When President Kennedy called for a tax cut in 1961 here is what happen people went out and bought washer dryers televisions toaster tires for the car or even a car they bought curtins cloths things made of steel or textiles and other material most all of which was made in our own great Country,now if we do the same what do we buy that we make it only helps other economies like China or Veit Nam . Most of our manufacturing went over seas so that the Captians of industries could maximize profit not that they wernt make a smaller profit here.Many reasons why they went to avoid requirements on the enviorment labor laws and the cost of labor .yes some coast did get high but when we look most of these regulations are ment to make this a better place to live and breath,car makers had to be brought kicking and screaming to make a car to get 25 miles per gallon now they brage about what they once fought.are we to lower our standards to that of Communist China to compet or should they raise their standards on poluttion labor etc.Yes I favor temporary tax reduction for Business but only after they invest in the good old U.S.A. make a job hear get a tax break.When President Reagan cut taxes on corpoations they had to do nothing in fact they sold their Tax break to each other.I dont think our recent economic policies were ment to help the American worker only to help the Corporate bottom line and I do blame Democrats and Republicians for this but most of all I blame us for letting our system get out of controll so that we the people end up a after thought once the congress and president are bought and paid for by those with the wealth.
I would agree with you in part, but disagree in part. I will certainly agree (or at least it’s a shared opinion) that most politicians are bought and paid for by those with money.
But I think I am in a minority in here, and perhaps everywhere, in not being quite so convinced that importing foreign goods has done us so very much harm, in itself. Money paid for foreign goods has to (of its nature) come back to the country of origin in some manner. The question really is, in what manner does it come back? Foreigners can use it to buy our products, to invest in businesses or property here, or in buying debt. Unfortunately, right now it seems, the big market is in American debt. But that debt is not foreigners’ fault; its our own. If we didn’t rack up all the debt we do, foreign holders of dollars would have no choice but to buy goods and services from us or to put it to productive investments here, aiding our own capital investment pool. It seems quite possible to me that public debt is one of the reasons American goods don’t sell as well as foreign goods sell here, and is, therefore, one of the reasons why unemployment is so persistent now. Foreigners can just buy our debt and sit on it, clipping their coupons, instead of, say, buying American-made products with it.
And of course, a lot of our spending on foreign stuff is for energy; largely Canadian and Mexican oil, but also from other places. But we can’t drill here. We can’t “frack” here. We can’t explore here. We just have to buy foreign oil because of ideologies that none but the elites believe in. Canada’s unemployment rate is lower than ours and, for the first time, their dollar is worth more than ours is. Well, they balance their budget for one thing, and they have lots of job creation nowadays in oil, gas, mining and timber, the very things our government discourages and threatens to discourage more.
But I’ll add that I admit to being perplexed by the fact that a lot of jobs are shipped overseas. Where I live, a significant part of our production is made by workers here and the products are sold overseas. Granted, most of it goes to Canada, but a fair amount is sold to China. Software produced here is sold all over the world. There are just some things that it’s more efficient to produce here and ship in the U.S. or even elsewhere, than it is for people to do it in foreign countries and ship it here. The wages here aren’t terrific on the lowest end of the scale, but it still allows people to buy cars (granted, used ones…more often pickups) older homes, and most everything else they need or even want. On the high end, like the software people, they make a lot. It does need to be recognized that millionaires here act like everybody else, so “class” differences are pretty muted, and pretty much ignored, and nobody talks the “politics of envy”. You’re considered nutty here if you do.
I read some of these posts by people who live in some parts of the U.S. and I’m baffled by it; the stories of unemployment, closed factories, jobs moved overseas, and so on, and I wonder why some places are that way and some are not. I sometimes wonder whether it perhaps has to do with overburdening costs there that don’t exist in the same measure here. I’m not really sure why that would be. Energy, for one thing, is cheaper. I know that. Food too. Housing is cheaper. Construction is, both residential and commercial. But do those things really explain it all? Why, exactly, is Detroit so awful, when, say, Minnesota (by all accounts) is not? Do situations simply change geographically because of changes in condition in those locations? And, if so, what are those changes?
The area I live in used to be really poor. Now it’s far from being poor. I know why that’s true here. But I don’t know why things are prosperous in other places like Minnesota which I don’t think was ever poor, and where the climate is (in my mind at least) at least as unappealing as Detroit’s.
There are things about all of this recessionary business (and “class warfare”) that I really don’t understand. I’ll admit that I don’t.
