Patrick J. Buchanan Examines "The Slow Awakening of George W."

Washington Times ^ | 09-17-03 | Buchanan, Patrick J.

[Theodore R.]

The slow awakening of George W.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: September 17, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Last July, U.S. Trade Representative Bob Zoellick delivered a halftime pep talk to dispirited globalists, thrown on the defensive by the hemorrhaging of U.S. manufacturing jobs.

"What ... a surprise," Zoellick railed at his troops, "to see that the proponents of [free trade] ... have so often abandoned the debate to the economic isolationists and purveyors of fright and retreat."

But by September, Zoellick's own boss seemed to be drifting toward the camp of the "economic isolationists and purveyors of fright."

At a rally in Ohio, which has lost 160,000 manufacturing jobs since mid-2000, President Bush railed: "We've lost thousands of manufacturing jobs because production moved overseas. ... America must send a message overseas – say, look, we expect there to be a fair playing field when it comes to trade."

Yes, friends, at long last, we have their attention.

What's behind this radically revised presidential rhetoric? It is this: U.S. manufacturing jobs are vanishing, and unless he turns it around, Bush's presidency may vanish along with them.

The numbers are breathtaking. Manufacturing jobs have been disappearing for 37 straight months. Not since the Depression have we lost production jobs three years in a row. Since 2000, one in every six manufacturing jobs, 2.7 million, has disappeared. These jobs paid an average wage of $54,000.

Unfortunately for President Bush, while he has a good heart, he was horribly miseducated at Harvard. He simply cannot comprehend that it is free-trade globalism that is destroying U.S. manufacturing jobs, and may yet destroy his presidency.

The serial killer of manufacturing jobs is imports, which are now equal to almost 15 percent of GDP, four times the level they held between 1860 and 1960. What has caused this flood of imports? The trade deals that people like Robert Zoellick negotiate and George W. Bush celebrates.

Consider the numbers.

In July alone, the United States exported $86.1 billion in goods and services. But we imported $126.5 billion, for a trade deficit of $40.4 billion. The total trade deficit for 2003 is estimated at between $480 billion and $500 billion. But the deficit in goods will run closer to $550 billion.

The president's father and Bill Clinton contended that every $1 billion in exports created 20,000 jobs. Thus, a $550 billion trade deficit kills 11 million production and manufacturing jobs.

Say goodbye to blue-collar America.

What is the Bush prescription for curing this metastasizing cancer? In Ohio, he declared, "See, we in America believe we can compete with anybody, just so long as the rules are fair, and we intend to keep the rules fair."

How, Mr. President?

Consider the nation that runs the largest trade surplus with us. In July, we bought $13.4 billion in goods from China and sold China $2.1 billion. U.S. imports from China this year should come in around $160 billion, and U.S. exports to China at $25 billion.

We will thus buy 10 percent of the entire GDP of China, while she buys 0.25 percent of the GDP of the United States. Is this "fair trade"? But how does Bush propose to close this exploding deficit? How can he?

Where a U.S. manufacturing worker may cost $53,000 a year, a factory in China – with $53,000 and using the same machinery and technology as a U.S. factory – can employ 25 reliable, intelligent, hardworking Chinese at $1 an hour.

If you force U.S. businessmen to pay kids who sweep the floor a $5-an-hour minimum wage, while their rivals pay highly skilled Chinese workers $1 an hour, how do you square that with the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection of the laws?

Does the president, when he goes on about keeping "the rules fair," mean he will insist that China start paying its skilled workers $25 an hour and subject their factories to the same payroll taxes, wage-and-hour laws, OSHA inspections and environmental rules as ours?

Beijing will tell him to go fly a kite, Made in China.

It is absurd to think we can force foreign nations to accept U.S. rules and regulations on production and American standards on wages and benefits. And why should foreign nations comply, when – with their present policies and laws – they are looting our industrial base and walking away with our inheritance?

The men who have custody today of what was once the most awesome manufacturing base the world had ever seen are ideologues, impervious to argument or evidence. Like the socialists of Eastern Europe, zealots like Zoellick are beyond retraining. They are uneducable. They have to go. The sooner they do, the sooner we can get about rebuilding the self-sufficient and sovereign America they gave away.

[Recourse]

If you would, answer my question: do you agree with Tom Hayden, Ralph Nader, and the AFL-CIO that free trade is bad?

[dogbyte12]

Are you trying to figure out who I am or something? No thanks

But gee Dawg, how are we to repay you losses in 2004 election bets if we don't know who to write the check out to in the first place?

Get out of the basement, tell mom you are moving out, and get a job.

[Lazamataz]

Haha. GU?

Haha. University of Georgia.

No college for you, huh.

[ninenot]

A decade later our economy is as strong as it has ever been while Japan's has been in a decade-long decline.

Yup. The economy's just fine. Why--Clinton only had to massage Commerce numbers for two years to show us that the economy's just fine.

Two years of massaging and three years of depression, 2.7 million people who WANT to work are not working, every State in the Union has a budget deficit because tax revenues are down (that's income taxes...)

Hell, it's the best of all possible worlds.

Not only are you uneducated, you are plain stupid.

[RussianConservative]

ehh? Only two city in Japan bomb by nuke, all city in Japan bomb by fire storm air raids. One raid in Tokyo alone kill 100,000 peoples.

[RockyMtnMan]

At the risk of being labeled an economic ninny by you I will share my "plan":

1. All free-trade agreements would be put on hold until the following conditions were met:

Social Security is privatized by allowing investment in equities specially marked for retirement.

All capital earmarked as part of a SS account must be invested domestically by the holding company or corporation which the equity belongs.

Companies that invest all equities domestically recieve a tax break equal to the investments percentage of company's gross business expenditures (excluding the investment itself).

Companies that use overseas labor must contribute the employers half of SS on behalf of the worker. The money would be earmarked in a SS equity account. The company would not be able to take advantage of the above tax incentive.

Tort reform, ie the target of litigation is entitled to the dollar amount being sought by the litigator. Caps on medical liability, etc.

2. Free-Trade resumes for countries that adhere to specific labor standards:

No child labor.

Minimum wage equal to the US minimum wage regardless of position (programmer or shoe lacer). This applies to work performed for a US company.

Basic safety minimums, maybe a limited set of reasonable guidelines from OSHA. Note I said reasonable.

3. Tax reform, ideally the NRST.

4. Regulation reform here in the US, elimination of unreasonable regulatory restrictions (see above - reasonable OSHA guidelines)

I believe what I've outlined would add a significant level of domestic investment to the economy and benefit business at the same time. Employment would rise do to the new influx of capital and would encourage business to invest further capital domestically. It would also continue the ponzi scheme of SS without screwing new entrants to the system.

[RussianConservative]

I ask again, what you do for living? Where in management chain you live?

[harpseal]

Ping on or off let me know

[Texas_Dawg]

Haha. University of Georgia. No college for you, huh.

Like I said, you're not much of a Georgian. I have never heard one single person in Georgia refer to UGA as "GU".

[ninenot]

Yup. All those lefties are wrong all the time, and Pat agrees with them SOME of the time, so thus, Pat's wrong all the time, too. Great.

On the proposition that ANY Government owes its first allegiance to ITS OWN CITIZENS, this Government has failed--except in producing adequate military hardware.

[RussianConservative]

Less monies, mean less price to buy items, mean less item produced or price drop...but what of input prices (you know, resource, energy to make item)? They not go down, so profit margin slip and less produced, then less paid to peoples or more peoples fired and cycle start again...deflation.

[ninenot]

I notice that he has not stopped taking his paycheck, opting instead for a guaranteed income from his college...which cannot fire him.

[RussianConservative]

Salary and tax work on bell curve. At some point less pay mean fewer worker because they use time spent at work for something more profitable then that...so you cut pay and eventually no one work. Same as tax, you raise tax and eventually no one produce, not worth what left.

[ninenot]

Precisely, accurate, and yes: it's not hard to understand except for TxDg, whose Mom should be checking on his homework shortly--hope he did it..

[Tokhtamish]

The truth is the truth no matter who says it. Or do you only hear what you want to hear ?

If a neocon is a liberal who was mugged, then a neoliberal will be a conservative who was outsourced at age 50 and has a mortgage to pay.

[riri]

Yes, I guess, I meant "didn't it"

LOL. I corrected it WRONG! Doh! trying to do too many things at once.

Insulting Texas_Turd is getting to be distracting.

Anyway, my point was I agreed with your intended statement.

[harpseal]

Actually since the loss of jobs in the USA is directly attributable to the implementation of the Uruguay Round tariff principles which are an openly admitted transfer of wealth program from teh Rich nation(s) to the poorer nations and since the USA s "the richest" under this scheme it is working as designed.

When we decide to fix things we will implement the following as a start.

Acknowledgement RDB3 who helped hammer out this plan.

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 realize 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.

[harpseal]

Ping on or off let me know

[A. Pole]

To: Texas_Dawg

I ask again, what you do for living? Where in management chain you live?

I imagine him living in the middle of Manhattan in a small studio, supported by a modest family trust. I found photo of some Dawg photo through google search:

Notice his Texan hat.

[janetgreen]

Pat was right about lots of things, and he was crucified for it. The socialists don't want to hear it.