Pat Buchanan : America's Hollow Prosperity

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | 02/15/2006 | Patrick Buchanan

[concrete is my business]

The so called "service" industry he bad mouths IS the largest part of the USA economy.

Even Pat is in it. shesh

And the average earnings for even "unskilled" tradesmen willing to go to work in Fort Mac, Alberta right now is $80,000 US a year.

Blame NAFTA.

[.cnI redruM]

Oh yeah, that's right, Arianna Huffington does have a gender...

[KevinDavis]

Yet these same people complain about the Government being to big.

[CWOJackson]

I guess you missed pat's recent screed where he was whining about the poor "innocent woman and children" we killed in Pakistan.

[junta]

Seems like Pat's detractors are a strange lot. They encompass being supporters of a virulently anti-American regime (Mexico), support an Iranian spy as a model Arabian democrat, view the deindustrialization of America as a sign of progress (the same as the enviro left), think Armageddon is around the corner, and the kicker of it all is that they have done a 180 degree turnaround on what constitutes economic health for the average person in terms of debt. Maybe the "End Days" conservatives are right and all this doesn't matter, spend away.

[M203M4]

Oh why oh why wasn't Pat the Great nominated for the Republican party in 92 or 96? He could have saved America from the evils of unbridled capitalism - with it, Bush is ruining the economy. The percentages of the motherland are falling, the PERCENTAGES!! We need more government regulations to protect us from the wicked people with money (mammon) and products (I don't believe in economics - I never learned about it in high school). We need to make products more expensive - that way, our families can truly benefit.

Pat is having an off day - he left out some things. No more blood for oil in Iraq - where are those BLTs??? 9/11 was our fault for being imperialists...terrorists hate us for what we do, not what we are. Those evil Mohammad cartoons insulted the great prophet - the damn secular hedonists with their freedom of speech, while the poor neo-nazis in Germany are persecuted. Diesel engines.

There, fixed it.

[logician2u]

The answer is less government interference. Not more.

You hit it squarely on the head.

As Mises pointed out, one government intervention in the economy always brings some unintended results, leaving planners with the choice of making further interventions or repealing prior ones.

They invariably choose further interventions.

The march toward tyranny continues.

[.cnI redruM]

"Too much Consumin' goin' on." Was Earnest Hollings. Sorry Mike, but you ID'd the wrong fossil on that one.

Perhaps Hollings had gone for cocktails w/ Christopher Dodd and Edward Kennedy.

[Alberta's Child]

The basic premise of your post is totally flawed. These "foreign entities" are the ones bidding on this U.S. infrastructure because U.S. companies recognize them as a terrible investment. Anyone who buys a U.S. highway these days with the expectation that it can be run as a profitable business is out of his mind.

[ex-snook]

Pat agrees with Bush.

Bush SOTU "I will ask Congress for $350 million to support Palestinian political, economic, and security reforms. The goal of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace, is within reach -- and America will help them achieve that goal. (Applause.)"

[CWOJackson]

"With U.S. troops tied down in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Pakistanis inflamed over a U.S. airstrike that wiped out 13 villagers, including women and children, it would seem another war in the Islamic world is the last thing America needs."

pat fails to mention the bad guys who were the target and who we took out.

[A. Pole]

Yup, my portfolio is up 35%, my home value has doubled and my property value in Florida has increased 500%..thinks are looking pretty bad.

Do you think that economy can be based on rising real estate values?

[SirLinksalot]

I've seen Buchanan trashed a lot on this thread, but haven't seen any significant refutations of his points. I'm no economist, so I don't know, but without reference to who wrote the column, are there flaws? What are they?

Other than the explanation that our trade deficits at this point in time do not matter because foreigners re-invest the money they make selling goods and products back to us, I have not seen a good refutation of one of Pat's major point --- THAT THE JOBS CREATED IN THE USA ARE NOT THE SAME ONES AND ARE NOT OF THE SAME QUALITY THAT WERE CREATED DECADES AGO.

Buchanan's point is that the low behind unemployment rate lies something we should not ignore --- the high tech and brain power related jobs are not being created but are in fact DECREASING. Most of the jobs created are the low end service jobs like waitressing and handling bed pans the like.

True or false ? If the later, what statistics can you show to back your argument up ?

What really disappoints me is the "shoot the messenger" responses I have been reading from this thread. In other words --- "I don't like his message, therefore, he's a jerk." That makes for very good rhetoric, but does nothing to address the issue he brings up. FR posters ought to be better than that IMHO.

[Aquinasfan]

Instead they will just take our industry and technology.

National security and patent protection are separate and important issues.

They now have $800 billion in currency reserves stockpiled...almost all dollars.

If they don't buy anything with it, all they will own is green pieces of paper. They'll spend the money eventually, and it will return to us.

[ex-snook]

Pat agrees with Bush.

Bush SOTU "I will ask Congress for $350 million to support Palestinian political, economic, and security reforms. The goal of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace, is within reach -- and America will help them achieve that goal. (Applause.)"

[CWOJackson]

pat agrees with Hamas...

[Jack Black]

Time to make some popcorn. This should be fun. NAFTA supporters, where are you ?

[Rodney King]

Oh really? Is that why the citizens of Texas can't afford to build their own highway system

Texas has more tax revenues then ever. The fact that they have chosen to finance their unneccessary highway through Cintra rather than through taxes is irrelevent. Texas could raise taxes to pay for the highway if it wanted to.

[ex-snook]

Pat agrees with Bush.

Bush SOTU "I will ask Congress for $350 million to support Palestinian political, economic, and security reforms. The goal of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace, is within reach -- and America will help them achieve that goal. (Applause.)"

[Paul Ross]

Ssh, don't tell Pat that. He thinks our money will never come back.

Shhhhh. Don't tell yourself. The Red Chinese are now hoardimg $800 billion of currency...and they aren't buying our stuff. 5-to-1 trade imbalance. They buy only our production technology when they can't otherwise steal it or get it elsewhere...or they buy raw materials from us (as if we were a third world pesthole). Then they turn around and increase their export product to us.

Nor is the money, in any significant degree, flowing back via intermediaries. Go figure, LOL!