We Will Never Be Strong Again Living off of Imports

[Ferd Berfel]

http://economyincrisis.org/content/we-will-never-be-strong-again-living-off-of-imports

The government and media try to sell the false idea that we have regained all the jobs we lost from the Great Recession and that things are going well. Meanwhile, economic indicators suggest otherwise. The media claims the U.S. is creating jobs. This may be true, but the jobs they are creating are in China, India, and Mexico, not in the United States.

Wealthy multinational corporations are accumulating more wealth by draining money from the American middle class. The top 1% are gaining more and more wealth while the middle class is evaporating and the number of people living in poverty is multiplying.

Our leaders have sold us out to “free trade” agreements that put large corporations first and American workers last. .....

Seventy percent of our GDP is based on consumer spending. However, 70% of our consumer goods are imported, ...
(also demonstrates the BS of Supply-side Trickle-down)




and sorry kids, we can not forget that NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO, GAT and soon TPP were all brought to you by the Blue-Dog, DLC, Third Way, Democrats.

[nationalize the fed]

1. Most people don't seem to care much

Taking jobs, money and liberty from the American People is easier than taking candy from babies

Guardian: The US 'manufacturing renaissance' doesn't exist, says new report

Have we been letting a good story get in the way of the facts?

The “manufacturing renaissance” has been the central point in the return of America’s industrial power. It even has its own national council.

Yet here are the facts: the United States may have added only about one new manufacturing job in the last few years for every five that were lost during the financial crisis and the recession that followed.

That’s according to a new report from the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, a non-partisan and nonprofit think tank based in Washington DC. The report was released early this morning.

“We have stretched six cool examples into a whole news trend,” says Adams Nager, economic research industry at the foundation and, together with its president, Robert Atkinson, the co-author of the report...
Complete article: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/12/the-us-manufacturing-renaissance-doesnt-exist-says-new-report

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026083314

a whopping 4 replies, 2 of which say everything is just fine

The Myth of America’s Manufacturing Renaissance: The Real State of U.S. Manufacturing
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
January 12, 2015

To listen to most pundits and commentators, U.S. manufacturing has turned a corner and is roaring back after the precipitous decline during the 2000s. Long gone are the dismal days when manufacturing jobs and output were lost due to foreign competition. Higher foreign labor costs, cheap oil and gas here at home and automation are combining to make America the new global manufacturing hub: at least according the now dominant narrative. Indeed, the term “manufacturing renaissance” is used to describe this new state of affairs...

...Myth: Global shipping costs are unusually high, making it easier for the United States to produce more for U.S. and European markets.

Fact: Undersupply led to skyrocketing global shipping costs in 2008. However, today shipping costs are back to normal after falling by 93 percent in a six month period in 2009.

...Myth: The Shale Gas boom gives U.S. manufacturing a substantial advantage

Fact: Reduced costs for shale energy has had an impact only on energy intensive industries, and then only a minor one. For 90 percent of the manufacturing sector, energy costs are lower than 5 percent of shipment value. The benefits are largely restricted to the petrochemical sector and drilling operations...

MORE: http://www.itif.org/publications/myth-america-s-manufacturing-renaissance-real-state-us-manufacturing

Download report: (PDF) http://www2.itif.org/2015-myth-american-manufacturing-renaissance.pdf

A nation that cannot make its own shoes is certainly not a "superpower". But the US can make Drones!

[Ferd Berfel]

2. Yea

[Populist_Prole]

3. True. It's been proven to the point beyond obviousness

Yet, they speak to us like we were born yesterday.

BS talking points I've heard in its defense:

- That our pain is illusory, or free trade has little negative effect: They use that "creative destruction" and "comparative advantage" bullshit in attempt to make job losses sound like part of the normal vicissitudes of an evolving world trade system and not rent-seeking and labor arbitrage to fatten corporate bottom lines.

- Our pain is no consequence, or that it's minor collateral damage in raising living standards in the 3rd world

- It's made up for by China buying up T-bills, and that the cash received is somehow better for the economy than a thriving working class

So you see, it's not inevitable, and we're not luddites seeking to "build a wall around the US". It was a deliberate act for a desired purpose.

[pampango]

4. We don't 'live off' imports. They 13% of our economy, 26% of Canada's and 34% of Germany's.

Unions are much stronger and the middle class much better off in those countries than they are in the US.

Imports are not the problem. Strong legal and popular support for labor, high and progressive taxes, effective safety nets and corporate regulation are the ways that progressive countries empower their unions and workers.

FDR did not rein in the 1% by going after Mexicans or Chinese. He went after the 1% directly with taxes and regulations, while supporting the rest of us with effective labor laws and a growing safety net.

[airplaneman]

7. Bingo - we have a winner. thanks n/t.

[Ramses]

8. the problem is we dont have that here in this country

"Imports are not the problem. Strong legal and popular support for labor, high and progressive taxes, effective safety nets and corporate regulation are the ways that progressive countries empower their unions and workers"

We Dont Have That Here In This Country. Thanks to 24/7 media propaganda, electronic voting machines, and a bought off court system we will never have that here in this country.

[pampango]

9. Agreed. That's the real problem and that's what we need to be working on.

We had it under FDR. Germany, Canada, Sweden and many other have it today. It has happened and is happening. It is not impossible.

Without them we could have zero trade and our terrible inequality and weak middle class would not change. Indeed that's exactly what happened under 12 years of republican rule before FDR came into office.

[Ramses]

10. Unions and progressive taxation and legislation are what built the middle class in this country

If we could cooperate and support workers worldwide with real unionization and workers rights it would be a start. However, the 1% will make sure that never happens. Owning and controlling the media and propaganda, in particular, is extremely effective in demonizing worker's rights and keeping us divided.

[Initech]

5. And expect things to get much worse if TPP is ratified.

[Ferd Berfel]

6. TPPee

[Ramses]

11. like the calvin and hobbes graphic

[JonLP24]

12. Also labor isn't globalzied in a globalized economy

Labor doesn't enjoy similar freedoms to go were the better wages driving up the wealth gap.

[Ferd Berfel]

13. Damn Good Point!

and one not mentioned enough.