A choice between 2 visions of Capitalism (Main Street vs Wall Street)

[CabCurious]

Notice which sector has lost most of the jobs in recent years?

Why isn't it a known and repeated fact that the Unemployment Rate remains high because of GOVERNMENT job losses?

Focus, people!!!

It's not enough for us to preach to progressives.

The Democrats need to focus on a BETTER vision that fits America's identity as capitalist. We must remind the undecideds and the moderates that the Dems are better aligned with the form of capitalism that grew communities, grew a middle class, grew manufacturing, grew labor standards, grew infrastructure, and grew to be the #1 world economy.

Main Street Capitalism
vs
Wall Street Capitalism

The GOP support Wall Street-oriented, finance-oriented, tax evasion-oriented capitalism that centers on CEOs that hop from company to company, from country to country, and from foreign investor to foreign investor. They see our communities and companies as commodities to strip of value. They aren't about long-term community growth. They believe in laissez faire markets, not healthy and fair markets.

We need to be better at market arguments than the GOP, rather than running from them.

Fact Checks:

In spite of inheriting the worst global recession in 100 years, Obama's record includes the following.

* 30 months of private sector growth, including small business.
* First growth in manufacturing sectors in 30 years.
* Record corporate profits.
* More millionaires and billionaires every year since Obama took office.
* Americans remain #1 in worker productivity.
* Household debt reduced by half-a-trillion.

This happened during the worst GLOBAL recession in 100 years.

There's nothing inherently wrong with profits. There's nothing inherently wrong with millionaires. The question is whether we're also growing the middle class and remaining competitive for the future.

PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT SINCE 2008


Share these facts!

We need to properly frame our problems in terms of FAILED finance-capitalism.

Finance economy vs Real economy.
Wall Street vs Main Street.
Money exploits vs Manufacturing.
Top-heavy corporations vs Competitive corporations.

Our CEOs get paid 300-400:1 against average workers. China CEOs make $180,000.

Japan = 11:1
Germany = 12:1
France = 15:1
Italy = 20:1
Canada = 20:1
Britain = 22:1

Our CEOs and investment banks are our competitive weakness. The 1% is sitting on $3 trillion in cash rather than investing in America, in spite of record low rates. It's purely about exploitation for them, not long-term investment.

The goal is to make moderates and undecideds understand this.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

1. To accept your conclusions, we have to accept your graphs and charts. >

In contrast, we know that American manufacturing jobs have been shipped to foreign countries. We also know that American factories have been destroyed in favor of shipping manufacturing facilities to foreign countries.

Here's the let's-send-jobs-to-foreign-countries "free-trade" agreements that have been signed so far:

1994 - NAFTA
2001 - Jordan – United States Free Trade Agreement
2004 - Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement
2004 - Chile - United States Free Trade Agreement
2004 - Singapore – United States Free Trade Agreement
2005 - Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA; incl. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic)
2006 - Bahrain – United States Free Trade Agreement
2006 - Morocco - United States Free Trade Agreement
2006 - Oman – United States Free Trade Agreement
2007 - Peru – United States Trade Promotion Agreement
2011 - Panama - United States Trade Promotion Agreement
2011 - Colombia - United States Trade Promotion Agreement
2011 - Republic of Korea (South Korea) - United States Free Trade Agreement

In 2008, Obama campaigned on a promise to renegotiate NAFTA. He understood the importance of doing so, or at least the promise to do so.

How many know that another let's-send-more-jobs-to-foreign-countries "free-trade" agreement is in the works and that Rmoney favors it? If there is a better way to destroy what is left of the American working class than to enter into an agreement that will ship even more jobs to foreign countries, what is it?

Trans-Pacific negotiations have been taking place throughout the Obama presidency. The deal is strongly supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the top lobbying group for American corporations. Obama's Republican opponent in the 2012 presidential elections, Mitt Romney, has urged the U.S. to finalize the deal as soon as possible.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/13/obama-trade-document-leak_n_1592593.html

If those in positions of power are going to provide opposition to the pending job-transferring "free-trade" agreement, out last hope may be the Democratic Senators. It is not going to be the presidential candidates. This may be our last chance to influence and vote for Democratic Senators who might vote against the pending job-transferring "free-trade" agreement.

Somehow, saying that everything is wonderful, and that there are charts and graphs to prove it no matter what we know about the shipping of manufacturing jobs to foreign countries, doesn't build a lot of confidence.

[CabCurious]

2. The charts aren't debatable, but the meaning of "fair trade" should be...

Great points.

Except that you're completely misrepresenting what I said by suggesting I'm claiming "everything is wonderful."

What's your vision of a capitalism that America can put faith in? Or do you think USA is going to give upon capitalism?

I think the USA pushed aside a healthy debate about "Free Trade Agreements" in the 1990s because it's genuinely very complicated policy. What on one hand can sound like an evil "job exporting" arrangement can actually turn out to be a healthy growth for our trade partners, allowing poorer countries to grow a middle class of their own through manufacturing. I'm with Clinton on that. It's good for both parties if the terms are fair and there are quality standards in place.

However, that's the rub. There usually isn't a middle class being grown on the other end. The standards are a joke.

But you don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. You refocus.

We cannot get there until and unless we change how INVESTMENTS work. It isn't just about "shipping jobs" abroad, as I see it. It's about how companies here in the USA ship entire subsidiaries and build foreign tax shelters. And simplistic critiques of FTAs won't help.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

3. 1. Of course the validity of charts is debatable. Saying that they are not debatable does not make

them so.

2. The use of the charts and the language is MBA-like. George Bush had an MBA from Harvard. Robert McNamara had an MBA from Harvard. If you can think of one nationally known person with an MBA degree that hasn't participated in screwing up this country, who would it be?

3. You say, "What on one hand can sound like an evil "job exporting" arrangement can actually turn out to be a healthy growth for our trade partners, ..." Yea, well, we've seen how well that theory has worked out. The empirical evidence has shown that neither that theory nor the trickle down theory has worked.

4. "But you don't throw out the baby with the bathwater." That also sounds MBA-like. MBAs like to use metaphors to spread their nonsense and avoid reality.

5. "We cannot get there until and unless we change how INVESTMENTS work." Excuse me, but we are not going to change anything. We are not going to "change how INVESTMENTS work" (or don't work for the country as a whole). The super-rich and the politicians who act on their behalf have decided and will decide how investments have worked and will work. They have the power. Anyone who thinks that they share power with the super-rich is not paying attention.

[CabCurious]

4. sources

Sources:

http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-05-22/commentary/31802270_1_spending-federal-budget-drunken-sailor

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-26/small-business-job-creation-is-stronger-than-we-think



http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/on-numbers/scott-thomas/2011/08/86-of-top-100-markets-add.html



http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/CP

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2011/09/02/public-sector-losses-continue-to-drive-poor-jobs-numbers

http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/14/news/economy/recovery_act_jobs/index.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/business/worldbusiness/21iht-admin.4.18853088.html

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/story/2011-11-06/federal-borrowing-rises-sharply/51097800/1

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/jobs/posts/2012/08/03-jobs-greenstone-looney

http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/02/06/ray-of-light-u-s-corporate-worker-productivity-continues-to-r/

http://tucsoncitizen.com/usa-today-news/2011/11/06/federal-borrowing-up-household-debt-shrinks/

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/business/worldbusiness/21iht-admin.4.18853088.html

http://www.peri.umass.edu/236/hash/b3c8228599526db24002f4a6d38369c1/publication/490/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/dec/14/executive-pay-increase-america-ceos

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/12/10/number-of-the-week-finances-share-of-economy-continues-to-grow/

www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/22/super-rich-offshore-havens_n_1692608.html

http://www.factcheck.org/2012/06/obamas-spending-inferno-or-not/