Halting the 1993-2016 Exportation of American Jobs to China et al. with the Imposition of Tariffs à la 2017-2020

[johnkarls]

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The Suggested Discussion Outline reviews FOUR of our historical positions aimed at, inter alia, alleviating American poverty –

(1) Stopping the Exportation of American Jobs.

(2) Educating America’s Permanent 30% Under-Caste.

(3) Joining the United Nation’s Two-Decade War on Modern Slavery.

(4) Saving the Fed Gov $86 Billion/YEAR by Enacting “Medicare for All.”


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The Exportation of American Jobs (aka “The War on American Workers”)

Pres. Bill Clinton knew that his North-American Free-Trade Agreement (aka NAFTA) would never be ratified by the Senate BECAUSE OF DEMOCRAT OPPOSITION TO ITS WHOLESALE EXPORTATION OF JOBS TO MEXICO -- so in 1994, he had the chutzpah to VIOLATE THE CONSTITUTION by having NAFTA approved as an ordinary law which did not require a 2/3 vote in the Senate!!!

Then it was “off to the races” with –

(1) Clinton’s free-trade agreement with China pursuant to which so many American jobs have been exported to China,

(2) Clinton’s Worldwide Free-Trade Agreement creating the World Trade Organization (WTO) pursuant to which so many American jobs have been exported to third-world countries, and

(3) approximately 300 additional “free-trade” agreements during Pres. Clinton’s reign in order to export American jobs.

Indeed, Pres. Obama continued the “War on American Workers” with numerous “free trade” agreements – three of which (signed by him on 10/21/2011) were touted as the “biggest since NAFTA”!!!

His hoped-for “crowning achievement” was the “Trans-Pacific Partnership” – a “free trade” agreement with 11 other countries in the Asia-Pacific.

TPP was defeated by American Labor and their allies despite Pres. Obama’s protests that TPP was necessary for national-security vis-à-vis China.


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The Establishment’s Hatred of Donald Trump Because of His Opposition to Exporting American Jobs

In our discussions of this issue over the years we have defined “The Establishment” as the billionaires of both political parties who spend zillions on “campaign contributions” to promote so-called “free trade.”

And marveled at The Establishment’s recklessness in promoting the Exportation of American Jobs via “free trade” agreements.

“Reckless” if one recalls the wisdom of Milton Friedman – “there is no free lunch”!!!

Because America can’t escape poverty if all Americans do, as we have sarcastically observed on many occasions, is “sell hamburgers to each other”!!!

While importing so much manufactured goods from low-cost countries such as China via TRADE IMBALANCES that we have piled up a national debt that exceeds, for the first time since World War II, our Gross National Product!!!

Which, of course, means that if the world woke up to what a bad credit risk America really is, as a result of which the interest rate on our national debt went to e.g. 10%, the simple truth is that our government would have to tax all income (individual, corporate, etc.) at a 10% rate just to pay interest – before paying a single cent for anything else such as national defense, social security, etc.


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1968 Executive Order 11387 to Halt the Exportation of American Jobs

Frankly, I was amazed that despite all of our discussions of the 1993-2016 Exportation of American Jobs (aka War on American Workers), our most recent action which was referenced in the Suggested Discussion Outline was our 2/12/2014 Six-Degrees-Of-Separation E-mail Campaign to President Obama requesting him to REVIVE 1968 Executive Order 11387 which had created the “Foreign Direct Investment Program” that, for a few short years, halted capital outflows from the U.S.

[If American capital is prevented from fleeing to low-cost countries such as China, then American workers backed by higher capital assets are more productive and, therefore, more valuable.]

So no surprise, President Obama -- as we have so often remarked in other contexts, such as condemning more than 10 million inner-city children to “a fate worse than death” -- “knew his place” on the Establishment’s “Plantation.”


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The 6/28/2023 “Possible Topics for Future Meetings” Proposal – “No Trade Is Free: Changing Course, Taking on China, and Helping America’s Workers” by Robert Lighthizer (America’s 2016-2020 trade negotiator who replaced NAFTA and many other so-called “free trade” agreements) – please see viewtopic.php?f=150&t=2363&sid=be54333e ... 28673c362f.


IMHO, the solution to America’s unsustainable national debt and the Exportation of American Jobs that caused it –

is NOT a revival of 1968 Executive Order 11387,

but rather bringing back American manufacturing jobs so that we don’t MAX OUT America’s “national credit card” while we do nothing but “sell hamburgers to each other”!!!

ACCORDINGLY, I HOPE WE WILL VOTE FOR THE ROBERT LIGHTHIZER BOOK AS THE FOCUS FOR OUR OCTOBER MEETING SO THAT WE CAN ADDRESS THIS SITUATION MORE KNOWLEDGEABLY BEFORE TAKING ACTION ON THIS ISSUE.