Free trade's victims turning against Bush, GOP

The Herald Sun ^ | August 25, 2003 | associated press

[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."

[Tokhtamish]

"Atlas Shrugged" ?

Is Ken Lay some kind of iron jawed John Galt ? Is Michael Eisner Howard Roark ? Do you think corporate America is run by heroic ubermensch ? It's run by bean counters and bureaucrats indifferent to anything but their bonuses and as interchangeable as spoons.

"Dilbert" is closer to the real world of corporate America than "Atlas Shrugged".

[harpseal]

When and if GWB decides he wishes to be more than a one term President he will sign or some variant.


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.

I note he had no problem triangulating the AWB issue away from teh Democrats he sure better use teh same political sense on this issue.

[Lael]

Oh right...North Carolina's going to vote for Howard Dean

They will vote AGAINST Bush!

[First_Salute]

Like I been saying, oil is to Arabs as labor is to communist Red China; and they both regard the pooling of such assets, to be their domain ... at any cost.

[Mini-14]

And L-1s.

[harpseal]

Yes but I am one of the so-called "Free Trader Elite" so therefore I won't be listed among the downtrodden proletariat when third world status comes along. I will be in charge of funneling all of the economic aide provided by the European union to all of the unwashed masses. Therefore I will skim all the cream off the top and live like a king!

The Free Trader elite will probably be among the first to feel teh effects of the social unrest as the reigns of civility slip off the population and someone crys Havoc and lets slip the dogs of war. Remember without doing something about tarde very soon we will have a Democrat as President now who is descrivbed as the anti-Dean among Democrat movers and shakers? Hint duaghter of Satan formerly employed by teh Rose Law firm and a genius at futures trading.

Boy you sure sound like your a Dawg from Texas

[Camel Joe]

I used to have a great relationship with my coffee table but I've drifted.... now Im just using it.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

My cure for outsourcing is simple, too. If most of the people you hire are not Americans, you're company is NOT AMERICAN. You cannot hide behind the legal and security protections of the United States when you are a de facto China-based or India-based company.

Your executives can live in the squalor of the third-world countries they exploit.

American Express should be required to change its name to India Express as its corporate call centers are now based in that country.

To be considered an American corporation, the majority of your employees must be American (What a concept!).

[Digger]

There is no way out of this as the ponzi game of fiat money is about to implode as the "Two-Party Cartel" has sucked America dry. We can't have the oil at cheaper prices because we just might see the real DEFLATION hit us as to where all can see. And the stock market rise. Somebody has some "spla'in" to do.

[My2Cents]

You and who else?

[Mad Dawgg]

"Perhaps instead of calling names you could try addressing the issues raised."

Heh, that is rich.

Notice the term "free traitor" is bandied about on this thread by those who support your side of the argument yet I see no posts admonishing them. Are we a little biased there harpy?

Being that Government regulation got us here, do you think more government regulation will fix the problem?

Word to the wise: when digging oneself into the ground, a new shovel and renewed effort is not the best course of action!

[WHBates]

"Bless their souls, they even gave us a carpetbagger senator last year just like during reconstruction."

"THEY" didn't give you anything, unlike reconstruction. "You" had a choice. Actually it was a pretty clear choice. By the way didn't you steal these jobs from the north to begin with?

[Mad Dawgg]

"Dilbert" is closer to the real world of corporate America than "Atlas Shrugged".

Mayhaps be, but the solution presented in the post in question sounded just like the one used by the government when all the businessmen started fleeing to Gault's Gulch.

BTW Atlas Shrugged was a philosophy wrapped in a novel. Further I find it interesting that the plot of the book is so close to today’s business climate in America. Rand may have been loony but she was a genius as well!

[harpseal]

Notice the term "free traitor" is bandied about on this thread by those who support your side of the argument yet I see no posts admonishing them. Are we a little biased there harpy?

A find on the term traitor shows that your post #21 was the first use of that on this thread. Nice try.

If you had read my plan there is no new government mandatory regulation. The only tax increase which is more than couterbalanced by cuts in teh corproate income tax is the use of tariffs to limit teh Damage being fdone to the American economy by government subsidies by other governments seeking to use the subsidies to their own business to damage the American economy. I and most others for a rational trade policy are against the insanity that got us here. the Insanity is based on teh priciples of teh Uragray round which was specifically designed to transfer wealth from teh richest nations to the poorest nations. It is you who I think from some confusion is arguing for the sociailist solution as defined by teh Uraguay Round.

Word to the wise: when digging oneself into the ground, a new shovel and renewed effort is not the best course of action!

Might I suggest you heed your own advice. when you are ready to discuss issues you will I am sure be met with civility but I would suggest that you not initiate flames as teh creator of this web site has stated No Personal abuse

[harpseal]

The cure for outsourcing is simple. Congress should pass a law saying that no CEO of any US company can make more than 15 times the average wage of his employees. It certainly would be a cut for the CEO if the average wage of his company's employees was 5,000 a year, as it is in India. Congress already has passed a law limiting salaries to CEOs, though companies then began giving stock options to get around the cap. With the lousy stock prices the past 3 years, that's no bargain. This would be the perfect solution because then everyone can suffer equally....or be rewarded equally.

I actually would prefer that we improve teh business climate in america and decrease regultaions to provide more productive jobs. Further neithe rDemocrats or Republicans would ever agree tothe legislation you propose. My propoasal is designed to appeal to Republicans and those in teh middle of teh road it will improve the business climate. i furtehr dislike the idea of regulating what business can do in cmpensation policies for their employees.

[WOSG]

I hope that is sarcasm, because the profound irony of calling a free-market supporter a "Socialist" while demanding in effect a Socialist solution to save us from the "evils" of open competition is too rich.

And if you rally believe President Bush can change fundamental trends of technological change that are the real reason for these changes in jobs, you are gullible enough to believe Al Gore invented the internet.

[Adder]

While I sure hate the job Bush has done, the options seem mighty bleak. If not Bush, who?
They all voted for this crap and now jerks like Edwards want to run away from it[as he criticizes Bush].
How nice that some are concerned about the workers who lost their jobs. How utterly useless to say that some want to cast stones and "we" want to build something with them.
Hey Fools! We HAD something built before you voted to give it all away! There was plenty of fair warning that this would happen. Remember "that sucking sound..."? Everyone laughed at that one.
Well its suckin' now...

[lelio]

I agree with you that we shouldn't force companies to stay here, but the feds can make it a lot more attractive by (this is a highly condensed version of Harpseal's points):
a) lowering our internal taxes
b) raising our tariffs to either equal that revenue offset, or makeup up for foreign government's socialism.

Its not fair asking the American worker, with all his tax and various costs of living, to compete with someone whose government supplies a lot more and doesn't have the same cost of living.

[Texas_Dawg]

Are we all gonna die?

Do you even have to ask? (Oh, and America already has.)

[Gunslingr3]

At the end of the day, write a 200 word essay describing how you can get along with all those physical objects, because very soon, you're going to have to.

Why?