannot survive on the $0.50 an hour that a Mexican worker can or the $0.25 an hour that a Chinese worker can. No way can the typical average American pay $4,000 property tax a year, 1/3 his income in income tax, high Social Security, taxes, Medicare taxes, gasoline taxes, high sales taxes and all the other many taxes and earn those kinds of wages. End all taxes and the American could work for far less also.

Another problem is the cost of housing, which is usually a family's biggest expense. Back in the early '80s, a young, newly-divorced friend of mine with a toddler was able to afford a nice apartment in a nice section of Paterson, NJ, on a minimum-wage salary. Can't do that now. Even ten years ago, rents were not unreasonable. Since the mid-nineties, though, the cost of rent and mortgage have skyrocketed.

[Siamese Princess]

What's it called when citizens are asked to defend with their lives those corporations that will not hire them because to "turn a profit" corporations must give the jobs to people in other countries?

The heads of these corporations will one way or another convince the government to go to war ostensibly on America's behalf but really on the their behalf. The public will be sold a bill of goods, a pack of lies.

[Casloy]

Not disputing the issues raised, but given we have a choice between Kerry and Bush, now is not the best time to be trying to solve this issue. The next president will appoint several Supreme Court Justices and set the agenda for the war on terrorism for the next 4 years. It's about like arguing monetary policy in 1942.

[ninenot]

Not to worry. Neither Bush nor Kerry will pay any attention at all to these issues, whether elected or not.

Bush's econ bunch are all dedicated fans of the Determinist School of Economics--'those who cannot compete should die.' It's closely related to the Determinist School of Sociology--remember that one?

It's the Economic makeover of racism, derived precisely from Darwinism.

[RFT1]

Wrong again. The Ford Fairlane in the late 60s had a 3 year product cycle, just the 67-69 model years, the Chevy Impala/Caprice had a 4 year cycle. Also most Chevelles were not muscle cars, but the midsized GM car that people bought to go from point A to point B.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Don't forget the real good Falcon you could get from Ford in those days.

A little reminder of very popular Richard King, WLW Cincinnati, 1960s. One of his sponsors was a Ford dealer and he'd get away with telling his listners to go there for a real good Falcon.

[Casloy]

Since we are being hopelessly simplistic, how about, "those who won't compete should come to the rest of us for a handout." Remember that one, it caused more deaths worldwide than all wars put together?

[ARCADIA]

Almost the entire federal tax base of this country is the top 5% of wage earners. They pay 75% of all federal taxes.

Why that certainly seems grossly unfair. Are you suggesting that we should redistribute the wealth producing assets of the upper 5% so that rest of the population can carry its fair share of the Federal Income tax burden?

[lelio]

If it is OK for capital to flow to those states where wages are lower then why is it wrong for capital to flow to those countries where wages are lower?

Why have borders?

[Willie Green]

Rather than calling American an "ownership society", I think a more appropriate name would be "credit card society".

IMHO, Bush's vision of an "ownership society" is patterened after the one that wealthy Mexican landowners established over the peon lower classes. His embrace of global corporatism is merely an expanded version of the one-party rule of the Mexican PRI.

[XBob]

ping

[A. Pole]

IMHO, Bush's vision of an "ownership society" is patterened after the one that wealthy Mexican landowners established over the peon lower classes. His embrace of global corporatism is merely an expanded version of the one-party rule of the Mexican PRI.

I have such suspicion - that a large section of establishment longs for Latinization of USA.

[meenie]

Before we get into ownership, we might consider the formation of capital that enables ownership. With the largest spending spree on record and the greatest credit expansion, the public has a fat chance of much ownership. Economic slavery would be a better term for the Bush-Greenspan vision of ownership. What the banker giveth, he can taketh away.

[iconoclast]

Luddite bump

Anti-globalists are to Luddites as Elephants are to beekeepers.

Care to try again?

[iconoclast]

That is why we must compete with low-cost workers worldwide---keep our industries sharp and innovative so our economy stays strong.

Birds fly over the rainbow, way up high. Birds fly over the rainbow, why then, oh why can't I?

[iconoclast]

I'm sure Bush's mind changed in that grade school room on Florida. Let's give him a chance ...

Granting that he's not the quickest pony in the corral, but what has he said/done to bolster your optimism?

[sinkspur]

No, luddite.