[Willie Green]

On behalf of transnational corporate interests, the Bush Admininstration and the GOP are willfully conducting economic war against the American Middle Class.

"I am one of those who do not believe that a national debt is a national blessing, but rather a curse to a republic; inasmuch as it is calculated to raise around the administration a moneyed aristocracy dangerous to the liberties of the country."

-- President Andrew Jackson - (1824)

"Of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of plutocracy."

~ Theodore Roosevelt

[Onelifetogive]

Boy, this article is SO full of facts and statistics.....

</sarcasm*>

[Coop]

Hey Willie, could you buy me a sandwich?? The soup line is closed today.

:-D

[ClaireSolt]

Was this writen befopre or after the December fed budget surplus was announced?

[Willie Green]

ping

[Sabatier]

"a list of once American corporations who's profits are no longer funneled"

Not to be pedantic but shouldn't it be "whose" profits?

[Cacique]

More commie propaganda.

[ex-snook]

Looks like Darwin was right at least in economics.

[dljordan]

Debt is good! I heard it right here on FR. We can control foreign governments through our debt and everythings going to be fine. Debt makes us stronger.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

What? No obligatory Karl Marx free trade quote?

[Pan_Yans Wife]

The American dream has prospered. In the past eight years my husband's income has increased by a third, due to his hard work and willingness to be gainfully employed while providing for a family. We see this as a good pay off.

[Phantom Lord]

I consider the current state of the American economy as a politically driven "the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer" economic model.

The rich always get richer and the poor always get poorer.

The rich get richer by continuing to make the decisions that got them rich in the first place. Same with the poor.

The American Dream - the belief that through hard work, courage and determination one can achieve prosperity - has vanished in the atmosphere of this greed and power driven frenzy.

Bull.

[lewislynn]

Manufacturing Trend: Outsourcing New Product Development

Jan. 3, 2006 -- Currently 29% of U.S. manufacturing companies are outsourcing part of their new product development process, with 41% reporting that they are evaluating outsourcing options within the next 12-24 months.....

Industry Week

[agere_contra]

...as the comfortable livings of the endangered middle class are reallocated for the increasingly exclusive and isolated pockets of wealth hoarders.

Good god what nonsense. Does the writer have any facts?

[quantim]

What a pant load:

The current American economic model seems like a reversal of Robin Hood.

That's patently untrue.  The libs, dems, socialists and to be sure some RINOs steal more and more every day, week, year.  If in fact the middle class is getting squeezed it's because of multiple tax-to-death gubmint layers.

If only we could export our domestic socialists.

[tkathy]

Cheap labor never ever comes cheap.

In the end, it costs far more than providing decently paid jobs.

[ex-Texan]

The harsh truth about America's open borders, illegal foreign workers and corporate outsourcing is these practices undermine the middle class. But as long as U.S. companies sell goods made in China, India and Mexico to Americans eager to buy them, we all have a major problem. All those HB-1 visa workers do not help either. As a conservative, I'm upset most about our open borders. After all, we are fighting a war against terrorism. But terrorists disguised as Mexicans easily can walk over our borders. Our national security is at risk. Vincente Fox is not America's friend. I have seen illegal documents forged by Mexicans working in Los Angeles. They even forge passports so illegals may travel back and forth to their home countries. It is time to lock down our borders.

http://www.economyincrisis.org/article_11.html

[Clintonfatigued]

"The rationalization for mass outsourcing is to provide American consumers with cheaper products."

And due to depressed wages & benefits, those Americans will be forced to buy from companies which outsource because they won't be able to afford the cost of products made domestically or sold in family-owned or partnership-owned small businesses.

It's appalling.

[ex-snook]

Hey we are all economic citizens of the world now.

Blame unions, management, government, lawsuits, competition, customer tastes, whoever, for the demise of American industry. No one gives a sh't. Who wants to hear another canary singing in a mine if you are not in the mine?

[IronJack]

I don't think this can be writtn off entirely, though I do think it's little more than a tortured diatribe. In fact, Big Oil has announced record profits in the last year. And offshoring is cutting into the middle class's standard of living. Those are facts that can't be ignored.

However, it is working those facts too hard to make them carry the accusation that Bush and the administration are "waging war" against the middle class.

Bush has betrayed the middle class in a number of ways -- trade deficits prompted by PNTR with China and the NAFTA/CAFTA debacles, reluctance to close our borders to illegal immigration, burgeoning government spending, poor energy policies, etc.. But blunders alone do not constitute a "war."

[phil_will1]

The author does have some good points and there are ways to address his concerns. However, he seems so ideologically driven that I have to wonder if he is really interested more in blaming or in adressing problems.

"...the filthy elite few.
So wealthy people are evil?

".....outsourcing our jobs."
Uhhhh, who is OUR? Who do the jobs belong to? Don't those who pay the wages have some sayso?