Everyone he knows loves Lou Dobbs and they all voted Democrat.....
but I am struggling to think of a single Democrat who made tarriffs a part of his or her campaign. I really am.
I can only think of one.......
President Dick Gephardt.
Posted on 02/13/2007 7:53:20 AM PST by presidio9
Lest I appear obsessed with how (simultaneously) wrong and out-of-touch mainstream pundits were about Iraq, let's turn now to trade, where conventional conservative wisdom is, amazingly, even more dominant.
A demand for tougher trade policies was nearly as fundamental to the success of the 2006 Democratic electoral sweep as opposition to Bush's catastrophic war. "There has been an evolution among almost all Democrats that these trade agreements simply need to be constructed in a different way — for fair trade, not for free trade," a victorious Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio explained. In Virginia, James Webb promised, "We are going to work very hard on issues of economic fairness in a country that has become too divided by class.... We must re-examine our tax and trade policies." And Rhode Island's Sheldon Whitehouse beat Lincoln Chafee, despite the latter's anti-Bush stance, by proclaiming, "It's time to reject trade deals like NAFTA and CAFTA that fail to protect American jobs."
Now, how many mainstream pundits share the fair-trade view endorsed by so many millions of voting Americans and demonstrated in decades of polls conducted by the Chicago Council on Foreign Affairs? Virtually none. "Free trade," really just a nice name for a free investment policy that allows global corporations to move production and capital around the world with no thought to the human and environmental consequences and that offers countless exceptions when the powerful are threatened, is the religion of the American elite. The primary punditocracy outliers — Pat Buchanan and Lou Dobbs — oppose it from a right-wing nativist perspective. The columns by the Washington Post's invaluable Harold Meyerson — which reflect a progressive, pro-labor, pro-environment, fair-trade perspective — may make him the only mainstream pundit with mainstream values on the issue.
As with Iraq,
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
My husband works for GM. It is galling to see Japan flooding the market with their cars...knowing that they use dirty tricks to keep out American cars in Japan as does Europe. Japan sells their cars for a small profit or even a loss in order to gain market share. Of course, they make up the shortfall by jacking up the prices in Japan...since they have no competitive worries. I am all for fair trade, and I am a Republican.
Interesting, because a lot of "Japanese" cars are made in America. Just not in Detroit where labor unions have made the American auto industry non-competitive.
If you're agreeing with an article in "The Nation", you're probably wrong.
And I shudder to think of how disastrously bad quality-wise American cars would be right now if imports had been blocked in the 70s and 80s.
I have a close friend who is an engineer with a Big 3 Automaker and he spends 0% of his time whining about unfair Japanese competition and 100% of his time whining that his company is run by morons and that the Japanese do things better.
You mean the majority of the country that until 2006 consistently elected "free traders" over protectionists?
The liberal policy of stating dubious opinion as fact at work here. Admittedly, November was a long long time ago, but I am struggling to think of a single Democrat who made tarriffs a part of his or her campaign. I really am.
As opposed to GM who sells their cars for a loss and still loses market share? You may have missed this news:
Honda Motor Co.'s net profit was up by 8.8% in the quarter ended Dec. 31 thanks to healthy sales around the world, but especially in North America, where sales rose 8.5% to 471,000 vehicles. Honda said it couldn't meet demand in the massive U.S. market, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Strong U.S. Sales Drive Honda's Profits
Toyota Motor Corp. reported a 7.3 percent jump in quarterly profit Tuesday on booming sales in North America and Europe that offset sluggish demand in Japan. Toyota recorded group net profit of 426.8 billion yen ($3.6 billion) in the three months ended Dec. 31, up from 397.6 billion yen the same period the previous year.
Everyone he knows loves Lou Dobbs and they all voted Democrat.....
but I am struggling to think of a single Democrat who made tarriffs a part of his or her campaign. I really am.
I can only think of one.......
President Dick Gephardt.
Yes, but I'm pretty sure that they still have slave labor gulags in Japan.
Its very sad that open markets have destroyed our domestic eyebrow production industry. Patriots like Gephardt refuse to spend American money on the imports.
Often, the left and the right are both ignorant of fundamental economics, or just discard the knowledge in favor of selling fear in return for power.
I doubt that's the case but if it's true, we should all thank them for providing us with cheap, well-made cars.-
I'm not sure if this still is true. But, Japan had a four year required inspection for all vehicles. The cost of the inspection was so high, most people would just trade in their car for a new one.
that is just plain wrong. toyota makes money by the tens of billions. the stock investors say toyota is worth more than all the other car companies combined. Toyoda is the worldwide sales leader everywhere except the US where GM has patriotic customers who buy their stuff no matter what.
GM made crap for years, now that they actually make a decent product, their reputation has been soiled and it will be years before people trust them again.
this has to be sarcasm. It is GM who is number 1 in china, that manufactures its pontiac torrent, chevy equinox engines in china, that derives its biggest profit in china.
Japan auto wages are higher than in the US.
They are assembled in the US-big difference. The money goes home-really. Also, there are not that many assembly plants in the US. However, the point is I say the Japanese and others live by their own rules. If Japan has 'safety' checks' then their cars are required to have a 'safety' check as well (must charge a huge fee as well).
Not on free trade. The Dems want to give this country away. Repubs with unfair, stupid trade policies are selling it in effect.
Most people who feel as I do voted for security. Also, I don't like Dems. Since Clinton enacted NAFTA...who you going to vote for. However, if someone (other than a socialist) offers me a clear alternative, this issue might cause me to vote outside the Republican family. I am horrified by the one world crowd period.
GM had much inventory...thus they sold cars at a loss. Of course we don't have a nice cushy little protectionist scheme going like the Japanese so we can't offset our losses. I don't care what you say. Those who enact barriers to trade need to live by their own rules period. Why should the US open their markets when there is no reciprocation?
They don't have to...the Japanese governemtn subsidizes their Auto industry. Also, they sell cars for a much larger profit in Japan-since there is no competion for them. Quite a cozy little scheme. They sell high in Japan in order to be profitable. They sell low in the USA in order to get market share-thanks to our free trading anything for a buck government.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.