Picture two water glasses, one 90% full and the other 10%. It’s our disproportionate world. Some very rich, some very poor. It’d be nice to make them all the same, for different reasons. It could be the right thing to do, or a chance to make a lot of money for someone.
Protectionism is like leaving the glasses separate. Every country for themselves. No exports, no imports. Small businesses and people who lost their job to outsourcing prefer this.
Those supporting globalization have put a tube between the glasses and let the assets level between them. Problem is, the tube is too wide and unrestricted, and assets are leveling too fast. Jobs are leaving our country faster than we can create replacements, but the perpetrators are doing just fine, thank you.
But some executives are laughing all the way to the bank. The CEOs that sent the jobs to China and India — and reduced their manufacturing costs and increased profits, and their salaries and bonuses and golden parachutes — are so tickled that they shared their wealth with the politicians who agreed not to intervene.
You know, the guys that let it all happen and who rail on the public that it was the right thing to do. The co-conspirators.
The politicians are happy because the campaign contributions keep coming in and help them keep a job that gives them power and wealth. So they tell us “globalization will ceate jobs,” but they hide that they’ll be in China and India.
Live with it, or fix it! Wisconsin’s 100% re-election of congressional members does not represent change.
Tidbits:
Like all political problems, this one was created solely by corrupt campaign money. With public funding of campaigns the tube would have been appropriately adjusted, but the politicians sold out their constituents for cash dollars.
What matters are jobs, and only jobs, and they must be brought back to the US. New jobs must be prohibited from being outsourced, especially by bailed out companies. Tax cuts benefit only those with jobs.
Tariffs must be applied both as a source of income and as a deterrent. Corporations that outsource must be penalized with a higher taxes or tariffs.
Rebuilding government buildings and roads creates temporary jobs when we need permanent manufacturing jobs. Jobs that last more than two years, or we’ll soon be doing this again.
It’s not a pretty sight for anyone except the CEOs who got $10 million bonuses for trashing their own companies and the nation’s economy with it. That’s the kind of job I want.
Obviously they shouldn’t have deregulated the banks in 1999, and they should have outlawed Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) as usury, and banned the selling of consolidated toxic loan packages. But congress was being paid to turn a blind eye, and they did.
I generally am a free market capitalist, but I draw the line on allowing one segment of the population to rip off another. Our free-for-all system — without regulations and laws to protect those unwilling to join the dog-eat-dog world of survival — has trashed the US and worldwide economy.
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7 Responses to How globalization killed America… and the world.
Globalization has been good in some areas, but the imbalance of trade has been detrimental to our country. But all in all, this is not the main problem we face today.
No, the main problem we face today is political corruption. Without money changing hands we would not have had banks and the financial industry deregulated, and we would have long ago had a single-payer health care system that would have bailed out 100% of our employers to the tune of $6000 per employee per year. What better way to create jobs in the US?
And in all of these taxpayer giveaways, I don’t know who to believe. Except that I would feel better if I knew that bribes were not changing hands in the process.
The Republicans say that the giveaway is too big, but they were not saying that when they gave $780 billion to the pharmaceutical industry that helped fund their elections. Go figure.
Globalization in and of itself is not a bad thing, in fact getting nations to interact is best in the long run.
But using it to concentrate wealth is not a good thing. It takes government policies to break that grip, but of course you know the reason why those government policies as it stands right now would never be activated.
I actually agree, Keith, and support fair trade and reasonably regulated globalization. But that’s not what the fat cats want. They want and are willing to pay for highly imbalanced wealth transfer, which if left unabated will destroy America.
Tariffs are fine when used to keep a nation’s middle class from being forced to compete with near slave labor in third world countries. Failure to prevent this will result in America ending up like Mexico and most of South & Central America: The top 5% ruling over a desperate 95%.
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“It never ceases to amaze me, the amount of energy that can
go into a project just to avoid doing the right thing. The best,
simplest, least costly, most effective thing we could do is
expand what has been working so well for years, Medicare.
You get sick, you get care, and the caregiver gets paid.
Nothing could be simpler. But follow the money and you’ll
find why the politicians don’t like it a bit. They get their money from insurance interests.” Jack Lohman
On health care….
"America will always do the right thing, but only after everything else fails." Winston Churchill
On Politicians….
"As a business owner, if I had an employee giving company assets to outsiders in exchange for money on the side, I'd fire him. Perhaps even have him jailed. In any other venue we call it bribery, payola and theft. But in the American political system, we call it freedom of speech. We don't jail them, we re-elect them." Jack Lohman
On Energy….
"Since the Arabic OPEC conspiracy has eliminated all pretense of a capitalistic free market, the U.S. should create its own energy supply with a taxpayer-funded exploration division. Contract it to the lowest private bidder, if need be, but introduce some real competition into the system." Jack Lohman
On Elections….
"Unfortunately our political system has fallen, not to the Republicans or Democrats but to the corporate interests that fund their elections. And that is not going to change in November. The only real solution is a complete turnover at the state and national level. We need voter-initiated term limits." Jack Lohman
On Privatization….
"Privatization is the political preference because private corporations can give campaign contributions and government entities can't. We are paying ten times the dollars for Blackwater, Bechtel and Halliburton to perform the same functions our troops could be performing in Iraq. Why? Because the US Army cannot give campaign contributions. Get the political money out of the system, and if privatization continues because it makes more sense than creating another government bureaucracy, then fine. But if it continues because political cash is flowing, then it likely wasn't needed in the first place." Jack Lohman
On HSA’s ….
"It is well known that most medical expenses come in the later years. What do you think the CEOs of your HSA are going to do when you start needing this more expensive care? They are going to start denying it, just as they are today. That’s why there are no HSAs for the elderly. If you plan to be one of us someday, you best ensure that Medicare remains alive and well." Jack Lohman
Globalization has been good in some areas, but the imbalance of trade has been detrimental to our country. But all in all, this is not the main problem we face today.
No, the main problem we face today is political corruption. Without money changing hands we would not have had banks and the financial industry deregulated, and we would have long ago had a single-payer health care system that would have bailed out 100% of our employers to the tune of $6000 per employee per year. What better way to create jobs in the US?
And in all of these taxpayer giveaways, I don’t know who to believe. Except that I would feel better if I knew that bribes were not changing hands in the process.
The Republicans say that the giveaway is too big, but they were not saying that when they gave $780 billion to the pharmaceutical industry that helped fund their elections. Go figure.
Globalization in and of itself is not a bad thing, in fact getting nations to interact is best in the long run.
But using it to concentrate wealth is not a good thing. It takes government policies to break that grip, but of course you know the reason why those government policies as it stands right now would never be activated.
I actually agree, Keith, and support fair trade and reasonably regulated globalization. But that’s not what the fat cats want. They want and are willing to pay for highly imbalanced wealth transfer, which if left unabated will destroy America.
And the world. I heard yesterday that right now we have the capability for everyone on earth to have an average 3,600 calories a day.
Okay, okay. The experts say tariffs and protectionism is very bad and will lead us into a depression. I’ll withdraw my comments supporting them.
Tariffs are fine when used to keep a nation’s middle class from being forced to compete with near slave labor in third world countries. Failure to prevent this will result in America ending up like Mexico and most of South & Central America: The top 5% ruling over a desperate 95%.