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There is political truth in what you say, but again Pat and Bush are going after a simply big government solution, rather than a focus on deregulation and tax cuts, as Reagan did.

While there is no paleo-right consensus on trade, there is one on monetary policy, which is the real culprit for the loss of manufacturing jobs as American products simply cannot compete in foreign markets of Third World countries.

You didn't read the article, did you?

If we mandate a $5/hr minimum wage in the US, and the Chinese, who have no mandate, pay their skilled labor $1/hr, then how - without using a tariff, can a US company compete?

If OSHA demands fire extinguishers be made available every 40 feet of wall space, and the Chinese do not, then how do you reconcile the cost of the regulation per produced unit?

Are you impervious to math? The government, at the point of a lawyers pen, is forcing me to pay people above minimum wage, and forcing me to supply fire extinguishers, so I can't extract that expense from the cost of producing my widget.

Free trade was always a stupid idea. Always. Perot wasn't the best messenger, but he was right.

Fair trade puts either one of two types of responsibilities on government regulation:

1. Either you adopt the same regulations as the country you are trading with

OR

2. Erect a tariff on the imports of that country equal to AT LEAST the cost of mandated regulation at the city, county, state, national, and EU level.

Otherwise, the Chinese win every time. So do the Indians.

It really isn't that hard to grasp.

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.

R. Reagan imposed tariffs.

I think El Presedente' Jorge Booosh should also.

...monetary policy, which is the real culprit for the loss of manufacturing jobs as American products simply cannot compete in foreign markets of Third World countries.

Monetary policy certainly is a factor.

However, when it comes competeting in foreign markets you are looking thru the wrong end of the telescope.

From 1890 to 1973 trade (import and export) as a percent of GNP averaged 14%. In other words the US was practically a closed economy. This was a result of tariffs which averaged 24% From 1950 to 1973 real (inflation adjusted) wages (non-supervisory personnel) increased by 47%.

After WW2 the US began unilaterally reducing tariffs to their present average of 4%. As a result, in 1973 trade as a percent of GNP began to increase. When it did real wages began to fall. From 1973 to 1991 wages fell 19% and are still dropping.

The point is, we do not need an expansion of trade beyond the 14% of GNP historical average to have a healthy economy.

Remenber Ayer's Law: "That which has happened, can happen."

Regards

J.R.

Our hidebound regs are to blame in many ways, but one is that the mfgers use them to claim that they can't afford (or "can't find qualified") Americans to do a job. What they really want is cheap illegal slave-labor, quasi-off the books.

They cannot be accommodated without a loss of jobs and a lowering of our standard of living.

The other elephant in the room is our crushing "lawyer tax"--the indirect costs of greedy lawyers and crazy, runaway litigation, to the point that an honest and law abiding American must be terrified of the very court system his taxes pay to support.