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LOUISVILLE /JEFFERSON COUNTY
DEMOCRATIC PARTY NEWSLETTER
Week of March 30, 2008
The link to this electronic newsletter is being e-mailed to 5,500+
Jefferson County Democrats
We hope you will forward the link to your own e-mail list.
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CLICK HERE FOR CURRENT LIST OF EVENTS
Updated on a regular basis
Bulletin Board:
- The Louisville/Jefferson County Democratic Executive Committee meets the 4th Wednesday of every month at 5:00 pm at Democratic Headquarters,
- 640 Barret Avenue .
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- ON YOUR STATE & FEDERAL TAX RETURNS
-
2008 Kentucky Democratic Party
Reorganization Handbook
The 2008 Health Care for America Survey
results are in.
And the findings expose a health care system that costs too much, covers too little, leaves too many behind and is getting worse. The results deliver a mandate for health care reform to everyone who wants the support of working families in this year’s elections.
Please take a moment to read the full survey results and health care stories. Learn how working families can win secure, high-quality health care for all in 2009 if we make the 2008 elections a mandate for health care reform.
Click here
to see the results.
Secretary-Treasurer Trumka: Here’s What Ails Corporate America
Patrick O’Meara, corporate finance specialist in the AFL-CIO Office of Investment, highlights a CNBC discussion by AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka on the need for making it clear that excessive CEO pay plays a key role in our nation’s credit crisis.
In a recent appearance on CNBC, AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Rich Trumka explained how the issue of excessive executive pay must be front and center in any honest discussion of the causes of the credit crisis now threatening the health of our economy. If CEOs are rewarded for putting at risk our companies—and, as we now see, even our financial system—they will not hesitate to do it. Shareholders and government regulatory agencies need to be able to make sure that CEOs are not given the wrong incentives.
As Trumka notes, shareholders at many companies are now submitting resolutions asking that shareholders be given a say on pay, that is, a vote on whether they approve the compensation packages of the top executives.
But he points out this is not enough, because these votes are only advisory. What really is needed to fix corporate culture is proxy access. This is another way of saying that shareholders should be allowed in practice, not just in theory, to pick directors who really will look out for shareholder value and the long-term interests of the company. Right now, the system is rigged so that the status quo cannot be changed.
There also is a need for a thoughtful reregulation of the financial sector, Trumka points out. This does not mean the government needs to put corporate activity in a straightjacket. But time and again, the leadership at corporations has shown it is incapable of regulating itself. We do not need to keep learning the same lesson over again. Some regulation, especially with respect to CEO pay, is in the best interest of everyone. We want the people running our companies to be talented, but we also need them to be willing to play by the rules.
BREAKING: Condi Rice Flirts With VP Possibility -- Speaks to Grover Norquist's Wednesday Group Meeting
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is speaking to Grover Norquist's
weekly powerhouse gathering at
Americans for Tax Reform
of conservative associations, think tanks, and political operations.
At the semi-secret gatherings which Republican political hopefuls migrate to to get the blessing of not only Norquist but the diverse parts of the nation's conservative money and political machinery, Norquist gives everyone in the room 3 minutes to pitch their cause or issue. I have attended before, but if one wants to attend again -- no one may write or speak about the internal discussion or who attended.
In this case, however, I am not attending -- but a source other than Norquist has leaked this information to The Washington Note and Huffington Post.
As one major Republican operative told me yesterday:
Someone like Condi Rice doesn't go to Grover Norquist's den to talk about the Annapolis Middle East peace process. She's going to secure her future in Republican politics and to position herself as a 'potential' VP candidate on the McCain ticket.
Grover Norquist is author of the new book, Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives. It would be interesting to know which pages of the book Condi has dog-eared.
-- Steve Clemons Source
Comments:
None this week
DAILY GRILL
"[A]ttacks on American
forces are down [in Iraq]. ... The surge is working." -- President Bush,
3/19/08
VERSUS
"American forces have just experienced the most violent two-week period in
Iraq since September 2007. ... Between March 10 and March 23, 25 American
soldiers were killed in Iraq." -- VoteVets.org,
3/24/08
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"Following weeks of oil prices hitting over $100 a
barrel, Vice President Dick Cheney met Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah on
Friday 'for talks that will include discussions on cooperation to stabilize
the oil market.'" -- Reuters,
3/21/08
VERSUS
"A senior US official suggested on Monday that Vice President Dick Cheney
did not pressure Saudi Arabia to increase oil production during his visit to
the kingdom last week." -- AFP,
3/24/08
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"Newly declassified documents captured in Iraq show that Saddam Hussein's
regime had extensive ties with a variety of Islamist and other terrorist
groups."
-- Washington Times,
3/24/08
VERSUS
"This study found no 'smoking gun' (i.e. direct connection) between Saddam's
Iraq and Al-Qaeda."
-- Pentagon study,
3/13/08
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"He has never said that this war would be easy. He has been the guy
saying for four years that we’re getting it wrong. We need more troops."
-- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC),
3/25/08
VERSUS
"But the point is that, one, we will win this conflict. We will win it
easily." -- Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), MSNBC, 1/22/03
Q
uotes
of the Day
“It wasn’t the Bush administration as much as it was Democrats in Congress who were pushing the lending institutions to get out there and lend more money, even to unqualified buyers — to the minorities, to the poor, to the young — so that everyone could own a home.” -- Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ) READ MORE
Republican presidential candidate John McCain has a new take on the mortgage and foreclosure crisis. He says irresponsible homeowners are behind it. If they'd just gotten a second job or skipped a vacation, McCain asserts they might have been able to make their payments. Wow! But then this is a man who said he "never really understood" economics. Maybe if he took the time to understand predatory lending, stagnant wages and wealth inequality, he might have a different take on the crisis.
Recent Senate Votes
None this week
Recent House Votes
None this week
HUMOR
"Hillary
now says that she just made an honest mistake when she said she had to
duck sniper fire in Bosnia. There was no hostile fire of any kind.
Although, ironically, while she was away,
Bill Clinton did see some action." --Jay Leno
"Barack
Obama called Hillary today to thank her for distracting everyone away
from the whole
crazy pastor thing. Obama's campaign is all about hope -- hope Hillary
keeps saying stupid crap and getting herself in trouble." --Craig Ferguson
"Did you hear about this? Two State Department employees were fired -- this
is a bit of a scandal -- because they were looking at Barack Obama's
passport file. Not only that, but the same person was also looking at
John McCain's Civil War records." --David Letterman
"I like John McCain. He looks like the guy who gets frisky with the new
waitress at IHOP. ... He looks like the guy who watches his Cadillac go
through the car wash. ... He looks like the guy in the supermarket yelling
into his cell phone, 'I'm in aisle three, Marge. I can't find the brownie
mix.'" --David Letterman (Read more of Letterman's jabs at
Old Man McCain)
"New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson endorsed Barack Obama ... The reason this
is such a big story is that Bill Richardson was a member of the Clinton
cabinet. And Clinton adviser James Carville ... on Good Friday, he called
Bill Richardson a Judas. Called him a Judas. Well, you know, there are a lot
of biblical references in this race. Now they're calling Bill Clinton
'Jonah' because he was once
swallowed by a whale." --Jay Leno
"Well, of course, this Sunday is Easter. Of course, Easter is that very,
very holy day when Christians around the world honor a 2,000-year-old Jewish
man who is not Larry King." --Conan O'Brien
"A big insurance company just announced they will give $10 million to anyone
who can invent a car that gets 100 miles per gallon. Meanwhile, Exxon says
they'll give $11 million to anyone who kills that guy." --Conan O'Brien
RISING HEALTH CARE COSTS, LOW WAGES: A
September 2007 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that family
health care premiums
increased 78 percent since 2001, while wages increased only 20 percent.
The Washington Post recently reported that "[e]ven though workers are
producing more, inflation-adjusted median family income has dipped 2.6
percent -- or nearly $1,000 annually since 2000" as a result of rising
health care costs. Service Employees International Union vice president
Katherine Taylor said that because of souring health care costs, "[t]here
are people out here making decisions about whether to
keep their lights on or buy a prescription." Additionally, employers are
paying more for health care. The Labor Department reported this month that a
higher percentage of employee compensation costs is going to benefits rather
than wages. A
recent study on employer-based health care found that "job-based
insurance premiums have risen by 98 percent between 2000 and 2007." While
one
CAP study found that "ever-escalating health care costs are placing a
huge strain on employment-based health insurance," a National Association of
Manufacturers survey last year similarly said that 90 percent of respondents
"named the cost of health insurance as
one of their top-three worries -- ranking it higher than government
regulation, competition from imports or finding qualified employees."
IRAQ -- CHENEY ON 4,000 TROOP DEATHS IN IRAQ: 'THE PRESIDENT CARRIES THE BIGGEST BURDEN, OBVIOUSLY': Across the country yesterday, memorial services were held to honor the 4,000 U.S. troops killed in Iraq, a tragic milestone in President Bush's "surge" effort. But the White House tried to gloss over the troop death marker. President Bush held no public events on the issue, although he briefly thanked the "courageous people willing to serve" while at the State Department yesterday. Moreover, in an interview with ABC News, Vice President Cheney expressed gross callousness about the 4,000 dead troops, implying to Martha Raddatz that the troops volunteered for duty. Cheney then claimed that Bush is hurt even more than the troops and their families by the deaths in Iraq. "The president carries the biggest burden, obviously," claimed Cheney. The White House has frequently expressed a “misguided sense of bravado,” as Dan Froomkin put it, in comparing its efforts to that of American soldiers. "Believe me, no one suffers more than their President and I do," said First Lady Laura Bush in April 2007. "The President is in the war every day...on the frontlines," claimed former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow in June 2007.
ECONOMY -- NEW SOCIAL SECURITY TRUSTEE REPORT SHOWS PROGRAM IS NOT IN CRISIS: Yesterday, the Social Security trustees released their annual report on the state of the trust fund. As the Washington Post's Dana Milbank writes today, it is "a bit ceremonial" for Bush administration officials to warn "about entitlement calamity" every year when the report is released. Almost on cue, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced yesterday that "rising costs will drive government spending to unprecedented levels, consume nearly all projected federal revenues and threaten America's future prosperity." Conservatives in Congress joined in as well, with House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) issuing a statement claiming that the new report proves there is a Social Security "crisis." But the report actually shows something quite different, according to Center For American Progress Action Fund Domestic Policy Adviser James Kvaal, who wrote yesterday that "the report is an important reminder that the program is not in a crisis." "While we need reforms to extend the life of Social Security, we do not need to panic and adopt massive benefit cuts," writes Kvaal. Economist Paul Krugman agrees with Kvaal, writing on his blog yesterday that the report shows that "the actuarial balance has been improving rather than worsening" and that "Social Security's financial problem is relatively minor."
ADMINISTRATION -- BUSH'S RELEVANCY DWINDLING DESPITE PROMISE TO "SPRINT TO THE FINISH": In October 2007, President Bush told White House reporters, referring to his last year in office, that he was "going to work hard to the finish. I'm going to sprint to the finish line."At a March 4 event at DAR Constitution Hall, the President reiterated his sprint to the finish and "said he remains energized to wrap up work on his agenda." But according to U.S. News, Bush's relevancy has started dwindling, as many administration officials are already seeking private-sector jobs. Not only are there new vacancies throughout the administration, the White House is also having "a hard time recruiting replacements for those who are leaving" because candidates for the position "don't see the value in it for [his/her] résumé." While it is common for a second-term President to become a lame-duck during the final year on the job, polls showed that 71 percent of Americans thought Bush was a lame-duck as early as February 2007. Even White House reporters are reportedly "bored" by the President, attributing his early decline to the fact that "[Bush’s] rhetoric is so exhausted."
Think Fast
Health-care costs are "whacking away" at the wages of working class Americans. Premiums for family health coverage have increased 78 percent since 2001. "Even though workers are producing more, inflation-adjusted median family income has dipped 2.6 percent — or nearly $1,000 annually since 2000."
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has consistently "condemned the influence of ’special interest lobbyists.'" Yet of "the 66 current or former lobbyists working for the Arizona senator or raising money for his presidential campaign, 23 have lobbied for telecommunications companies in the past decade." McCain has received $765,000 in donations from these individuals and their spouses, co-workers, and clients.
The contractors who breached two passport files of Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and John McCain (R-AZ) "were part of a private workforce that has increasingly assumed responsibility for processing the sensitive documents." "From 2001 to 2007, 40 to 45 percent of the workers handling passports were contractors, but now 60 percent of the 4,400 passport employees work for private firms, State Department officials said yesterday."
Scientists said yesterday that a chunk of ice seven times the size of Manhattan collapsed off the Wilkins Ice Shelf in western Antarctica. "The event is a result of global warming, said British Antarctic Survey scientist David Vaughan."
The USA Today writes that the different proposals among the candidates' health plans boil down to three issues: "Who gets health insurance, how should they get it and who pays." "McCain's ideas could continue to leave millions of people without insurance, they say, and could increase the number of employers dropping or limiting health plans."
Exxon Mobil has "regained the mantle as the world's biggest company by market value," overtaking PetroChina Co. Exxon raked in $40.6 billion in profits last year, "the biggest ever for a U.S. company."
"A sweeping five-month investigation into the collapse of one of the nation's largest subprime lenders points a finger at a possible new culprit in the mortgage mess: the accountants." New Century Financial, whose failure came at the start of the credit crisis, "engaged in 'significant improper and imprudent practices' that were condoned and enabled by auditors at the accounting firm KPMG."
INTERESTING
A Brief for Whitey, Pat Buchanan
Barack says we need to have a conversation about race in America.
Fair
enough. But this time, it has to be a two-way conversation. White America
needs to be heard from, not just lectured to.
This time, the Silent Majority needs to have its convictions, grievances and demands heard.
And among them are these:
First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.
Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American.
Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the '60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream.
Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks — with affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas — to advance black applicants over white applicants.
Churches, foundations, civic groups, schools and individuals all over America have donated time and money to support soup kitchens, adult education, day care, retirement and nursing homes for blacks.
We hear the grievances. Where is the gratitude?
Barack talks about new "ladders of opportunity" for blacks.
Let him go to Altoona and Johnstown, and ask the white kids in Catholic schools how many were visited lately by Ivy League recruiters handing out scholarships for "deserving" white kids.
Is white America really responsible for the fact that the crime and incarceration rates for African-Americans are seven times those of white America? Is it really white America's fault that illegitimacy in the African-American community has hit 70 percent and the black dropout rate from high schools in some cities has reached 50 percent?
Is that the fault of white America or, first and foremost, a failure of the black community itself?
As for racism, its ugliest manifestation is in interracial crime, and especially interracial crimes of violence. Is Barack Obama aware that while white criminals choose black victims 3 percent of the time, black criminals choose white victims 45 percent of the time?
Is Barack aware that black-on-white rapes are 100 times more common than the reverse, that black-on-white robberies were 139 times as common in the first three years of this decade as the reverse?
We have all heard ad nauseam from the Rev. Al about Tawana Brawley, the Duke rape case and Jena. And all turned out to be hoaxes. But about the epidemic of black assaults on whites that are real, we hear nothing.
Sorry, Barack, some of us have heard it all before, about 40 years and 40 trillion tax dollars ago. SOURCE
Bear Stearns and Pfizer: A Tale of Two Corporate CEO Excesses by Mike Hall
Even
after all the headlines and horror stories during the past several years
about CEOs and top execs getting huge bonuses,
sweetheart stock
deals and more goodies—while workers and real people
get…well, we’ll call it shafted—new tales of greed can still tick you off.
Our friends at the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA) point out two of the latest “here we go again” tales.
James E. Cayne, former CEO of financially battered Bear Stearns—battered by its own risky business decisions—will pocket about $13.4 million from the investment bank’s fire sale to J.P. Morgan Chase. With Bear Stearns about to go under because of its huge holdings in the collapsing subprime mortgage market, Morgan Chase agreed last weekend to buy Bear Stearns for just $2 a share, having fallen from $132 a share last year. Even just a week ago it was valued at $20 a share.
While Cayne will see millions, according to news reports, the 14,000 workers there are about to get—we’ll call it shafted—if the deal goes through. Not only will thousands likely lose their jobs, but the workers own about 30 percent of Bear Stearns. Add the fact that many workers have little retirement investment outside the now incredibly shrinking shares, and you can clearly see the different worlds CEOs and the rest of us live in.
As ARA President George Kourpias says:
Loyal employees who gave decades of their lives to this company are about to walk away with nothing.. Corporate executives must be held accountable and subject to the same pension deals and retirement benefits as their employees.
Last week, Bear Stearns employees filed a class action suit alleging the company’s fiduciary breaches have caused employees to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in retirement savings.
The next tale of corporate excess comes from the pharmaceutical industry. No shock there. We’ve all noticed, especially the seniors among us, the continuing price climb of prescription drugs, not to mention the profit climb of the drug companies. The big drug makers like Pfizer are trying to justify the price increase by claiming some sort of industrywide decline in profits. Try telling that to someone caught in the Medicare donut holes (click here for more).
There’s certainly no decline in “golden parachutes” for CEOs. The Alliance for Retired Americans points out that last year two of Pfizer’s top execs retired with a sweet $56.8 million in combined compensation.
Research Chief John LaMattina left the company with a departure package worth more than $22 million, which included $3.3 million in severance pay, $13.5 million through a Pfizer retirement plan and $5.3 million as a “pension enhancement.” Former Chief Financial Officer and Vice Chairman David Shedlarz retired with $34.2 million in compensation, largely invested in the Pfizer plan.
Says Edward Coyle, ARA executive director:
These golden parachutes are paid for on the backs of seniors struggling to afford their medicines. I am appalled at the unchecked power and greed of these companies.
Appalled, yes. But, sadly not surprised.
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 On April 5th, the WakeUpWalMart.com campaign will celebrate three years of making Wal-Mart a more responsible company. As you know, it's been a grueling fight for substantive change at Wal-Mart. And, for all of the movement's success, we still have one question for you.
Is Wal-Mart helping you "live better?"
Your tax dollars are still subsidizing Wal-Mart's health care crisis. Your good jobs are still being shipped overseas so Wal-Mart can import over 70% of its goods from communist China. Your neighbors are still earning poverty-level Wal-Mart wages so America's richest family can line their pockets with Wal-Mart's $12 billion in profits.
Are you living better yet?
This year, we can't settle for anything less than real change from Wal-Mart. We know change won't come unless we work together to bring our campaign's message to new audiences in new ways. That's why we're launching the first in a series of new WakeUpWalMart.com videos: "Living Better." Please, do your part and pass it along.
Watch "Living Better" and help us spread the word
Consider this a taste of the year to come. In the coming months, you will see a series of bold new videos from WakeUpWalMart.com, all with one mission--to introduce consumers to the real Wal-Mart.
Remember, we can't do that without your help. Supporters like you are the driving force behind the movement to change Wal-Mart. So, check out the video, and help us spread the word. Your action and our message can force Wal-Mart to change, and help forge a better America.
Watch "Living Better" today and send the video to your friends
Here's to round 4 in the fight to change Wal-Mart!
And, as always, thanks for all that you do.
The Team |
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Buy American Mention of the Week
'Free trade' that isn't free
'Neither tariffs nor
trade protection is the problem'
Along with the ever-increasing volume of imports into this country are the ever-increasing hits to the free trade faith among the people in it. The free trade, free market fall from grace didn't just begin with fears of a 2008 recession, but it might come to a decisive and definitive close with the 2008 elections.
It's no surprise Americans are becoming more suspicious of foreign competition. A Sept. 5, 2007, poll as reported by the Associated Press showed 58 percent of Ohioans favor more restrictions on foreign imports, and that it would make Ohio's economy better. Free trade Republicans and especially John McCain should take note, for no Republican has ever won the presidency without winning Ohio.
But the American angst with free trade isn't limited to just one state. Eight-six-point-three percent of all Americans would like to block Chinese imports until they raise their product and food-safety standards to the level of U.S. standards, and according to a June 2007 Consumer Reports magazine poll 92 percent want country-of-origin labels on meat and produce. An August 7, 2007, Zogby poll showed one in three Americans would be willing to pay four times as much for American-made toys and 63 percent were willing to join a boycott of Chinese-made goods in general.
Part of what the faith in free trade and free markets has needed to endure is the ability of globalists to pull out the twin bogeymen of tariffs and protectionism at will as the great bringers of the Great Depression. In the famous NAFTA debate between Al Gore and Ross Perot in 1993, Al Gore said the Smoot-Hawley tariff bill "was one of the principle causes, many economists say the principle cause, of the Great Depression in this country and around the world." But of course the undeniable, historical fact is that the Smoot-Hawley tariffs were enacted over eight months after the Great Depression started. Even Ronald Reagan fell for the politically correct lie about the tariff bill when he said "the Smoot Hawley tariff helped bring on the Great Depression."
The "many economists" Al Gore spoke of that say the Smoot Hawley tariff bill caused the Great Depression don't appear to be among the most prominent. Nobel Prize winner and free trade advocate Milton Friedman blamed the Federal Reserve for bringing on the Great Depression. Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said that it was brought on largely from mistakes the Federal Reserve made in tightening credit after the stock market crash of 1929. Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, who served in the Clinton/Gore White House as chairman of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers, in his book "The Roaring Nineties," said the Great Depression was caused by insufficient government regulation rather than excessive government regulation. Tariffs, of course, are a form of government regulation. And most recently, current Fed chairman Ben Bernanke stated the Great Depression was caused by none other than the Federal Reserve.
These comments by Bernanke are nothing new. A Dec. 7, 2005, "Wall Street Journal" article about the current Federal Reserve chairman revealed that he is a self-described "Great Depression buff" much like the way others interested in American history are Civil War buffs. The article talked about a book Bernanke was going to write about the Great Depression, including the factors that caused it. The word "tariff" was nowhere to be found in the article.
What does all this mean in the light of America's faith in free trade and free markets, which is almost always accompanied by a repudiation of tariffs and trade protection? Neither tariffs nor trade protection is the problem. They weren't the problem in the 1930s and they aren't a policy problem to be feared today. As former Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani said in an April 30, 2007, interview with "Business Week," "We have a tendency to under regulate. Then we have scandals, and we swing wildly in the other direction."
The recent Bear Sterns dilemma has free market advocates distancing themselves from free market rhetoric. On March 14 before the Fed intervened to bail out Bear Sterns, President Bush said, "In a free market, there's going to be good times and bad." After the Fed announced actions to stabilize the markets over the following weekend, Bush changed from talking about "free markets" on March 14 to calling them "financial markets" on March 17 while Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson spoke of "currency markets."
The problem is that our financial institutions, which President Bush described on March 17 as "strong" and "functioning efficiently and effectively," want a free market "hands-off" approach until problems arise, and then they want the government to intervene with a "hands-on" approach. Then the Fed rushes in with taxpayer money where we aid private U.S. banks with public U.S. tax dollars. What this proves is that we don't have a free market system at all. "Free" would mean "without cost," and the taxpayer bailout will cost us all. It's just that no one knows exactly how much yet.
Even after the Bear Sterns bailout, Bush continues to warn us of "trade protection" as the primary danger to America's supposedly strong economic fundamentals. John McCain warns against proposals to renegotiate NAFTA because it might compromise U.S. exports. If you've ever played poker, you know that everyone who sits at the table has to ante-up the same amount to share in the pot.
In this case, the pot is the lucrative U.S. market. Mexican producers don't ante up the same amount as American producers for the privilege of competing for the same market. Mexican producers have a lower-cost access to the U.S. market than American producers, which is blatantly unfair to American companies who wish to keep their factories in America and employ their own people. To claim that we should avoid amending an unfair trading system merely because it might compromise the success of any companies exporting to Mexico that might be benefiting from the unfair system is not the American way.
John McCain defends free trade by claiming NAFTA, which turned our mild trade surplus with Mexico to a large trade deficit, as a success. American tariffs and trade protection are not the problem. Lack of adequate tariffs to level the playing field by mindless faith in free trade and free markets followed by Federal Reserve intervention which can lead to catastrophes like the Great Depression is the problem. Capitalism, which is defined by Merriam-Webster as private or corporate ownership of capital goods, isn't violated by tariffs and regulation. It's violated by government ownership of private assets like those of JP Morgan and Bear Sterns. We wouldn't be in this predicament had we not blindly believed in free trade and free markets. America's founding fathers were trade protectionists, not free traders. Abraham Lincoln once said, "By the tariff system the whole revenue is paid by the consumer of foreign goods...the man who contents himself to live upon the products of his own country pays nothing at all." The founders realized that the terms "free trade" and "free markets" in any form are nowhere to be found in the U.S. Constitution.
John McCain is surely smart enough to realize this. After all, his mentor Teddy Roosevelt was quoted as saying duties (tariffs) "must never be reduced below the point that will cover the difference between the labor cost here and abroad." In today's terms, that means tariffs must never be cut to a point that would fail to level the playing field and make competition fair for all participants. According to the U.S. Constitution, we have a duty to regulate commerce with foreign nations. If we didn't have such a tendency to under regulate as Rudy Giuliani rightly pointed out, we would not have to swing so wildly in the other direction.
Roger Simmermaker is the author of How Americans Can Buy American: The Power of Consumer Patriotism. He also writes “Buy American Mention of the Week” articles for his website www.howtobuyamerican.com and is a member of the Machinists Union and National Writers Union. Roger has been a frequent guest on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC and has been quoted in the USA Today, Wall Street Journal and US News & World Report among many other publications, and is now a weekly contributor to WorldNetDaily.
During this critical political season, separating fact from fiction has never been more important. When a story breaks, you want to know the facts right away and spread them to your networks before the conservatives spin it all wrong. So, our partners at Think Progress launched the Wonk Room, the first public policy rapid response blog, to do just that; to give you the facts and arguments you need to be the most effective activist in town on key issues facing our nation, including climate, the economy, health care, and national security.
VIDEOS
McCain Revealed: The Briefing Book
O’Reilly: Media Matters, Huff Post, Daily Kos ‘are fascists’ and anti-American.
“Talk about anti-Americanism,” O’Reilly said referring to blogs, adding: “Media Matters, Huffington Post, DailyKos, I mean, these are fascists. They’re dishonest people.” Watch it:
CLICK HERE FOR LATEST ISSUE OF THE "FRIDAY ALERT"
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