Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Make America Great Again (with Fair Trade)

It's not a lack of a skills, it's a lack of jobs. Eventually robots will do it all; but in the mean time, let's stop offshoring our best jobs to foreign countries, or giving jobs (that Americans want to do) to foreign workers.

Made in the USA — Putting America First.

Made in USA

Multinational corporations supersede sovereign borders; U.S. international trade agreements not only supersedes the sovereignty of America, but supersedes American workers for the sole benefit of multinational corporations.

Pending trade deals such as TPP, TiSA and TTIP would only exacerbate the problem for American citizens. This is called "globalism". Trump wants to put America first. The alt-left calls this "nationalism" — but precedes this description with the word "White" to invoke racism to shame Americans into believing that "fair trade" is "protectionism" and racist, because they put themselves and their families first before they do other people of the world.

And the same is true for immigration and migration policies, which both political parties in the U.S. have used both for votes (Democrats) and cheap labor (Democrats and Republicans) as can be seen with the use of guestworker visas (such as H-1B) and the offshoring of jobs to low wage countries — many that use child labor*.

* And of course, whenever possible, the "job creators" will use computers, robots, automation and artificial intelligence to replace living human beings...because they don't get sick, are never late for work and never need a vacation.

In the U.S. (ever since the Powell Memo and when "free trade agreements" first went into effect), stock prices and CEO pay have skyrocketed, while wages for typical American workers have remained stagnate, forcing the trend in dual-household incomes just to pay for basic essentials. And that's why eventually, with more and more Americans being left out of the labor force, we will need a basic income -- BEFORE human labor becomes obsolete.

And no, it's not because of a lack of skills -- it's because of a lack of jobs. Everyone could have a Ph.D. and we'd have a lot of smart people working at McDonalds and Wal-Mart -- and kids in Vietnam will still be making shoes for Nike.

The multinational corporations largest institutional investors (banks, hedge funds and private equity firms) have no patriotic duty to the livelihoods and happiness of their native citizens. Their only goal is CASH -- to enrich themselves. A 2016 Oxfam Davos report shows that 62 people own the same amount of wealth as half the world. That is insane!!!

Stock prices and CEO pay has soared over the past 40 years. But after inflation, real wages in the U.S. have remained stagnant. U.S. multinational corporations invest overseas for cheap labor. Their record after-tax profits are spent on a record high number of stock buybacks (to increase the value of executive stock-option grants) and in mergers and acquisitions -- almost approaching monopoly-like economic power. What's left goes into the pockets of company executives, not workers.

In western "democracies" the "people" began fighting back, but the "powers that be" have been trying to rig elections to keep the status quo. So far the world has seen #Brexit and the election of Donald Trump. Obama (a pro-banking, open-borders globalist) went to England to tell voters that if they left the EU they would be in the back of the line for trade deals with the US. (Its a good thing for the UK that Trump was elected.)

Will this trend of offshoring good-paying manufacturing jobs to low wage countries continue with Trump as President? We hope not, because that was a big reason why many people voted for him.

* Clink on the image below to enlarge to see how U.S. trade deals have tracked the stock market. Stocks up over 1,800% over the past 40 years, but wages are not.

Free Trade vs. Fair Trade

  • Israel-U.S. Free Trade Agreement in 1985 was America's very first FTA
  • North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada (NAFTA) came into force on January 1, 1994
  • U.S. PNTR with China - Oct 10, 2000 China joins WTO in 2001
  • Jordan–U.S. Free Trade Agreement - Oct 24, 2000
  • Australia-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) signed May 18, 2004 and came into effect on Jan 1, 2005
  • Chile-U.S. Free Trade Agreement signed on June 6, 2003 and in force on Jan 1, 2004
  • Singapore-U.S. Free Trade Agreement was signed on Sept 3, 2003 and in force on Jan 1, 2004
  • Bahrain-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (USBFTA) signed on Jan 11, 2006 and in force on Aug 1, 2006
  • Morocco-U.S. Free Trade Agreement came into effect on January 1, 2006
  • Oman-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (OFTA) signed on Sept 26, 2006 and in force on Jan 1, 2009
  • Peru-U.S. Free Trade Promotion Agreement was implemented on February 1, 2009.
  • The Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement (was CAFTA, in 2004 the agreement was renamed CAFTA-DR)
  • The Panama–U.S. Trade Promotion Agreement was signed in 2007 and in effect since Oct 2012
  • Colombia-U.S. Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA) was passed on Oct 12, 2011 and in force since May 15, 2012
  • Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) first signed on June 30, 2007, renegotiated and signed in Dec 2010, and in force since March 2012

Pending Trade Deals

  • TPP (Asia) first began in 2005, but beginning in 2008, additional countries joined. Described as "NAFTA on steroids"
  • TTIP (Europe) proposed in 2006 by German Chancellor Angela Merkel
  • TiSA (Europe) first crafted in Feb 2012

The Triple Trade Treaty Threat: TPP, TTIP and TiSA

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) or Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) is a trade agreement among twelve of the Pacific Rim countries—notably not including China. The finalized proposal was signed on 4 February 2016 in Auckland, New Zealand, concluding seven years of negotiations. It is currently awaiting ratification to enter into force. The TPP contains measures to lower both non-tariff and tariff barriers to trade, and establish an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism.

The Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a proposed trade agreement between the European Union and the United States. The "globalists" with the American government considers the TTIP a companion agreement to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The agreement is under ongoing negotiations and were originally planned to be finalized by the end of 2014 (but will not be finished until 2019 or 2020, according to economist Hosuk Lee-Makiyama.

The Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) is a proposed international trade treaty between 23 Parties, including the European Union and the United States. The participating countries started crafting the proposed agreement in February 2012 and presented initial offers at the end of 2013. Criticism about the secrecy of the agreement arose after WikiLeaks released a classified draft in June 2014 of the proposal's financial services annex, dated the previous April. Another release took place in June 2015 and in May 2016.

5 comments:

  1. I would also note that Trump always says the corporate tax rate is the highest in the world at 35% and wants to lower it it 15%. The "statutory" rate may be one of the highest, but the real "effective" rate (what they actually pay) is not ... it's much lower because of the way the tax code is written.
    Lowering taxes might help more companies to stay in America -- but it won't mean they'll pay their workers any better than they do now. Less regulations will be a big boost to job creation too -- because US companies go offshore to avoid safety and labor laws, but it won't mean they'll pay their workers any better than they do now. Only a higher minimum wage and labor unions can raise wages. Job creators won't pay more unless the have to.
    See my related posts in the links below for more on this subject...

    Trump's Evolution on the Federal Minimum Wage

    http://bud-meyers.blogspot.com/2016/12/trumps-evolution-on-federal-minimum-wage.html

    How can Trump raise wages?

    http://bud-meyers.blogspot.com/2016/12/how-can-trump-raise-wages.html

    Baby Boomers not to Blame for lack of Jobs

    http://bud-meyers.blogspot.com/2016/12/baby-boomers-not-to-blame-lack-of-jobs.html

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  2. Your articles are always right on-point, and this one is no exception. Another good read!

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  3. http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38317786

    We will all need a basic income

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  4. Trump dumps TPP. ok you got me here. I like what Trump did today. I may end up paying you that $100.00 yet. Let's see.

    The Devil is in the details. I haven't checked out allot but McCain is having a cardiac over this while Bernie and Liz Warren are both happy about ending the deal. Bernie going so far to say he will work with Trump if DT shuts down the sweatshops that make his products.

    http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-statement-on-trans-pacific-partnership

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