Hi all-
A while ago I posted a satirical song by Tom Lehrer in which he trashes all the reciprocal hatreds in the US. Right now we have democrats and republicans sneering at each other, calling each other the problem. Not only is it pointless, it's not true.
WE are the problem. All of us. Those who vote and don't vote. Our choices have made the mess our government will not or can not confront.
Current national debt is 'around' 9.3 trillion dollars, or sixty-odd percent of GDP. Chna and Japan hold the largest blocks of US debt. We also have large trade deficits with these countries. The US trade deficit with China was 600 million in 1985. In 2009 it was 227 Billion dollars. The trade deficit monthly is more than any year's deficit until 1994.
We clearly can not continue to run budget deficits absorbed by trading partners with whom we have a trade deficit as well. We have the illusion of prosperity created with borrowed money for services and the purchase of cheap goods from overseas. Further, open trade, bills like NAFTA and other tarriff laws have made it impossible for US goods to compete internally. I'm not talking about trying to protect unionized benefits. It is not possible to make any US labor costs as low as foreign costs.
Our minimum wage is 7.25 per hour. The factories that produce the clothing we wear pay 5.00 dollars per DAY. The workers in China live in dormitories next to the factories. Our workers support homes and families.
The same people who blame government will not look in the mirror. They- we- take for granted federal services such as medicare and social security, as well as one of the largest federal subsidies- home interest mortgage deduction. We also buy our socks and t-shirts from Wal-Mart 3 for 6 dollars, buy a slightly cheaeper Japanese or Korean car, and think we are living well because our retirement is underwritten, we have a big home and we have affordable clothes. We ignore the costs because they are abstract. No one can see a trade deficit of 227 billion dollars in a couple of shirts and socks. Federal deficits also can not be 'seen' or felt, at least not yet.
Every time we buy foreign goods and foreign money, we put US workers out of work. Again, that's not unionism, it's just true. No blue jeans, t-shirts or socks are made in the US. Look at dresses and dress shirts. Most of them are made abroad as well. So are our TVs, electronic devices, phones, iPods, steel, movies and car parts (Mexico and Canada- no matter how close, the parts are still imported).
We can not compete at labor costs and we can not, by international treaty, erect the tarriffs which would protect our industry and workers. How does China keep out US goods? By artificially valuing their currency and requiring foreign goods to meet various standards of maufacture, including Chinese origin. The same country that blithely exports contaminated toothpaste and drinks contaminated milk protects its people by a variety of exclusionary laws that are not quite tarriffs, but make the cost and difficulty of doing business high.
No person can be ordered to do what they do not perceive to be in their best interest. How would I alter this scenario? Lots of ways.
-Publicize what we are doing. Run an ad campaign to make people aware of how we hurt ourselves in buying foreign goods.
-Create laws requiring companies who export to the US to meet US labor laws in their factories. No laxity on pollution just because you are 20 miles across the border in Mexico. No dormitories, lack of benefits or workers' comp. If you want to bring goods to the US, follow our laws and pay our wages.
-Require good sold in the US to be made with parts made in the US, no differnt from what China is doing right now. Boeing and Buick both have to make parts for thir Chinese products in China, with Chinese workers. We should require the same of BMW and Toyota. Look at a purportedly US-made Toyota- it's engine is Japanese made, and up to 80% of its parts come from Japan, with only assempbly in the US.
-Prohibit export of foreign corporate profits from the US. Toyota's profits made in US factories do not count toward our GDP. Those profits are sent to Japan, where they become part of Japan's GDP. There are difficult laws in Europe limiting the movement of profits away from countries of generation just for that reason.
As far as federal deficit goes, I will be interested in what our latest commission says about it. There are only a few possibilities, and everyone knows what they are-
-Increase taxes. An increase of 50% is estimated to be required to cover our deficits and spending
-Decrease federal outlays. This happens in one of three areas- entitlement programs (SS, Medicare/Medicaid), defense, discretionary programs (already only 3% of the budget).
There are several interesting and potentially painful possibilities. One is to stop being the defender of the world, and get other countries to pay for our military protection,. Japan paid billions toward the cost of the Persian Gulf War, sincce it had no troops it could send by law, and was a major beneficiary of protection of Persian Gulf oil supplies.
Raising the age of eligibility for SS is an obvious and right choice. The retirement age of 65 was set by Bismarck for the German Imperial Retirement system in 1871, when the average German worker was dead at 63. The equivalent would be to make eligibility for SS begin at 79, since the average age of death for all US citizens, male and female, is 76.4 years.
We will have to pay mroe taxes, despite their stifling effect on growth and productivity.
We should end all earmarks. Period. Now.
Line item veto for the president.
Aggressive pursuit of nuclear power, shale oil and wind/solar. tehse things will always be a pipe dream until we really develop them.
We can not keep financing our lifestyles by importing goods and exporting debt. We need to look within ourselves and stop blaming each other. And our politicians need to speak reality, uncoached in political pablum or self-serving finger pointing.
Ted
A while ago I posted a satirical song by Tom Lehrer in which he trashes all the reciprocal hatreds in the US. Right now we have democrats and republicans sneering at each other, calling each other the problem. Not only is it pointless, it's not true.
WE are the problem. All of us. Those who vote and don't vote. Our choices have made the mess our government will not or can not confront.
Current national debt is 'around' 9.3 trillion dollars, or sixty-odd percent of GDP. Chna and Japan hold the largest blocks of US debt. We also have large trade deficits with these countries. The US trade deficit with China was 600 million in 1985. In 2009 it was 227 Billion dollars. The trade deficit monthly is more than any year's deficit until 1994.
We clearly can not continue to run budget deficits absorbed by trading partners with whom we have a trade deficit as well. We have the illusion of prosperity created with borrowed money for services and the purchase of cheap goods from overseas. Further, open trade, bills like NAFTA and other tarriff laws have made it impossible for US goods to compete internally. I'm not talking about trying to protect unionized benefits. It is not possible to make any US labor costs as low as foreign costs.
Our minimum wage is 7.25 per hour. The factories that produce the clothing we wear pay 5.00 dollars per DAY. The workers in China live in dormitories next to the factories. Our workers support homes and families.
The same people who blame government will not look in the mirror. They- we- take for granted federal services such as medicare and social security, as well as one of the largest federal subsidies- home interest mortgage deduction. We also buy our socks and t-shirts from Wal-Mart 3 for 6 dollars, buy a slightly cheaeper Japanese or Korean car, and think we are living well because our retirement is underwritten, we have a big home and we have affordable clothes. We ignore the costs because they are abstract. No one can see a trade deficit of 227 billion dollars in a couple of shirts and socks. Federal deficits also can not be 'seen' or felt, at least not yet.
Every time we buy foreign goods and foreign money, we put US workers out of work. Again, that's not unionism, it's just true. No blue jeans, t-shirts or socks are made in the US. Look at dresses and dress shirts. Most of them are made abroad as well. So are our TVs, electronic devices, phones, iPods, steel, movies and car parts (Mexico and Canada- no matter how close, the parts are still imported).
We can not compete at labor costs and we can not, by international treaty, erect the tarriffs which would protect our industry and workers. How does China keep out US goods? By artificially valuing their currency and requiring foreign goods to meet various standards of maufacture, including Chinese origin. The same country that blithely exports contaminated toothpaste and drinks contaminated milk protects its people by a variety of exclusionary laws that are not quite tarriffs, but make the cost and difficulty of doing business high.
No person can be ordered to do what they do not perceive to be in their best interest. How would I alter this scenario? Lots of ways.
-Publicize what we are doing. Run an ad campaign to make people aware of how we hurt ourselves in buying foreign goods.
-Create laws requiring companies who export to the US to meet US labor laws in their factories. No laxity on pollution just because you are 20 miles across the border in Mexico. No dormitories, lack of benefits or workers' comp. If you want to bring goods to the US, follow our laws and pay our wages.
-Require good sold in the US to be made with parts made in the US, no differnt from what China is doing right now. Boeing and Buick both have to make parts for thir Chinese products in China, with Chinese workers. We should require the same of BMW and Toyota. Look at a purportedly US-made Toyota- it's engine is Japanese made, and up to 80% of its parts come from Japan, with only assempbly in the US.
-Prohibit export of foreign corporate profits from the US. Toyota's profits made in US factories do not count toward our GDP. Those profits are sent to Japan, where they become part of Japan's GDP. There are difficult laws in Europe limiting the movement of profits away from countries of generation just for that reason.
As far as federal deficit goes, I will be interested in what our latest commission says about it. There are only a few possibilities, and everyone knows what they are-
-Increase taxes. An increase of 50% is estimated to be required to cover our deficits and spending
-Decrease federal outlays. This happens in one of three areas- entitlement programs (SS, Medicare/Medicaid), defense, discretionary programs (already only 3% of the budget).
There are several interesting and potentially painful possibilities. One is to stop being the defender of the world, and get other countries to pay for our military protection,. Japan paid billions toward the cost of the Persian Gulf War, sincce it had no troops it could send by law, and was a major beneficiary of protection of Persian Gulf oil supplies.
Raising the age of eligibility for SS is an obvious and right choice. The retirement age of 65 was set by Bismarck for the German Imperial Retirement system in 1871, when the average German worker was dead at 63. The equivalent would be to make eligibility for SS begin at 79, since the average age of death for all US citizens, male and female, is 76.4 years.
We will have to pay mroe taxes, despite their stifling effect on growth and productivity.
We should end all earmarks. Period. Now.
Line item veto for the president.
Aggressive pursuit of nuclear power, shale oil and wind/solar. tehse things will always be a pipe dream until we really develop them.
We can not keep financing our lifestyles by importing goods and exporting debt. We need to look within ourselves and stop blaming each other. And our politicians need to speak reality, uncoached in political pablum or self-serving finger pointing.
Ted
Agree with your assessment, though also understand the pickle this puts people on a tight budget in. If you are being wise about spending and avoiding adding to your debt, you buy necessities like vehicles, clothing, etc. at the best possible price, which may mean products not made in America. In addition, we are seeing today's older teens enter adulthood with an entitlement mentality. They have seen lavish spending and have a completely unrealistic view of what luxuries they should have access to (and how soon they should have them). They lack a healthy fear of debt. A recipe for disappointment or disaster, and probably both.
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