White House: Exporting Jobs Overseas Will Help U.S. Eventually

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-020904bushecon_lat,1,2575777.story?coll=la-home-headlines

The movement of American factory jobs and white-collar work to other countries is part of a positive transformation that will enrich the U.S. economy over time, even if it causes short-term pain and dislocation, the Bush administration said today.

The embrace of foreign "outsourcing," an accelerating trend that has contributed to U.S. job losses in recent years and has become an issue in the 2004 elections, is contained in the president's annual report to Congress on the health of the U.S. economy.

"Outsourcing is just a new way of doing international trade," said Gregory Mankiw, chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisors, which prepared the report. "More things are tradable than were tradable in the past. And that's a good thing."

The report, which predicts that the nation will reverse a three-year employment slide by creating 2.6 million jobs in 2004, is part of a weeklong effort by the administration to highlight signs that the recovery is picking up speed. Bush's economic stewardship has become a central issue in the presidential campaign, and the White House is eager to demonstrate that his policies are producing positive results.

[mbperrin]

1. To quote Galbraith: IN the long run, we're all

dead.

[kurtyboy]

65. I think that was actually John Maynard Keynes,

The father of the New Deal. We need some straight talking economists like him around nowadays.

[Zhade]

77. Didn't Keynes give us fractional reserve banking?

As far as I'm concerned, money not backed by tangible value is just plain nuts.

[jpgray]

2. I think I wish I were insane

This would make so much more SENSE.

[indepat]

3. More trickle down theory?

[bif]

9. The ol' "Trickle-back" Theory

Orwell-speak.

[mumon]

35. It's "Trickle ON ..."

We're gettin pissed on by Nazis and I don't like it!

[Kitsune]

51. More like "Punch a Hole in the Gas Tank" theory. *nt*

[radfringe]

75. more like POOPING-ON theory

bush* is pooping on our heads, then telling us it's good fertilizer

[sallyseven]

5. bush is out of his mind.

The upcoming election is scaring him.

[joeunderdog]

47. This is GREAT news!!!

This kind of absolute bushit is the kind of politicing that gets people voted out of office. No one's buying what he's selling, even his Repub pals like Lou Dobbs (who keeps pounding away on the issue.) Most americans, regardless of party affiliation, believe this trend is a threat.

"Hi. My name is George Bush, and let me tell you about how layoffs will create jobs..."

Great platform for the Chimp. Talk it up.

[wysimdnwyg]

4. "2.6 million jobs in 2004"???

WTF?!?!

They couldn't even create 260,000 jobs last year, how in the hell are they going to create 2.6 million this year?

[DebJ]

13. Here's how they create 2.6 mil jobs this year:

the rich right wing Repubs fire a couple million people, then rehire the same number, plus 2.6 mil more, at half the wages they previously paid. There are so many unemployed, soon they can pay anyone anything they feel like!
A bit more work than manipulating the stock market in an election year, but I'm sure they can get the job done if needed!
Ha

Why don't the Walmart greeters say "Welcome to China?"

[tom_paine]

6. And gassing at Auschwitz will help the Jews eventually

Strengthens the stock by killing off the weak, dont you know?

</sarcsm off>

These Orwellian Bushevik Fucks make me sick. Did we really defeat Hitler so the grandchildren of his American Business Partner (Prescott Bush) could reinstitute a "kinder and gentler" 4th Reich?

It would appear so.

(I only wish that was sarcasm)

[Zhade]

78. My cynical side says no...

...we defeated Hitler so we could "Project Paperclip" all the Nazi scientists we could grab over to the U.S. of A.

But that's just my grouchiness showing.

[DebJ]

7. wow. I can't wait to campaign for the Dems with this as ammunition here

in Pennsylvania!
Already know of one full time Repub for years who just vowed to never vote for Bush because of his immigration plan (although I don't think that plan would actually get anything done for anybody, I won't tell our friend that!) The friend thinks Bush's immigration changes will hurt job prospects here.

[RamboLiberal]

11. Won't this go over real well in the South too like SC & NC

where they are losing jobs overseas. Some DU'er last week pointed out astutely that the South is becoming the new Rust Belt.

Also going to go over Real Well in my area of PA, WV and Ohio.

What the hell are they drinking and smoking in the White House?

[RobertSeattle]

8. I think this Mankiw guy is going to be retiring soon

"Family Issues" or something. Even if this "outsourcing is good" meme is true, it is a dumb thing to say in an election year.

[arcane1]

10. it WILL help the US!!

think about it- all those sky-high profits that the CEO's and shareholders will make off that cheap labor, which they will then trickle down to the rest of us. It works every time!!

NOT

:grr:

[Jackpine Radical]

18. The rich will be able to hire lots of personal servants

thereby creating jobs for the rest of us. $.50/hour, 60 hour/week jobs.

[arcane1]

41. $.50/hour is right, because the won't be hiring citizens!

the bastards...

[mhr]

12. Would Anyone Like To Buy Some Swamp Land? I'll Make You a Good Deal!

eom

[NewYorkerfromMass]

14. Bush just lost.

for the 18th time he has lost the election but this is fairly definitive.

[benfranklin1776]

19. One would most assuredly hope for the sake of our country

This latest exercise in Orwellian Economics should finally wake up the few remaining people who are unaware of what has been going on the last three years. This is the new Bushian EconoDoubleSpeak: "We must destroy these jobs to create jobs" (similar to the Vietnam era rationale expressed by the General Strangeloves that we had to destroy the village to save it) and the unemployed are not really unemployed, no they have been "liberated" from the shackles of a middle class existence, paid health care and pension and they have been freed to become "Self employed." See the new Rethug spin line is that Bush is to be praised because he created over two million self employed people. Yes November 2004 can't come soon enough to pull us back out of the rabbit hole we were plunged into December 12, 2000.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

27. I'm pretty sure this will do it.

99.9% certain. These are the kinds of things that rile up his ever dependable Bush-bot base at freerepublic. You can almost hear the hair being pulled out over there.

[Occulus]

72. I would agree.

This one will have to be reported on. The media doesn't have much of a choice.

This is a major, major mistake that ensures *'s slaughter at the polls. If the Dem candidates don't capitalize on this sheer idiocy, none of them should even be politicians. If they do, it's a landslide.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

87. On the sheer idiocy scale

this one is an 11.

[louis-t]

15. Yeah, yeah, all we gotta do is

go without food, a job or a place to live for 20 years or so and everything will be fine.

edit to add: idiot.

[DebJ]

16. double think. Less jobs = more jobs

Reminds me of a boss I had once who always pointed out weaknesses in a manager's department by saying "We have a real opportunity here" instead of we have problems

[54anickel]

36. Did he come from GE?

[namvet73]

17. Which is proof that he will do NOTHING to help keep jobs here!

"Exporting Jobs Overseas Will Help U.S. Eventually" =
Translation: "I will do nothing to give U.S. companies any incentives to hire employees in the U.S." = Job Situation will continue to get worse.

But, this is nothing new. We all know that he doesn't give a flying "leap" about the average U.S. citizen.

He doesn't know "short-term pain" or long-term pain.

He can't even "Meet the press" without someone's help.

[Gman]

20. Their internal polling must be screaming "Do something!!!"

and they put out crap like this that absolutely no one will take seriously.

I just had a funny thought. It'll be hilarious to listen to people like Rush take this and run with it and, in the most serious tones, swear on their mother's grave that this is the absolute truth.

Then Bush's report even has the gall to say something like this:
"It asserts that the last recession actually began in late 2000, before Bush took office, instead of in March, 2001, as certified by the official recession dating panel of the National Bureau of Economic Research."

From changing the website to imply a danger of breast cancer from abortion, or putting out literature that the Grand Canyon may be only 5,000 years old, to now the recession started in Clinton's administration, the truth is nothing they can't spin or otherwise distort to their own ends.

[Taeger]

28. Bush Polling

Bush's focus group votes with $2000 campaign contributions. On the memo line they just say "Outsourcing is good for me. Fuck the people".

[TankLV]

61. Actually, it's a lot worse - bunkerboy actually claimed Sunday that it

began in March 2,000!

ALL official records show it began exactly a year later at the earliest!

Russert let him get that one by uncontested, too. Whore.

[JPace]

21. As if the AWOL regime cannot do or say something

even more stupid than the week before
they march forward and do it again.
Telling people that losing their jobs
will be good for them is going to fly
overhead like a lead balloon. AWOL's
stupidity is spreading among his ranks.

[AlinPA]

22. Here's how it will help long term: US becomes a third world country

thanks to this admin's policies: then 20 years later those countries try to cut their costs and start exporting jobs to the US where our grandkids will work for 1$ a day.

[Zero Gravitas]

23. Bzzzzzzzt! wrong

out sourcing won't help the U.S. it will only help the corporate elite. The rest of us will be stuck with shitty low wage jobs in the name of increased profits for the few.

But I'm glad they're coming out and saying this in an election year because while it might help boost the CEO vote for them it will only boost the ordinary person vote against them. And much to their dismay an ordinary person's vote counts just as much as the CEO's.

[Taeger]

31. Alternatives ????

Well thanks to Bill Clinton, the Democrats aren't much better. My deepest fear is that Kerry is 100% AOK with Free Trade.

In fact, Kerry was more than willing to help Bush with a vote for CAFTA. More free trade nonsense.

Both parties are controlled by corporations. I'm a "classic Democrat" this "New Democrat" stuff makes me puke.

We cannot be a strong, independent nation if all our manufacturing is done in China. We can't be a REAL democracy, if we're all stuck waiting in bread lines.

Once upon a time, even Republicans understood this. Indeed, such Paleo-Republicans like Pat Buchanan hates NAFTA. They see it as a national defense issue. They don't really like the lower class, but they do understand that they can't control production either if they give it to the Chinese.

Exactly how long will the "outsourcing" last until these overseas manufacturers just bypass their American benefactors? US companies are FUNDING their potential rivals. The historical repetition is shocking. Rome bribed the Barbarians and they were overthrown. We are funding our overseas rivals. We will be overthrown as well if we don't stop this shit.

[Zero Gravitas]

50. Anyone But Bush

I don't care at the moment if the Dems are controlled by corporations although I agree that corporate power and their selling out of the country for short term gain is a major major problem & I agree that in the long term the corps are just cutting their own throats doing this.

However at the moment all I am concerned with is getting rid of Bush, the PNAC loonies and the fundies now controlling the government. Even if Kerry is 100% for free trade I don't care because at least he will have a sane foreign policy and won't be using prophecy to decide what to do in the Middle East. Once we have our country back from the loonies running things now we can debate who is more for free trade than who, but for now "New" vs. "Classic" Democrats is not important. this is not the time to be fighting among ourselves, the stakes are just too high IMO.

If we take the political masturbation route again (Nader) and not support the dem candidate because they are ideologically pure enough we will be shooting our selves in the head. Not only will the corporations STILL be in power, so will the neo-cons and the fundies. Getting rid of 2 out of 3 is so much better than just giving up on the only chance to get rid of Bush.

[Taeger]

56. Anti Free Trade Parties

We need a network of Anti-Free Trade parties to operate on a regional level. They would be anti-NAFTA and pro whatever the people there liked. These parties would run candidates for Congress with the explicit purpose of ending these America desroying deals.

Once they took control of congress, THAN a third party could run a presidential candidate. Though, by then either the Democrats or Republicans will have relented in the onslaught of anti-Free Trade voting.

Free trade is the most pernicious threat that America has ever seen. It is a cancer that is eating out the heart of America. It is everything they claimed communist insurgency would be. It must be stopped.

[leesa]

62. That, and who's going to buy the stuff the CEOs think they are going to

sell? If none of us have jobs, and the laborers in other countries have jobs but no living wages, who will buy it?? Do they plan to just sell to each other?
Such a simple concept yet it seems to be far beyond these financial wizards.

[jpak]

24. Outsource the GOP

now that would have positive results...

[donco6]

25. Are these guys out of touch or what?

<snip>
The report endorses the relatively new phenomenon of outsourcing high-end white-collar work to India and other countries, a trend that has created concern within affected professions such as computer programming and medical diagnostics.

"The gains from trade that take place over the Internet or telephone lines are no different then the gains from trade in physical goods transported by ship or plane," it says. "When a good or service is produced at lower cost in another country, it makes sense to import it rather than to produce it domestically."

And when you allow corporations to merge indefinitely, thereby creating virtual monopolies on tech services (MS, Dell, a few others), and small goods (Walmart), you essentially destroy any manufacturing economy this country ever had. Trade routes are adjusted (because the raw materials have to come from SOMEWHERE), unneeded assets are sold. Then you're REALLY up a creek, because to get the jobs BACK, you have to make these huge upfront capital investments which make your product even more expensive.

It's bad, Gracie, really bad.

[Taeger]

39. Just like Bushie, they are changing the story

You see, they told us we were going to be an "Information economy". So I went off like a good troglodite and got educated in Computer Programming. I got a job and things went fine.

Then five years in, they said that the US had such a GREAT information economy that they had to import people to keep up with demand. No problem I said. This only means that my skills ARE EVEN MORE valuable. I will be fine.

Then, I was layed off. No problem I said. We are in an information economy. I have a special skillset that will drive the "new economy".

Then, I couldn't get a new job. Still I was confident. Surely things must pick up again. And yet, I wasn't able to find a new job. I had to move back home.

I went out looking for ANY job. I was told I was OVERQUALIFIED!!!! That's right, see there are plenty of people for them to hire. Why should they hire ME when I could potentially leave to make more money. It's better to have someone with no options.

Then, I found out about how BIG H-1B and LZ-1 was. I found out HOW MUCH programming work was exported to Bangalore. And I realized, that after being out of work for 2.5 years, I will probably NEVER find a programming job again.

Programmers are being layed off EVERY DAY. Their skills are up to date. Some even "volunteer" and do free work just to keep their skills up. Not me.

So I am still OVERQUALIFIED. I substitute teach. Thats the only gig I can get.

It was us programmers that got it this cycle. Next cycle, it will be the nurses and so on. Why bother getting an education if it can't improve your station in life. I would be better off as a union electrician right now. And don't think they won't eventually break the trade unions as well with cheap foreign imports.

So now, the GOLDEN PATH that they promised is no longer true. They actually HAVE NO new theory. Apparantly, when we are all poor living 10 to a dwelling and our schools have 50 kids per class from illegal immigrants, we will finally be desperate enough to work for peanuts. See how that helps Americans!!!!!!


Every country should be AS INDEPENDENT as possible. The great strength of America WAS it's strong democracy and self reliance. We are handing that away on a silver platter. India is the immediate beneficiary. It's not a PERFECT democracy, but people STILL have certain rights there. That's not good enough.

No, now India work is being outsourced to CHINA. Guess what, people there have the rights of DIRT!!!! No democracy, no Unions (well not REAL ones). They don't even PRETEND to have those good Socialist sensibilities anymore. It's the PERFECT slave labor force.

CHINA will control OUR destiny if we allow them. US corporations will tell Americans "you have too much Democracy to compete. You must give power to us and become serfs if you wish to compete against the great Chinese ant-hill". And we will HAVE to turn our democracy over to Lord Microsoft, and Lord Halliburton, etc...

Don't believe them. They are full of shit. I imagine this is EXACTLY the way the first feudalist states were set up.

We CANNOT compete on a wage basis with slaves. We aren't helping the slaves and the oppressed by funding their task-masters. We are only debasing ourselves and perpetuating an inhumane system.

No to NAFTA, No to WTO. We'll fight if we have to!!!!

[54anickel]

42. So, once we become importers of nearly everything (I think we're pretty

close already), how do we deal with the trade deficit? It will become completely one-sided, we will not be contributing to the global economics outside of investments. How would the dollar be valued? :shrug:

[Lorien]

26. They must know that Diebold will take care of things

otherwise this type of political suicide makes no sense whatsoever.

[tlcandie]

38. BINGO! Jen6!!

* stated on this interview at least two times, " I will not lose this election."

The fix is in...you better believe it!

[shanti]

45. are you talking about the MTP

interview? if so, that's some brazen bs!

[nolabels]

49. Me thinks so too

They can lie all they want, the moves are what one needs to watch. From that stand point, I would say without a doubt the fix is in, not even a fool is that cocksure to be making statements like that.

[pacifictiger]

29. but of course it will help

Amerika dont you all see? It will help the corporate elite maintain and improve the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed. It will help to accumulate more wealth because there will be plenty of serfs available to do their bidding because the teeming masses need to eke out a meager wage to feed the kids. And meantime, we'll have all those big guns so nobody will be able to touch us ever again.

[54anickel]

30. There was a piece in the NYT, a week or so ago. Most economists

would tend to disagree with, but I thought it made sense. At least they are attempting to come up with an explanation and theory. The US economy has gone thru several evolutions over the years. Perhaps it is time for another change.

A call for reform from a former Raygun Treasury guru has got to be raising some flags.

The New York Times ran a column by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Paul Craig Roberts, an assistant secretary of the Treasury during the Reagan administration.

Here is a link, I understand some at DU question Mises, but give it a read.

http://www.mises.org/fullarticle.asp?control=1420&id=65

[Taeger]

32. Roger and Me

Go watch Roger & Me for a sense of what this is doing on the Micro scale.

They are exporting all the CORE industries that keep people employed. All those service industries are their because of the CORE industry.

Without the CORE industry, services wither and die.

We are financing our own downfall as a nation. McDonalds my ass. At this pace, in 20 years it will be McBreadline or nothing!!!!

[54anickel]

46. Haven't seen that one, I'll have to check it out. Here's a related

article, pretty much sums up the Bush theory and an agrument to the article I posted above originally from the NYT. Seems to blow by the entire question raised by Schumer and Roberts.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/nj/crook2004-01-21.htm

snip>
This second lot is more dangerous and more objectionable than the first—more dangerous because they are more plausible (reluctant converts improve the credibility of any cause, and people like up-to-the-minute ideas), and more objectionable because the air of sophistication and deep thinking is such a fraud. The new reasons for opposing liberal trade are just the same old reasons, smartened up with this season's accessories and a look of intellectual hauteur.

snip>
What needs to happen, according to the authors? Hard to say. "The first step is to begin an honest debate." Isn't it always? Beyond that, however, they aren't sure. "Old-fashioned protectionist measures are not the answer"—no, of course not—"but the new era will demand new thinking and new solutions." They can say no more.

This new scare about services may prove more harmful than any of the old new scares. Undoubtedly, it reflects a widespread alarm in America over white-collar employment and the role of trade in the supposedly jobless recovery. Meanwhile, its pretense of intellectual respectability gives cover to politicians who want to change sides on the issue. Yet the truth is, if service-sector competition from abroad is a good reason for erecting trade barriers, then so was competition in manufactured goods. And if liberal trade was the right policy for manufacturing—which it was—then it is the right policy for services as well.

snip>
Just as with trade in manufacturing in the 1980s, or investment in labor-saving technologies in the 1990s, today's pace of change, and the strains that sudden industry-wide shifts put on the workers who see their skills devalued in the market, are causes of legitimate concern. Such concern is where policy should focus: on bigger and better wage-insurance schemes of the kind that were included in the Trade Promotion Act, and on improving the quality and availability of education and retraining throughout a person's working life. Again, however, none of this is new. Such upheaval was true before the new era of globalization of services, and it remains true. The orthodox case for free trade is as compelling as ever.

[Taeger]

55. The orthodox case for free trade is as compelling as ever.

In other words, it's still a crock of shit!!!! ;-)

[lebkuchen]

70. The Bushies are also destroying labor unions

and who they contribute to (the dems).

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/index.asp

[JanMichael]

86. Other than his praxiological argument against the existance of God...

...I think Mises is both overly full of himself and something else. Oh and as mistaken as an economist could be.

But that's just my opinion which is suspect at best.

[Barrett808]

33. Didn't Cato just say this last week? n/t

n/t

[ploppy]

34. They are lunatics.

This nation is being run by a bunch of fucking lunatics.

[Bandit]

37. He is going to create 2.6 million jobs but they will be in India

American jobs are sailing out of the country and that is going to help us in the long run. :crazy: Say it loud and say it proud. We like outsourcing of jobs. Don't be shy.

[ixion]

40. so Bush thinks that 'trading' good paying jobs in the US

will somehow create jobs for the MILLIONS of people who are out of work?

As with everything other thing that oozes from his mouth, this strikes me as total BS. :eyes:

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

43. According to Theodoric of York, Medieval Barber...

...leeches help too.

"Say, you could use a good bloodletting"...

Why in hell would the White House be eager about demonstrating the positive results they're going to produce in the next nine months when they can simply be eager about demonstrating the results they've produced in the last three years????? Can't we talk about THOSE results FIRST instead of the "Magically Delicious" Lucky Charms Leprechaun Bulls**t that Bush is promising to pull out of his wrinkled backside AFTER the election? He's going to reverse a "three year slide" in the next nine months?

Why won't Karl Rove honestly and directly answer the question "How frigging stupid do you believe the American people ARE?"

[vanityfair]

44. How stupid do they think we are?

They will create 2.6 million jobs this year?

Bushco is getting crazier and crazier. Total madmen.

Well, let's just hope more people see this article, recognize the obvious insanity, and vote Dem.

[aquart]

48. Pleeeeeaaase tell me we have this on tape.

What an excuse for doing nothing!

[Bob3]

52. I knew it - they are all sniffing glue. Big time.

This is just about the craziest stuff I've ever read.
ever.

[Catt03]

53. I wish someone would explain this to me

...how does this turn it around? What is the best case scenerio of this working?

I saw Gov Jennifer Granholm, Mi speak the other day on Lou Dobbs and she said they had offered firms in Michigan unbelievable deals. She said:

"I'll give you an example of this, Lou, is in Greenville, Michigan, a couple weeks ago, a firm called Electrolux, which just decided to move to Mexico, had 2,700 jobs at stake in a town of 8,000 people. And we went to them and offered them zero taxes for 20 years, an entirely new plant, huge labor concessions to the tune of $32 million a year. And it was not enough to compete with a country paying $1.57 an hour."

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0402/04/ldt.00.html

I think the above statement might be just what is going to happen. The unions in Mi and PA will be busted and people will work for any amount of money.

[nolabels]

54. Does this mean we have high tarriifs and trade wars soon?

The corporatist always assume things will get better and easier for them, that's how they were thinking in Argentina

http://wsws.org/articles/1999/jul1999/arg-j23_prn.shtml

Argentine economy in free fall
By Bill Vann
23 July 1999
(snip)
Sparked by an official unemployment rate of 14.5 percent, unrest is growing. In June alone, 13,000 more jobs were wiped out, with 91,000 workers joining the unemployment lines over the past year. According to government figures, the number of jobless has risen to 1.9 million, while another 1.8 million are forced to subsist on part-time jobs, unable to find full-time work.

Meanwhile, the government has faced mounting protests from different sectors of the population and has been forced to make a series of humiliating retreats.

Earlier this month the Argentine Congress took a hasty vote to delay the imposition of a new vehicle tax designed to pay for teachers' salaries after striking truckers nearly brought the country's economy to a halt. The Menem government had been on the brink of imposing a "state of emergency."

Last May the government found itself compelled to rescind major cuts in education in the face of mass student protests and the resignation of Education Minister Susana Decibe.

And in June, tax breaks were granted to farmers after a four-day strike. These concessions proved inadequate, however, to prevent a mass march of farmers on the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires July 21 to protest falling prices and lack of government support for the agricultural sector. The march was the biggest farmers' protest in the country's history.
(snip)

[Occulus]

73. Now, ask yourself the REAL reason

air traffic controllers and postal workers cannot strike.

Experimental first step? Possibly. Ripping the teeth out of the tiger? Definitely.

[nolabels]

74. Same reason police and firefighters cannot, deemed essential services

But the people that want to bust up and destroy the Workers Unions are greedy and misinformed none the less.

http://www.progressive.org/oct03/galb1003.html
Why Bush Likes a Bad Economy

by James K. Galbraith

Almost nine million people are unemployed. Many millions more are underemployed, and most of all, under-paid. Millions more lack health insurance. States are cutting basic public services everywhere, while the taxes (property and sales, mainly) to pay for those that remain are rising. And the gates of opportunity--for instance, to attend college--are closing on millions more
(snip)
(snip)
Stagnation, moreover, helps to justify more tax cuts. The Administration's core policy objective in this area is to shield financial wealth from all taxation. Two years ago, estate and income taxes were cut. This year, it was capital gains, dividends, and again the top tax rate. Next year, the sunset provisions in these measures will probably be removed. As things are going, quite soon, taxes will fall mainly on real estate, payrolls, and consumption. This is to say that taxes will be paid mostly by the middle class, by the working class, and by the poor. That is what the Administration wants, and what--if not defeated--it is exceedingly likely to get.

Finally, stagnation and the Bush tax policy promote rightwing plans to cut and privatize essential services, including health, education, and pensions. As financial wealth escapes tax, neither states nor cities nor the federal government can provide vital services--except by taxing sales and property at rates that will provoke tax rebellions, especially when middle class incomes are not rising. Every public service will fall between the hammer of tax cuts and the anvil of deficits in state, local, and federal budgets. The streets will be dirtier, as also the air and the water. Emergency rooms will back up even more than they have; more doctors will refuse public patients. More fire houses and swimming pools and libraries will be closed. Public universities will cost more; the public schools will lose the middle class. Eventually, federal budget deficits will collide with Social Security and Medicare, putting privatization back on the agenda.

I am from Texas, where you can see this future happening now.

Say what you will, the leaders of the Bush team are plainly not pandering after votes. They are pursuing a governing agenda that favors the factions they represent: tax cuts for the misanthropic wealthy; tax increases for the middle class; imperial control over oil; deregulation, privatization, and cuts in public services at all levels; defiance of international agreements; a systematic spoilage of the environment; an all-out offensive against labor rights; and the placement of right-wingers in government, most insidiously in the courts.
(snip)

[iamjoy]

57. Worried About Jobs?

To everyone upset about our government voting those "free trade" agreements, what kind of car do you drive? Where was your stereo made? Before you buy clothes, do you check the label for more than just the care instructions?

It seems like it is getting pretty hard to buy goods made in America anymore (I won't even get into "services").

[nolabels]

58. I drive a Ford but that's not saying a whole lot

It might have been partly made and or assembled in the USA, but they are a multinational that is farming everything out. I will worry about finding a job when they run out oil, till then getting dirty and oily as a mechanic has it's benefits.

We will never be able to go back to the way things were, but getting a Global Peoples Movement together to bridle these corporations greed will be the way we we can have some real peace from this corporate fascism.

[aquart]

63. I sold handmade American crafts for 20 years.

There are beautiful and useful American made goods out there. But Americans don't work for 7 cents an hour.

The first problem I had with every customer was the sticker shock. American work isn't as cheap as the foreign import.

You talk American, but what are you willing to pay?

BTW, once past the sticker shock, you can't go back to the imports. You know the difference.

[fortyfeetunder]

66. You are right. There is a difference.

Prefer to purchase gifts made in the USA, and it's getting difficult to find them. Thanks walmart...grrr...

[salin]

59. heard on npr this morning

this prediction prefaced with "some good news"... but followed by... "of course they had predicted that 1.8 million jobs would be created in 2003, when instead there was a net loss of 58,000."

Lets keep track - to create 2.8 million jobs in 12 months would require, on average, 233,333 jobs to be created a month. Since the first month saw a net creation of 112,000 (less than half needed) the over all total needed - averaged across the remaining 11 months is approximately 244,364 each month.

[gmoney]

60. Drafting 2.8 Million 18-25 year olds would do the trick...

The Defense Department is the only outfit left in the US with enough funding to hire enough to make a dent... plus, Bush will need plenty of cannon fodder for the various invasions that will be necessary to prop up his numbers.

"Oh well, that's this world over... oh well, next one begins..." -- Andy Partridge

[pacifictiger]

64. I think what we ought to do

even more than are forced to do, is to cut back on spending for non essentials as much as possible - in other words boycot the big corporations to send consumer spending numbers tumbling.
For example, drink water, not coke; hold off on that big purchase till next year; support mom & pop stores (if you can find them anymore.) Besides you may very well need to save your money to get through this mess.

[nolabels]

68. I am sure the Draft will be a BIG HIT for congresspeople with children

Figuring how to get them that lucrative job as a scout in a Marine foot infantry unit should be the most fun of all

http://www.nisbco.org/talking_points.htm

Military Draft -- Talking Points


Background
American armed forces are stretched thin across the globe; Reserve and National Guard units are feeling the strain. People on both sides of the issue are talking about bringing back the draft to ease the burden on our Reserves and National Guards, who never intended to spend years away from home fighting America’s wars. On October 7, 2003 The Hill reported that Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) has revived talks of pushing for his bill, the Universal National Service Act, which will put conscription back into effect.

Points
Conscription has never been, and is still not, a good idea.

Historically, conscription has never made the Armed Services more equitable: neither racially nor economically. During the draft in the Vietnam War, minorities were disproportionately serving in the front lines. The affluent had and still have the means to gain medical deferments, or to get positions that will not place them on the front lines of the battle. The draft will never make the military an equitable force.


The draft is not a war deterrent. During World War I, the reason for the instatement of the draft was to ensure a steady flow of soldiers into the battlefield. Since then, while the draft was in effect, the U.S. has been involved in numerous wars. Bringing back the draft will give Pentagon an endless number of soldiers to continue its war making efforts.
(snip)

I think that part about "a steady flow of soldiers into the battlefield" was a type'o', probably should used short hand term 'cannon fodder'

[Catshrink]

67. How about outsoucing CEO jobs?

I mean, think how much money could be saved by slashing that salary 90%! Holy Moly, Batman!

[lebkuchen]

69. Fascism, anyone?

10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated. Since organized labor was seen as the one power center that could challenge the political hegemony of the ruling elite and its corporate allies, it was inevitably crushed or made powerless. The poor formed an underclass, viewed with suspicion or outright contempt. Under some regimes, being poor was considered akin to a vice.

13. Rampant cronyism and corruption. Those in business circles and close to the power elite often used their position to enrich themselves. This corruption worked both ways; the power elite would receive financial gifts and property from the economic elite, who in turn would gain the benefit of government favoritism. Members of the power elite were in a position to obtain vast wealth from other sources as well: for example, by stealing national resources. With the national security apparatus under control and the media muzzled, this corruption was largely unconstrained and not well understood by the general population.

http://secularhumanism.org/library/fi/britt_23_2.htm

[nolabels]

71. Will they need to invent new terminology for the miscreants?

like say 'Imperialistic Fascisms '

http://www.counterpunch.org/damato05172003.html
May 17, 2003

Bringing Back the Old Days of Empire
"A Bleeding Process with a Vengeance"
By PAUL D'AMATO

The idea that the United States should cast itself in the image of the old colonial empires is sprouting like weeds from right-wing journals and think tanks.

One of its most avid exponents is, fittingly, a citizen of a former empire who has some advice on how the U.S. should run its empire. Scottish historian Niall Ferguson, who has written a new coffee-table book entitled Empire, approvingly quotes right-wing author Max Boot, who calls for "the sort of enlightened foreign administration once provided by self-confident Englishmen in jodhpurs and pith helmets."

Just what did Britain's "enlightened" colonialism entail? We can start with slavery.

In the 18th century, British merchants were the principle shippers of slaves in the world. British colonies in the West Indies brutally exploited slaves on sugar plantations on Jamaica, Trinidad and other islands. It is roughly estimated that 12 million Africans were brought to the "new world" as slaves. The reason the demand of slaves was insatiable is because the slaves were often simply worked to death.

The British slave colonies absorbed 1.6 million slaves in the 18th century. Conditions on the plantations were so horrible that by the time slavery was abolished there were only 600,000 slaves left. This "undisguised looting, enslavement and murder" (in Marx's words) provided much of the "primitive accumulation" that fueled the industrial revolution.
(snip)

[Dover]

76. There must have been a typo in the headline. It should have read

White House: "Exporting Jobs Overseas Will Help Us"

Indeed it WILL help THEM...the few, the elite.

[opihimoimoi]

79. Credibility is nil. Respect is long gone. Bust is Toast. He should be

watching his ass. The Pub Masters may wish to have him replaced with Gary Mauer.

[0007]

80. Who understands this fiasco?

I've tried and I just don't get it!

[KayLaw]

81. Sure sounds like a move toward fascism

Did you read Lebkuchen's post? Sounds awfully familiar. It sounds to me that if we want to compete with people making a dollar or two an hour, we're soon enough going to have to live like them - most of us anyway. Those at the very top should be able to live at least as well as they do now.

[Nlighten1]

82. We must kill the patient to save them

makes sense to me

[rman]

83. "eventually" is when, exactly?

When you'r out of a job, without income, possibly without housing - then "eventually" has a habbit of taking just to darn long.
This aside from the fact that it isn't quite clear HOW it is that exporting jobs overseas is going to help US. And who's this "us" anyway? I have a feeling it doesn't include the majority of the population.

[JanMichael]

84. Here's a question: If we lost the manufacturing AND the white-collar...

...job base (Tech support, banking support, etcetera) WTF are 80% of Americans going to do with their time in this Brave New World? Sales, Specific Professions and Government, that's about it. You can't outsource a Dentist. How many Dentists do we need though?

Remember the mantra in the 80's/90's? You don't need the manufacturing jobs because the tech jobs will take their place, well to a certain extent they did...But now that they're going "Bye Bye!" too, what's left?

[Gingersnapsback]

85. When he said he will win

I also thought the fix is in. It reminded me of them chanting "it won't be long now" at the nomination in 2000.

[KansDem]

88. Can we outsource the job of POTUS?

I'm thinking France, Switzerland, Costa Rica...

Hell, how about Canada? It's close and a White House replication could be built just over the border (construction would be outsourced, of course).

[pippin]

89. I'd prefer Mars

OUTSOURCE THE PRESIDENT :mad:

[kodi]

90. hmm...kinda' like how george washington was bled to death

america, moving rapidly towards the third world.

[opihimoimoi]

91. Poor ole George, he donnu he is a Puppet by his Masters

America should take his quotes and say. SHOVE IT

[GoldenOldie]

92. Outsourcing Military equipment???

Through posting at DU and a few recent comments made via TV, military families members have been purchasing keflar vests and similar protection devices to send to their sons, daughters, etc., that have been in Iraq or prior to shipping out with hope that this could save their lives and bring them back home. The latest I heard was that the Reserve and Guard Units were not Properly equipped prior to shipping out to Iraq and DOD has still yet to fully equip all of the Troopers actually fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. A recent comment from one of the chickenhawk reps upon being questioned about proper combat protection gear for the troops and their vehicles, responded that equipment were slow in being processed but they were deemed to have highest priority?????
Have the Kevlar vests, HUMVEE armor, helicopter and parts being outsourced to India, China, etc. Why is Halliburton, Brown and Root receiving the cash before our kids receive the proper equipment to fight this war, and why did DOD with all the chickenhawk's on board not prepare our military with the very best that the billions and billions of taxpayers dollars could buy prior to placing them in harms-way. Georgie flew outmoded jets during his short vacation in TANG where the only injury he may have gotten was a rash in the crotch, therefore he was prepared to supply our very best with equipment found in 3rd world dictatorships...

[nolabels]

93. mothers are mailing armored plates rather than the traditional baked goods

http://www.truthout.com/docs_03/093003E.shtml
Full Metal Jacket
By Jonathan Turley
Los Angeles Times | Editorial

Monday 29 September 2003

Why must Americans in Iraq face death because of outmoded body armor?

(snip)
This is a dangerous practice, according to William "Butch" Hancock, who recently retired from the Army after 30 years and currently consults for Point Blank, a body armor manufacturer. He says that some of these plates are designed for front pockets and will not work in such circumstances.

In speeches, President Bush has attributed the record federal budget deficit, in part, to his insistence that U.S. soldiers have the resources they need: "My attitude is, any time we put one of our soldiers in harm's way, we're going to spend whatever is necessary to make sure they have the best training, the best support and the best possible equipment." When Bush later taunted gunmen in Iraq to "bring it on," many GIs must have nervously tugged at their obsolete flak jackets.

For many GIs, Iraq appears to be a strictly BYOB war - Bring Your Own Bulletproofs.

The shortages come down to money and priorities. In 1998, Interceptors were available and issued to armies around the world. However, the U.S. military treats the replacement of body armor as any other "general-issue item." Thus, five years ago the military brass decided to implement a one-for-one exchange of new-for-old vests over a 10-year period. The military recently moved to increase production. The belated priority given to replacing the vests is particularly shocking considering their performance in Afghanistan, where they are credited with saving the lives of 29 soldiers. This is why American mothers are mailing armored plates rather than the traditional baked goods.
(snip)