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In Their Own Words
By David Glenn Cox
If someone were to ask you to describe the United States, how would you do it? Would you start with our freedoms, or our Constitution, or our free markets and wealth?
“In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace.”
So, the state and federal governments are just customers of the private market place? They don’t sound so all powerful when you describe them like that, now do they?
“US business firms enjoy greater flexibility than their counterparts in Western Europe and Japan in decisions to expand capital plant, to lay off surplus workers, and to develop new products.”
You see, some like to call it freedom and everywhere you go some politician is calling a social program an attack on your freedom. When it is, in fact, US businesses which enjoy freedom in the form of flexibility to throw you and your family out into the snow.
“At the same time, they face higher barriers to enter their rivals' home markets than foreign firms face entering US markets.”
Could that explain why three of the wealthiest nations on Earth are also our leading trading partners?
Current Account Balance,
China- $ 426,100,000,000
Germany- $ 243,600,000,000
Japan- $ 156,600,000,000
United States- $ -706,100,000,000
“The onrush of technology largely explains the gradual development of a 'two-tier labor market' in which those at the bottom lack the education and the professional/technical skills of those at the top and, more and more, fail to get comparable pay raises, health insurance coverage, and other benefits. Since 1975, practically all the gains in household income have gone to the top 20% of households.”
Is it all technology's fault? That faceless nemesis which denies raises and health insurance coverage to the people? Or is it the decline of organized labor and the outsourcing of manufacturing? It would seem that if it was only technology, the rain would fall equally on the just and the unjust.
“The war in March-April 2003 between a US-led coalition and Iraq, and the subsequent occupation of Iraq, required major shifts in national resources to the military. Hurricane Katrina caused extensive damage in the Gulf Coast region in August 2005, but had a small impact on overall GDP growth for the year.”
Did you catch that? It bears repeating. “The war in March-April 2003 between a US-led coalition and Iraq, and the subsequent occupation of Iraq, required major shifts in national resources to the military.” What group of left leaning communists would slander the US government so?
Actually the US government themselves says these things in the CIA's "World Factbook." Now, add to that, since 1980 the wealthiest 20% have received repeated tax cuts to spur the economy and have shifted the tax burden to those who have not gained in our society, and voila! Obama’s stimulus program, 40% tax cuts; Obama’s jobs' program, 25% tax cuts.
“Long-term problems include inadequate investment in economic infrastructure, rapidly rising medical and pension costs of an aging population, sizable trade and budget deficits, and stagnation of family income in the lower economic groups.”
Stagnation of family income means families pay less in income taxes and can purchase less, hence lower sales tax revenues. They can’t properly save for retirement or afford health insurance causing budget deficits.
Trade deficits could be assisted by exporting more, but what is the industrial production growth rate in the United States? –2%.
Who are we trading with?
Export Partners: Canada 20.1%, Mexico 11.7%, China 5.5%, Japan 5.1%, Germany 4.2%, UK 4.1%
Import Partners: China 16.5%, Canada 15.7%, Mexico 10.1%, Japan 6.6%, Germany 4.6%
See the hole? Our largest trading partner, China, only purchases one third of what we purchase from them. The situation in Mexico is even more muddled, as Mexico allows raw materials in for manufacture, tires for instance, then installs them on the new Chevrolet or Volkswagen and doesn’t consider it an import but an export of a finished good. Meanwhile, the US also considers it an export. So Mexico has become the back door into America for foreign products.
Mexico’s Import Partners:
US 49%, China 11.2%, Japan 5.3%, South Korea 4.4%, Germany 4.1%
Mexico’s Export Partners:
US 80.2%, Canada 2.4%, Germany 1.7%
So, honestly, is the decline of the American standard of living really the fault of faceless technology, or merely unbridled greed?
“Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. homeowners have lost about $5.9 trillion in value since the housing market’s peak in March 2006 as mounting foreclosures and the recession weighed on prices. The net worth of U.S. households at the end of June fell 19 percent from two years earlier to $53.1 trillion, according to Federal Reserve.”
“In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.” Franklin D. Roosevelt
Here it explains why we cannot have single payer or even the public option. “In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions,” and they have decided, "No."
It explains why we can send more soldiers to fight and die in far away fields, because it's good for business. And if it drains the public coffers, well, so what?
“Hurricane Katrina caused extensive damage in the Gulf Coast region in August 2005, but had a small impact on overall GDP growth for the year.” Because we did not spend the money necessary to repair the damage. Good for the GDP, bad for you. So what?
It explains why we need the Patriot Act and the Department of Homeland Security. It even explains why the Justice Department would side with John Yoo in charges of torture. You see, when the Nazis did it they were war criminals, but when Americans do it they’re just the top 20%.
What does the CIA Factbook say about global warming? Arctic Ocean: “Endangered marine species include walruses and whales; fragile ecosystem slow to change and slow to recover from disruptions or damage; thinning polar icepack.” So never mind what the politicians and deniers say the government believes it, all though they might not tell you so.
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