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."
Such would be unconstitutional although some zoning laws aready to some extent do this on a state and local level.
Would you simply say, "Yup, OK, it's yours?"
see my discussion above. Now my comment about the anti trust laws was based on a finding of the Congress at the time in regulating interstate commerce and originally they did no more than apply to interstae operations. Clearly Constitutional and clearly not a violation of the fifth ammendment as your supposition above was.
Good grief. "Found to be harmful to the United States?" Are you really dumb enough to believe that a throwaway line in a preamble of a piece of legislative theft is a finding of fact?
My opinion on the matter does not mater neither does yours as such were found to be Constitutional long ago and the first uses of them were to deal with Railroad trusts as welll as unions. Simplt referring you to the US Coinstitution and the enumerated empowerments thereof.
I do not think repeal of teh anti-trust laws ois in the immediate future and as regards tariffs would you care to find a study that shows a net harm from a protective tariff via quantitative analysis?
Show me a study that shows a NET GAIN from a "protective tariff" via quantitative analysis. Let's see your terms, since you seem to think that throwaway lines in legislative preambles are proven facts.
Either I will repost the link to the PDF within the next 48 hours or you can find the link by goingthrough some of the past two or three days posts I have made. I have posted one such study multiple times. I do not need to sdo a search for you today. I have also been referred to such study from history examining teh textile tariffs of the mid 1800's. The latter is not available on-line but the specific reference was provided about two or three weeks ago. If you had kept up you would alrerady know this. in fact you had been flagged to some of the threads wher e the link to the study was provided. I did not however see your posts to it.
It is time for siome free trader to step up to the plate if tariffs are bad such studies should be numerous becuas ethere have been so many tariffs over the years. The data is out there to do such a study. the infamous Steel tariff costs study is a use of such quantitative analysisi of the costs side of a cost benefit analysis Lets see the same technoique applied to the benefit side.
By the way the quantitative analysis for the steel consumers is availble through CATO. i am certain you can find it.
Nowe let me make this clear I do not contend all protective tariffs provide a net benefit all the time. I contend that there may be times when the effects of tariffs are relatively neutral and I presume at times they may also be a net negative but Clearly the Uraguay Round princiuples are not based upon the contention that tariffs are bad for teh nations imposing them. of course I do not yet have evidence to support the theory on my part that they can be a net negative.
You are a phony.
From A December 13, 1999 thread
Hopefully the social conservatives will walk right into the camp of Pat Buchanan, the only guy who has the guts to talk about "politically incorrect" issues and promises to bring back America. 25 Posted on 12/13/1999 17:29:42 PST by janetgreen
So would you support loosening immigration restrictions to allow millions more immigrants to immigrate here legally?
YAWN.
I just got back from the mens room.
Yep the good auto mechanic, plumber, electrician etc. etc., asked themselves the same thing, when they were 18.
JMO, learn a trade, feed yourself and family for a lifetime.
Of course when they were 18, their college bound friends looked down their nose at them.
Did you not say "anyone" but Bush?
Geee, I believe you.
Certainly anyone who has read any of your posts in the past few days would just have to believe you are a paragon of humble virtue, whose kindness is exceeded only by your even temper and the exemplary concern for your fellow citizen. It puts you on even footing with Mother Theresa.
The depth of your understanding of the situations of millions of your beloved fellow Americans is barely up to your stellar comprehension of international trade.
Job could learn patience from you.
If only the Founding Fathers had your foresight and wisdom, the entire world would be a better place.
If only your beloved spiritual leader had suceeded in eliminating the "merchants" we could have avoided all the nastyness in the middle east, kept the trains running on time, and jobs here! You sound like you mourn his failure.
St. Francis of Assisi is not worthy to let your shadow fall upon him.
Lord Buddha could have drawn his inspiration from you, when he said all life is suffering.
I won't compare you to Mohammad, as even he incorporated alms to the poor in his religion. Clearly that, if nothing else, is out of your league.
Yeah, you "definitely don't feel superior to [just] anyone.", you feel superior to everyone.
Your compassion drips from the tips of your cowboy boots, like the blood of the down and out...
Yep, it's confirmed. When you resort to nazi comparisions and name calling, you are using the "Liberal Playbook". Nice try though.
Fine. Let's do that. Then we can let millions immigrate here legally. After all, you said you aren't against the legal immigrants, right?
Lacumo was the worst, a dictionary defintion of the phrase a "frothing at the mouth."
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