LOU DOBBS TONIGHT (Interview With Commerce Secretary Don Evans)

CNN.com ^ | Aired September 17, 2003 - 18:00 ET | (None) - Transcript

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

The federal budget is already heavily burdened. And today, the deficit hit a new record high. The Treasury Department reports, the deficit passed $400 billion and we still have another month left in this budget year. The budget deficit is now twice as high as a year ago.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

(at the start of the article, is this disclaimer) THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[concerned about politics]

I'll accept the deficit to fight this war 100x more than I'd support more wasteful spending on social programs that never, ever go away - like the really dumb idea of spending $400,000,000.000 minimum for lazy democrats health care - every year forever!
Pay for the war, cut the rest by at least 90%, and keep the 10% for those who would actually die if we didn't help them ( At least until the charities are up and running. Then national security is all that's required for us by the Feds. )

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

I happened to catch part of this so I found the transcript to share here.
Don Evans says his department is going to become pro-active.
Also, "Level playing field" was mentioned a few times.
Afterwards, Laura Ingraham chimed in on illegal immigration and commiserated about a bit.
The title of Lou Dobbs theme for these kinds of segments is: "Exporting America".
Here's Laura Ingraham's take on Exporting America:

DOBBS: And to be fair, you say there are even Republican elites too?

INGRAHAM: Oh, sure. I mean, President Bush, on the issue of border enforcement, Lou, total elite. He's with the elites on that. The American people want the borders enforced. The Democrats don't want them enforced because they want new Democrat voters and they think Hispanics will be Democrat boarders. President Bush has that same sensibility, plus his friends in the business elite community, all of those people...

DOBBS: Don't forget "The Wall Street Journal"

INGRAHAM: "The Wall Street Journal" editorial page I go after hard on this, because they think, well don't worry about illegals, the illegals bring in a lot of money into the United States, it's cheap labor. And meanwhile again, the American people, not Democrats or Republicans, but they want the borders enforced.

DOBBS: And just talk about Commerce Secretary Don Evans before sat down here, Laura, making a decision now to try to do something, level the playing field. But for so many years in this country the quote, unquote, elites have been saying that you're basically some sort of bloodite (ph) -- idiot if you talk about managing trade. That view seems to be changing.

INGRAHAM: I think so because the 2.7 million jobs that are lost in that factory -- the Malden Mills factory all of the jobs going overseas, that's tragic for this country. Do we want to just become a service economy? If we do than...

For the most accurate and complete transcript, read from the link, not the early copy I posted here.

[concerned about politics]

CNN - try not to trip over the Marxist propaganda you'll find in this article.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

Laura Ingraham and Don Evans are very much Conservatives. The transcript contains Lou Dobbs interview with Don Evans and Laura Ingraham. The words from their mouths have not been editorialized by the CNN staff.

[WOSG]

Good points by Laura on the politics, but Ingraham is not a Nobel prize-winning economist like Milton Friedman. "Do we want to just become a service economy? " If that happens to be the way to highest prosperity, that's fine.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

We don't want to lose our manufacturing and high-tech capabilities on the road to highest prosperity. China has been dumping goods with their devalued currency and it is closing many of our mid-sized and small manufacturers.

DOBBS: Will the administration consider tariffs retaliation as well, should the Chinese, in particular, not live up to the standards of a level playing field?

EVANS: Lou, what we will do is, we will enforce our trade laws. I assure you of that. And we will be much more proactive than I think maybe people have been in the past.

We're not going to sit around and wait for industry to come to us with a petition for a dumping case or a countervailing duty case. We're going to be very proactive and try and find areas of the world where we see unfair trade practices taking place. And we're going to go after them. And so, instead of just waiting in a passive kind of way for petitions to come to us, we're going to go after them.

[concerned about politics]

In America, the union thugs are getting so greedy, they're milking themselves out of jobs.
The environmental rules are manufacturing killers as well.
Then, the law suits against anybody for anything.
Add the huge tax burden, and what's left?
They say they want to go after China for unfair trade. I can see that, but we need to clean up our own house big time. It's just as important if we want people to stay and buy American.
If I were a manufacturing company, the U.S. would be the last place I'd choose to do business. I'd never see a profit here.
I think that's why so many companies are leaving, or buying products elsewhere.
We've lost 4 manufacturing businesses I know of in Upstate NY. The cost of labor and taxes drove them away. They went to Mexico.

[lelio]

EVANS: I took a trip to China well over a year ago, talked to them about some of the unfair trade practices that we were very concerned about, intellectual property protection being one of them.

Your talk and 20 yuans might get you a cup of coffee. What became of it?

GDP, as you know, in the second quarter was 3.1 percent.

Around 2 percentage points of that was due to an increase in defense spending.

We expect -- most economists expect it to be in the 4 to 5 percent range in the third and fourth quarter.

Ah, the mythical 2nd half recovery that we yearly hear about.

the top three economic priorities of this administration and the president, the first one is jobs. The second one is jobs. And the third one is jobs.

I'm trying to hold back laughter at that statement. His top economic priority is jobs? Jobs for Indian IT firms, Chinese manufacturers, and illegal Mexican aliens?

Well, in terms of structural adjustments, Lou, what I would say, we need to enter more free trade agreements with people around the world.

So that we can put out even more manufacturing industries? Trade Rep Zoellick wants to bring in more imported furniture. How does that help our industries again?

[WRhine]

“the top three economic priorities of this administration and the president, the first one is jobs. The second one is jobs. And the third one is jobs.”

I'm trying to hold back laughter at that statement. His top economic priority is jobs? Jobs for Indian IT firms, Chinese manufacturers, and illegal Mexican aliens?

Great Response. That's exactly the "kind" of Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, this administration is talking about. If you are an American Citizen "Lots a Luck".

“Well, in terms of structural adjustments, Lou, what I would say, we need to enter more free trade agreements with people around the world.”

So that we can put out even more manufacturing industries? Trade Rep Zoellick wants to bring in more imported furniture. How does that help our industries again?

Evan's above reply was absolutely incredulous and indicative of how out of touch the Bush Administration really is. It's like saying "to lower the incidence of armed robbery we are going to immediately parole every jailed bank robber”. If Bush thinks that expanding the very One Way Trade Deals that have gutted American Industry and destroyed millions of jobs is going to SELL to the American Public as anything more than the same misery he is out of his frickin mind.

Lou Dobbs is one of the very few in the media that has been extensively covering how our government's trade and immigration policies are decimating America's prosperity and sovereignty. I couldn’t be happier that he is exerting his considerable influence here and putting the heat on this wayward administration. Dobbs is a truly Great American Patriot with a Heart of Gold.

[RDangerfield]

concerned about politics: CNN - try not to trip over the Marxist propaganda you'll find in this article.

Right. Lou Dobbs. The Marxist. Running lackey dog, carrying water for the commies. /sarcasm off
--Raoul

[A. Pole]

In America, the union thugs are getting so greedy, they're milking themselves out of jobs. [...]I'd never see a profit here. I think that's why so many companies are leaving, or buying products elsewhere.

You are engaging in a class warfare - attacking the organization of working class while promoting the interests of owner class.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

The Commerce Department is full of talk and words like 'proactive' and 'level playing field'. But, Evans 'solutions' appear to be just more talk and even more "free trade" deals.
Evans really needs to study harpseal's list of structural changes. Even Lou Dobbs says that we cannot grow out of this, we need structural changes.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

Don Evans says the solution is more free trade agreements (plus more talk), so we can continue down the same path we have been, but at a faster rate (but with more talk).
With strategery like this, we don't need enemies.