Forging a case for U.S. jobs in manufacturing

The plan to start setting things right

In no particular order of importance.

1. Get rid of government subsidies for offshore investment of US companies. OPIC is the first such program which should go but support of World Bank programs that subsidize the outflow of Capital would be another.

2. Use tariffs on those nations which are engaged in unfair trade practices such as currency manipulation (China and India for example), those nations which refuse to open their markets to US products (China for example with its 50% tariffs on US consumer goods and non tariff barriers), those nations that subsidize competition to American Industry (airbus for example) and those nations which have slave conditions for their workers.

3. Use tariffs and other means to prevent the relocation of jobs offshore that are essential to the national defense. If necessary take control of the company seeking to export vital technology or industry by means of eminent domain (No I do not like this last option and I will only defend its use as an absolute last resort like say in the case of rare earth magnets essential to smart bomb technology). Provide a hardened, widely distributed infrastructure to supply all that is needed for our military units and civil defense that can be continued to be deployed in the event of any military attack.

4. An immediate end to guest worker programs. If people wish to come to the USA to work and make a life let them immigrate according to the rules.

5 Provide economic development zones where the corporate income tax is zero for operations within these zones. In order to operate in this zone a company must agree to only purchase American components if available and employ only American citizens or legal immigrants in these operations. These economic development zones shall be eventually be expanded to include every bit of every state once the benefits are shown I would like them to be totally implemented immediately but I realize4 that may be overreaching. It must be stated for clarification that simply being in the geographic area of the zones does will not subject any company to any new mandatory regulation. Everything is voluntary for getting the exclusion from corporate taxation. The profit attributable to direct imports is subject to the same rules that exist everywhere else in this nation for corporate taxation. Only free from such taxation is the profit attributable to American content and any American improvement. In short no new mandatory regulation will be a part of this. It is my opinion that there will not be a lack of companies seeking this tax relief. And no the regulation implied is absolutely minimal in order to get this through.

6. Scale back unnecessary regulation including the tort system. Institute a cap on punitive damages, limits on class action suits, and limits on liability to the actual percentage of liability with no plaintiff able to collect if said plaintiff was involved in the commission of a felony at the time of the alleged tort or was more than 49% negligent in the alleged tort. Note that the loser in a frivolous lawsuit shall pay the attorney fees of the winner. There are many other regulatory structures that also need to be included that need to be included such as repealing the Family leave mandate, getting rid of OSHA etc.

7. Increase the domestic content in purchases by the Department of defense and give absolute preference in non-domestic content to proven allies of the USA over say the French or Germans. The only reason any content for DOD purchase may come from non US allies is that content is not available elsewhere and is essential.

8. Do not allow expense involved in moving operations overseas to be included in business expenses under the IRS code.

9. Prosecute for perjury anyone who has made a false statement in order to employ an H1B or L1 visa worker. I will be lenient on the actual perjurer if he/she was ordered to make this false statement and he/she provides testimony to aid in the conviction of the person ordering the perjury. Just because a person is a CEO does not give them a pass on criminal behavior.

10. Prosecute anyone who orders the transfer of vital defense technology or funds a R&D project that could be of use to our military overseas except to strong allies of the USA. Make the necessary enhancements to our espionage laws so that continued support or funding of any R&D in a nation whose government has threatened the USA is guilty of espionage. The UK and Australia come to mind as meeting these criteria for being eligible for transfer of technology first. There will be other nations and a gradation of what can be transferred to which specific nation. Under no circumstances may technology be transferred to any nation whose government has threatened the USA within five years without a complete change of government or specific exemption from Congress and the administration.

11. Deport all illegal aliens immediately and take measures that prevent the entry of any more illegal aliens. Fine all companies knowingly employing illegal aliens Criminal sanctions should be imposed on anyone helping an illegal alien stay in the USA in violation of our laws.

12. Decrease the punishing levels of taxation on companies and eliminate the double taxation on corporate dividends. See effects of item 5 for how minimal this will be if item 5 covers the entire USA. Eliminate all IRS provisions that inhibit free use of independent contractors by businesses for example section 1706.

13. Eliminate the minimum wage so that the worker can be paid based on productivity. Overtime compensation will remain the same but instead of 150% of the "wage" the worker would receive 150% of the production pay. If one through 13 are enacted # 14 becomes an irrelevancy as no one will be working for that low a wage.

Now since I started posting this plan another idea has come up that in my opinion is a very good policy that stands on its own. Now I give credit to Jim Gibson and Freeper Ed_in_NJ for coming up with the idea, separately to the best of my knowledge. However I can be corrected on that. The tariff phrasing is from Jim Gibson.

“I suggest that the US Customs Department charge a $1,000-per-container inspection fee on every container entering the United States. This fee would be used to completely fund the cost of inspections. If we assumed that a four-man team could fully inspect two containers a day or about 500 per year, it would require 48,000 inspectors. Allowing for at least 2,000 support personnel, we would need at least 50,000 workers. Because these workers would require high intelligence and skill levels they should earn at least $30 per hour. At 40-hour weeks plus benefits, I estimate the cost per worker to be over $75,000 per year, all paid by the foreign manufacturers. Even so, this would still leave over $2.25 billion to cover all other costs. Any revenue not used would be used to compensate American workers displaced by foreign imports. “

I urge and encourage everyone who agrees with this plan and or the terror tariff idea to communicate this to every politician you can think of.

Ping

When you first registered were you a Democrat or a Republican?

I registered first as a Republican.

BTW, no politician is a God - they all err in their policies. The current "free trade" mania was inaugurated by JFK - a Democrat.

Huh, and Ronald Reagan followed JFK in promoting tax cuts, like GW Bush has.

Like I said before on this thread it is time for you to post the gifs of Ronald Reagan in tar and feathers by reading your rhetoric on this thread, Ronald Reagan is a traitor to you, IMO.

As much as I hate to admit it Hollings is right on this one. The traditional key to creating wealth is to take raw materials, add labor and sell the product. Once we have lost that capacity the only jobs left for our children will be in governmental or educational bureauocracy. But who and what will pay the taxes to support those bureauocracies?

Alan Greenspan's tightening of the Fed credit started this downward spiral in the manufacturing sector in the summer of 2000, and we're not out of it yet.

Precisely.

There is nothing in the least conservative about "free trade". It is entirely a question of the few who would prosper in a cheap labor, cheap life, cheap flesh society and the many who would not.

Alan Greenspan's tightening of the Fed credit started this downward spiral in the manufacturing sector in the summer of 2000, and we're not out of it yet

Huh????? Greenspan has been loosening credit. I guess the lowest interest rates in 40 years have passed you by.

BTW, have you been on Mars for the last three years, then I could understand your above italicized statement.

Ummm, you are the one using the word traitor - show me where I've used it.

I see that you're finally acknowledging that "free trade" is a traditional Democrat idea - a policy rejected by Republicans through Eisenhower. It's a disaster for the country - only pseudo-Republicans support such internationalist lunacy.

I see that you're finally acknowledging that "free trade" is a traditional Democrat idea - a policy rejected by Republicans through Eisenhower. It's a disaster for the country - only pseudo-Republicans support such internationalist lunacy

Huh, with your above italicized reply, you are basically stating that Ronald Reagan(a free trade proponent) was a "pseudo-Republican".

OK whatever, your animus towards Ronald Reagan has been shown for everybody to see and understand that you maybe posting from the basement of the DNC.

I do appreciate the links to Jeff's Threads and Race's. I am honored to be mentioned in the acknowedgements of jeff's Books and I have had the pleasure of talking with both these Gentlemen outside of Free Republic.

OK whatever, your animus towards Ronald Reagan has been shown for everybody to see and understand that you maybe posting from the basement of the DNC.

Stating that one of his policies was in error does not constitute animus. BTW, your comment about posting from the basement of the DNC is getting stale.

Stating that one of his policies was in error does not constitute animus. BTW, your comment about posting from the basement of the DNC is getting stale.

Stale? Sheesh your dashole/gephardt/hillary rhetoric on FR was stale long ago.

You're the self-admitted registered Democrat - perhaps you're a shill.

You need to re-read the history books.
Reagan slapped tariffs on the japs when they were dumping motorcycles here.
If not, Harley would not be around any longer.

A country which makes nothing IS nothing.

Greenspan is real strong on the conceptual and weak on reality. If you have no bread to eat, simply cut out a magazine photo of bread and eat that. If you have no physical job or physical paycheck, simply try to visualize those and then imagine yourself into giving your personal check to the landlord or mortgage company so they will not conceptualize you being thrown out into the street.

You're the... You need to..

It's always interesting how even freepers can cling to emotional positions at all costs. We tend to forget that there've been good Democrats and bad Republicans, and it's policy not politics that matters.

In the economy it's services --not manufacturing that matters. Services account for 60 percent of the GDP, 75 percent of employment, and 90 percent of all new jobs. Sure, we all miss the loss of our smokestack factories but those lifestyles went the way of the old agricultural and 'hunting-and-gathering' patterns of less advanced societies.

This is an emotional issue - and when people get upset they call for big government to bail them out with high import taxes so as to redistribute our hard earned wealth to those unwilling to compete in the marketplace.