[A. Pole]

Pitchfork Brigade bump!

[A. Pole]

But here, the free-traders enter a cul de sac. They recoil at tariffs like Lucifer from holy water, but have no idea how to stop the hemorrhaging of jobs, technology, factories and dollars, except exhortation and prayer. For as 19th-century liberals, they believe free trade is "God's Diplomacy." Whoever rejects it sins in the heart. True believers all, they will ride this raft right over the falls and take us with them. This unyielding belief in the salvific power of free trade is, like socialism, one of modernity's secular religions.

Pat has a good pen!

[ex-snook]

Social Security is another overlooked result of trading jobs, first for cheap underwear, now for technology.

Social security ratio was designed for current workers [read jobs] to support retired workers and the ratio was somewhat better than 20 - 1. Now it is heading for 3 - 1.

But the jobs still exist, now in China, et al but those jobs do not pay into the SS system. A start is to put an equalization SS tax on imports to restore the job ratio.

BTW Pat, the prophet who tells us what we don't want to hear, is right again.

[ancient_geezer]

But here, the free-traders enter a cul de sac. They recoil at tariffs like Lucifer from holy water, but have no idea how to stop the hemorrhaging of jobs, technology, factories and dollars, except exhortation and prayer.

Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee,
Rep. Bill Archer (R-TX)
August 12, 1996

• "A recent survey was done, in Europe and Japan, of the major corporations and I was astounded at the results. They were asked, 'If the US abolished its income tax and went to a sales tax, would that have any impact on your decisions?' Eighty percent of the corporations said they would build their factories in the United States of America. Twenty percent said they would move their international headquarters to the United States of America."

---

 

A Taxreform bump for you all.

If you would like to be added to this ping list let me know.

John Linder in the House(HR25) & Saxby Chambliss Senate(S25), offer a comprehensive bill to kill all income and SS/Medicare payroll taxes outright, and provide a IRS free replacement in the form of a retail sales tax:

H.R.25,S.25
A bill to promote freedom, fairness, and economic opportunity by repealing the income tax and other taxes, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and enacting a national retail sales tax to be administered primarily by the States.

Refer for additional information:

• http://www.fairtax.org,
• http://www.myfairtax.org/,
• http://www.salestax.org,
• http://www.geocities.com/cmcofer/ftax.html

[ninenot]

Timing's interesting, eh? Tomorrow is Patriots' Day.

Ride to the sound of the guns!!!

[Willie Green]

Pitchfork Brigade bump!

Friends, neither Beltway party is going to drain this swamp, because to them it is not a swamp at all, but a protected wetland and their natural habitat. They swim in it, feed in it, spawn in it.

-- Patrick J. Buchanan, "A Plague on Both Your Houses"

[remember]

Comes now the trade shocker for February. The deficit hit an all-time monthly record: $61 billion. The annual U.S. trade deficit is now running at $717 billion, $100 billion above the 2004 record.

Buchanan is correct that the trade deficit is rapidly getting worse. I had been following it on a yearly basis at http://home.att.net/~rdavis2/tradeall.html. However, it's worsening so quickly now, I've started to follow it on a monthly basis. The following graph shows that even its monthly movement is decidedly down:

The numbers can be seen at http://home.att.net/~rdavis2/gstrade.html.

[citizen]

Buchanan bump