Free Republic

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. How nice it would be to think that, after the bruising fight over the Central America Free Trade Agreement, President Bush has learned something about how to do trade policy right. And how completely unjustified this conclusion would be. Bush seems determined to continue the overall strategy pioneered by Bill Clinton of focusing U.S. energies on expanding trade with regions too small, too poor, too broke, too protectionist, or some combination of these traits to be anything but big net exporters to the United States, not big net consumers of American-made...

[...] It's progressive politicians who should be paying more attention. More than a hundred years ago, Charles Dickens's cockeyed optimist, Wilkins Micawber, explained to David Copperfield that the difference between happiness and misery involves the positive or negative difference between income and expenses. [...] As the government confirmed once again last week, rising costs have outpaced stagnant wages in ten of the last 12 months. [...] The Bush administration is in an ideological straitjacket. But progressive politicians have several issues they should raise, particularly long overdue increases in the minimum wage and the earned income tax credit -- kitchen table...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. INDIANAPOLIS - DaimlerChrysler AG will close its Indianapolis foundry and eliminate 881 jobs by Sept. 30, reducing the automaker's once formidable Indiana manufacturing presence to just the city of Kokomo. DaimlerChrysler recently notified the Indiana Department of Workforce Development of the closure under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, Act. The law requires employers to give 60 days notice before certain plant closings and layoffs. The loss of 881 jobs is the largest in Indiana under WARN this year. A provision in the four-year labor agreement struck by the...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.About 250 workers will likely be laid off from the factory in Thomasville. It's like being an inmate on death row. You just want it to be over with already. That's how one worker at Pfaltzgraff's Thomasville plant likened the reaction of the manufacturing facility's roughly 250 workers after owner Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff Co. told them it would close the factory by Oct. 28 if no buyer emerges. No one was surprised. The company gave workers their 60-day notices during two 15-minute meetings Friday afternoon. Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff also filed a Worker Adjustment and...

As Hedge Funds Go Mainstream, Risk Is Magnified By Ben White Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, August 11, 2005; D01 NEW YORK -- In 1990, there were about 600 hedge funds with $38 billion in assets. Today, there are about 8,000 with more than $1 trillion in assets. Estimates suggest that hedge fund trading can account for as much as half the daily volume on the NYSE...... Worst-Case Scenario The regulators and executives say the worst-case result of the industry's blistering growth and light regulation would be a repeat of 1998, when the near-collapse of hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management...

The New GOP Betrays America Diane Alden Thursday, Aug. 11, 2005 The biblical truth "Hope deferred makes the heart sick" described my state of mind on July 27, 2005. That was when the House Republican leadership stopped the clock on the CAFTA vote because they didn't like the way it was going. It gets more and more difficult to write about politics. The hope some of us placed in Republicans was misplaced. We had hope they might make a small attempt to lead this nation back to constitutional government: limited government. Hoping Republicans will be conservative, constitutional or less venal...

Watching the Economy Crumble Paul Craig Roberts Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2005 The United States continues its descent into the Third World, but you would never know it from news reports of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' July payroll jobs release. The media give a bare-bones jobs report that is misleading. The public heard that 207,000 jobs were created in July. If not a reassuring figure, at least it is not a disturbing one. On the surface, things look to be pretty much OK. It is when you look into the composition of these jobs that the concern arises. Of the...

The United States continues its descent into the Third World, but you would never know it from news reports of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' July payroll jobs release. The media give a bare-bones jobs report that is misleading. The public heard that 207,000 jobs were created in July. If not a reassuring figure, at least it is not a disturbing one. On the surface, things look to be pretty much OK. It is when you look into the composition of these jobs that the concern arises. Of the new jobs, 26,000 (about 13 percent) are tax-supported government jobs. That...

American Families Are Hungry Too; CAFTA-DR's Passage Questioned WASHINGTON, July 28 /Christian Wire Service/ -- Early Thursday morning the House passed the Central American Free Trade  Agreement by a two-vote margin, 217-215.  The Senate approved CAFTA-DR last month; it now goes to the President for his signature.The agreement's said purpose is to open trade between the US, Central America and the Dominican Republic to promote higher paying and better jobs, investment in America and helping to forge relations with developing countries, supposedly cutting down on job loss and immigration issues. "Why would America purposely give away American jobs to bridge...

The June payroll jobs report did not receive much attention due to the July 4 holiday, but the depressing 21st century job performance of the U.S. economy continues unabated. Only 144,000 private sector jobs were created, each one of which was in domestic services. Fifty-six thousand jobs were created in professional and business services, about half of which are in administrative and waste services. Thirty-eight thousand jobs were created in education and health services, almost all of which are in health care and social assistance. Nineteen thousand jobs were created in leisure and hospitality, almost all of which are waitresses...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. EMPORIA, Kan. - Days after merging with a rival, the owners of a Kansas radiator plant said Monday the factory will close in September and leave 130 people unemployed. The Modine Manufacturing Co. plant opened in Emporia in 1973 to build sheet-metal radiators for Ford Motor Co. On Friday, Modine's aftermarket division merged with Transpro Inc., a Connecticut-based competitor, to form Proliance International Inc. The merger will move production to two existing plants in Mexico, and the Emporia facility will be sold. Two regional plants and branch distribution centers in Denver...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Proponents of so-called "free" trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which I opposed, have long promised endless riches for U.S. workers, farmers, businesses and economy. They've been wrong on all counts. Failed U.S. trade policies have led to the export of millions of high-paying American jobs; decline in U.S. living standards; soaring trade deficits; and a significant erosion of U.S. sovereignty to international trade bureaucrats. Despite this unbroken record of failure, the House is expected to vote before August on an agreement the Bush administration negotiated to...

Washington -- DURING the cold war, as the Soviet economic system slowly unraveled, internal reform was impossible because highly placed officials who recognized the systemic disorders could not talk about them honestly. The United States is now in an equivalent predicament. Its weakening position in the global trading system is obvious and ominous, yet leaders in politics, business, finance and the news media are not willing to discuss candidly what is happening and why. Instead, they recycle the usual bromides about the benefits of free trade and assurances that everything will work out for the best. Much like Soviet leaders,...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. As data gathered in the real world of international rivalry continues to show an expanding U.S. trade deficit that will likely hit $700 billion this year (up from $617 billion last year), a great wailing is heard from the Defenders of Free Trade. Their libertarian economic faith is immune to facts, either from present observation or historical experience. That's what makes it a secular religion. Nothing better reveals its reliance on superstition and ignorance than how readily its adherents resort to falsehoods to defend its dogma. Consider two recent columns that...

Economic data continue to point to ongoing growth of the US economy, but financial-market participants have become more doubtful. This was reflected in expressions of concern following the release of the latest US trade deficit figures earlier in April, and especially in the plummeting of stockmarket indices a week ago. Moreover, the latest industrial output and import-price inflation data have prompted the revival of a nearly forgotten term, "stagflation". While the Economist Intelligence Unit is not forecasting a scenario of high inflation and a stagnant economy, the combination of creeping price pressures and slowing growth has already arrived. On the...

In March, the U.S. economy created a paltry 111,000 private sector jobs, half the expected amount. Following a well-established pattern, U.S. job growth was concentrated in domestic services: waitresses and bartenders, construction, administrative and waste services, and health care and social assistance. In the 21st century, the U.S. economy has ceased to create jobs in knowledge industries or information technology (IT). It has been a long time since any jobs were created in export and import-competitive sectors. The Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts no change in the new pattern of U.S. payroll job growth. Outsourcing and offshore production have reduced...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Steelcase Inc. announced Monday that it will cut 600 jobs over the next two years as it shuts down its remaining manufacturing operations in the city and consolidates work at other plants. The furniture maker said it will vacate the remaining factories at its sprawling Grand Rapids campus. Much of the work from the chair and panel plants will be moved to plants in Kent County's Gaines Township and Kentwood. About 30 jobs will move to Steelcase's plant in Mexico, The Grand Rapids Press reported. One hundred...

The developed world is on the brink of the greatest demographic change in its history, and America's standard of living will decrease by almost one-third by the middle of this century, according to a new study released by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA). The report adds that over the next 30 years, the number of elderly in the United States, the European Union and Japan will more than double, while the number of workers available to pay the elderly their government-promised benefits will rise by less than 10%. That will require large tax increases – the payroll tax...

A country cannot be a superpower without a high-tech economy, and America’s high-tech economy is eroding as I write. The erosion began when U.S. corporations outsourced manufacturing. Today, many U.S. companies are little more than a brand name selling goods made in Asia. Corporate outsourcers and their apologists presented the loss of manufacturing capability as a positive development. Manufacturing, they said, was the "old economy," whose loss to Asia ensured Americans lower consumer prices and greater shareholder returns. The American future was in the "new economy" of high-tech knowledge jobs. This assertion became an article of faith. Few considered how...

U.S. Trade Deficit Hits All-Time High of $665.9 Billion in 2004, Commerce Dept. Reports WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States deficit in the broadest measure of international trade soared to an all-time high of $665.9 billion in 2004, showing in stark terms the speed with which the country is becoming indebted to the rest of the world. The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that the shortfall in the current account was 25.5 percent higher than the previous record, the $530.7 billion deficit set in 2003. The department also noted that the deficit was worsening as the year ended with the shortfall...