Posted on 08/25/2003 2:05:47 PM PDT by snopercod
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- This year's highly publicized job losses in North Carolina manufacturing, including the Pillowtex bankruptcy, could mean trouble next year for President Bush in a region that was a stronghold in 2000.
Bush won more than 56 percent of the vote in both North Carolina and South Carolina in 2000. But his strong support of free trade has turned some against him in the South, where U.S. trade policies are blamed for the loss of jobs in textiles and other manufacturing sectors.
Andy Warlick, chief executive officer of Parkdale Mills in Gaston County, said he doubts he will repeat his 2000 vote for Bush next year.
"He made a lot of promises and he hasn't delivered on any of them," Warlick said. "I've had some firsthand experience of him sending down trade and commerce officials, but they're just photo ops. It's empty rhetoric."
Fred Reese, the president of Western N.C. Industries, an employers' association, said executives are beginning to raise their voices against Bush and are planning education and voter drives.
"We're seeing a new dynamic where the executives and employees are both beginning to see a real threat to their interests. You're going to see people who traditionally voted Republican switch over," Reese predicted.
The hard feelings were on display days after Pillowtex's July 30 bankruptcy filing, when Republican U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes walked into a Kannapolis auditorium to meet with former workers.
"Thanks for sending the jobs overseas, Robin!" shouted Brenda Miller, a longtime worker at the textile giant's Salisbury plant.
In December 2001 Hayes -- who is an heir to the Cannon family textile fortune -- cast the tie-breaking vote to give Bush the authority to negotiate "fast-track" trade agreements, trade treaties that Congress must vote up or down with no amendments.
At the time, Hayes said he won promises from the Bush administration that it would more strictly enforce existing trade agreements and pressure foreign countries to open their markets to U.S. textiles.
"Are we pleased with the way they responded? Absolutely," Hayes said. "Are we satisfied with where we are? Absolutely not."
Jobs in many industries have fled overseas since 1993, when Congress passed the Clinton-backed North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. About half the textile and apparel jobs that existed in 1994 are gone.
Since Bush took office in January 2001, it is estimated North Carolina and South Carolina have lost more than 180,000 manufacturing jobs.
And even more textile jobs could be out the door once quotas on Chinese imports expire at the end of next year.
Republican U.S. Rep. Cass Ballenger voted for NAFTA and fast-track, and has seen his 10th District lose nearly 40,000 jobs, primarily in the textile and furniture industries.
"Certainly, there's a political cost to any controversial vote no matter which side you take," he said. "People are casting stones, but we're trying to pick them up and build something."
Democratic U.S. Sen. John Edwards voted against fast-track in 2002 after voting for an earlier version. In 2000 he voted for permanent normal trade relations with China.
Recently, though, while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, Edwards has attacked Bush's trade policies and called for fairer trade measures.
Robert Neal, vice president of the local chapter of the Pillowtex workers' union, said Hayes has worked to try to ease the impact of job losses in his district.
"Though he (Hayes) voted for fast-track, he is really concerned about the workers and their conditions in the state of North Carolina," Neal said.
Not everyone feels that way.
Reese is organizing 1,500 manufacturing companies across North Carolina in an effort to leverage what he calls a new voting bloc.
In South Carolina, voter drives are planned for the first time at Milliken & Co., which has about 30 plants in the state. Mount Vernon Mills of Greenville, S.C., is forming a political action committee.
The company's president Roger Chastain, a one-time Bush voter, doesn't expect to support the president or Jim DeMint, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Ernest Hollings.
"We're basically liquidating our whole middle class, polarizing people on the two extremes, have and have-nots," Chastain said of the manufacturing job losses. "We'll be a Third World country."
It might be great for incomes to actually drop to the 60's levels ----- but only if housing, gasoline, car, food, clothing and all other prices drop equivalently.
Yeah... because I bet in this year of yours without a job, you've really been beating down the doors to get a job there. Is there anyone, other than you, who is NOT to blame for your unemployment?
Bush is the Constitutional CEO of our Executive Branch of government ... not the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Nah it was those millions, maybe billions in government contracts from Hillarycare that had Perot licking his chops.
If you beleive that Perot was uber-altruistic, I have a bridge to Brooklyn that I would like to sell to you.
I seriously can't wait till Bush and the GOP crushes you people again next November. It is really going to be great.
It's hysterical.
You should see their jaws drop when I tell them that it's fine by me if some CEO has a lear and a multi-million dollar beach front home..
THEN, I tell them that at least he came by it honestly... as opposed to extorting it from his employer.
The class envy angle doesn't bother me at all, but the exporting of infrastructure does.
If this continues, you are going to see people SCREAMING for labor unions and all kinds of price controls. Both of which I am opposed to.
^IMHO.
The American Revolution, the Founding Fathers and the US Constitution were all about the rejection of an aristocracy. People need to keep in mind that the Founding Fathers could have easily set up an aristocracy and made themselves the aristocrats ----- but they had something much better in mind. We owe them not to give up what they fought for.
I think he was an opportunist.. and GHWB left him a prime opportunity.
...ShadowGovernment/CIA/Mossad/KingofLichtenstein/Halliburton/Biltbergers/Illuminati...
Yeah, right!
Good grief, you are such a naif. Don't ever set foot inside the Beltway--you'll never figure out who lifted your wallet.
As long as we have a majority of voters convinced that they're entitled to live off other people's money in one respect or another, you're going to have a frickin' income tax, doofus.
There are plenty of folks in DC who will gladly promise you a reduction in income taxes on Tuesday in return for tariff today. But they'll weasel out and say "I didn't mean THIS Tuesday."
Fight the income tax battle. Don't even consider tariffs, because you'll end up with income taxes AND tariffs.
I do not support any increase in taxation to try and fix the US economy with the exception of tariffs offset by reductions in the Corporate income tax. If we eliminate the corporate income tax on all goods produced in America at the same time then those goods entirely produced in America will have an approximately 25% reduction in cost. The modifications or added value to any import will also be subject to teh same level of cost reduction.
In short I was merely givinbg some facts because I thought some facts would be useful indiscussing these issues. By the way I am doing a detailed study of the specific declines in trade and howthey correlate to foreign tariffs on US goods August 1930 through 1936, when American exports started climbing again. I will post when I get it finished. so far my results are showing most of the decline is not in the period from 1930, 1931 and 1932. Most of it was in 1922, 1934 and 1935 after american tariffs were lowered with some specific trading partners. Although the overall percentage of the exports to the total GNP did decline from 1929 until 1936 the caus eis very much up in teh air as the UK was our primary trade partner with Germany also up there. I am needing to discount Japan and china due to their war and Italy due to its invasion of Ethiopia. This has no relationship other than background to the discussion.
As for the solution it to structurakl problems it boils down to enforcing our laws, giving everone who works in the USA a stake in the USA as an immigrant rather than a guest worker, reducing regulations and using tariffs to get fair trade and when tariffs are totally gone from exports by the USA to foreign nations we will in mutual agreement remove our tariffs from imports from those nations.
In short I amin total rejection of the Uruguay Round priciples.
Yes, I recall it had something to do with that line "read my lips" .. and then we read Clinton's lips when he shoved the highest tax increase down our throats while collecting big bucks for selling our national security and turned a blind eye to North Korea Nukes and Bin Laden
Politics is like the free market, if there's a demand.. you can count on an attempt to fill it.
You're right .. and the voters that voted for Perot allowed Clinton to fill it
Hey, bro... hate to break this to you, but most people like it when the value of their home goes up.
...and their comrades at the Internation Butter Churners Society.
Nah it was the 24/7 coverage of Perot on CNN that gave perot the opportunity.
You have to remember back in 92, CNN was the only game in town, but what hey I have a clear conscience. I didn't vote for Perot or Clinton, thus setting up the Clinton's Presidentcy, which set up 9/11.
I think there will soon be tariffs. For one --- a 10% or 20% tariff would do a lot of good, anyone buying a $70 television could afford $7-$14 more --- or those cheap Chinese $1 things --- slap on an extra $0.20 ---- it's about the only way the government is going to collect enough taxes for it's greedy spending programs. The politicians aren't about to cut spending ----they've got to find some new tax program.
That's the way it worked out... But I would hardly blame Perot for it.
GHWB left him an opening, and he took it.
Trade was on the table.. there was more at stake than simply "read my lips"
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