Pelosi Front-Runs Obama on the Economic Agenda

Pelosi is a joke. Nuff said.

Brian I came across this artical and it explains why we are in this mess. Nothing will get better until we address the problems it highlights. Published on Monday, February 27, 2006 by CommonDreams.org When Americans No Longer Own America by Thom Hartmann The Dubai Ports World deal is waking Americans up to a painful reality: So-called "conservatives" and "flat world" globalists have bankrupted our nation for their own bag of silver, and in the process are selling off America. Through a combination of the "Fast Track" authority pushed for by Reagan and GHW Bush, sweetheart trade deals involving "most favored nation status" for dictatorships like China, and Clinton pushing us into NAFTA and the WTO (via GATT), we've abandoned the principles of tariff-based trade that built American industry and kept us strong for over 200 years. The old concept was that if there was a dollar's worth of labor in a pair of shoes made in the USA, and somebody wanted to import shoes from China where there may only be ten cents worth of labor in those shoes, we'd level the playing field for labor by putting a 90-cent import tariff on each pair of shoes. Companies could choose to make their products here or overseas, but the ultimate cost of labor would be the same. Then came the flat-worlders, led by misguided true believers and promoted by multinational corporations. Do away with those tariffs, they said, because they "restrain trade." Let everything in, and tax nothing. The result has been an explosion of cheap goods coming into our nation, and the loss of millions of good manufacturing jobs and thousands of manufacturing companies. Entire industry sectors have been wiped out. These policies have kneecapped the American middle class. Our nation's largest employer has gone from being the unionized General Motors to the poverty-wages Wal-Mart. Americans have gone from having a net savings rate around 10 percent in the 1970s to a minus .5 percent in 2005 - meaning that they're going into debt or selling off their assets just to maintain their lifestyle. At the same time, federal policy has been to do the same thing at a national level. Because our so-called "free trade" policies have left us with an over $700 billion annual trade deficit, other countries are sitting on huge piles of the dollars we gave them to buy their stuff (via Wal-Mart and other "low cost" retailers). But we no longer manufacture anything they want to buy with those dollars. So instead of buying our manufactured goods, they are doing what we used to do with Third World nations - they are buying us, the USA, chunk by chunk. In particular, they want to buy things in America that will continue to produce profits, and then to take those profits overseas where they're invested to make other nations strong. The "things" they're buying are, by and large, corporations, utilities, and natural resources. Back in the pre-Reagan days, American companies made profits that were distributed among Americans. They used their profits to build more factories, or diversify into other businesses. The profits stayed in America. Today, foreigners awash with our consumer dollars are on a two-decades-long buying spree. The UK's BP bought Amoco for $48 billion - now Amoco's profits go to England. Deutsche Telekom bought VoiceStream Wireless, so their profits go to Germany, which is where most of the profits from Random House, Allied Signal, Chrysler, Doubleday, Cyprus Amax's US Coal Mining Operations, GTE/Sylvania, and Westinghouse's Power Generation profits go as well. Ralston Purina's profits go to Switzerland, along with Gerber's; TransAmerica's profits go to The Netherlands, while John Hancock Insurance's profits go to Canada. Even American Bankers Insurance Group is owned now by Fortis AG in Belgium. Foreign companies are buying up our water systems, our power generating systems, our mines, and our few remaining factories. All because "flat world" so-called "free trade" policies have turned us from a nation of wealthy producers into a nation of indebted consumers, leaving the world awash in dollars that are most easily used to buy off big chunks of America. As www.economyincrisis.com notes, US Government statistics indicate the following percentages of foreign ownership of American industry: · Sound recording industries - 97% · Commodity contracts dealing and brokerage - 79% · Motion picture and sound recording industries - 75% · Metal ore mining - 65% · Motion picture and video industries - 64% · Wineries and distilleries - 64% · Database, directory, and other publishers - 63% · Book publishers - 63% · Cement, concrete, lime, and gypsum product - 62% · Engine, turbine and power transmission equipment - 57% · Rubber product - 53% · Nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing - 53% · Plastics and rubber products manufacturing - 52% · Plastics product - 51% · Other insurance related activities - 51% · Boiler, tank, and shipping container - 50% · Glass and glass product - 48% · Coal mining - 48% · Sugar and confectionery product - 48% · Nonmetallic mineral mining and quarrying - 47% · Advertising and related services - 41% · Pharmaceutical and medicine - 40% · Clay, refractory, and other nonmetallic mineral products - 40% · Securities brokerage - 38% · Other general purpose machinery - 37% · Audio and video equipment mfg and reproducing magnetic and optical media - 36% · Support activities for mining - 36% · Soap, cleaning compound, and toilet preparation - 32% · Chemical manufacturing - 30% · Industrial machinery - 30% · Securities, commodity contracts, and other financial investments and related activities - 30% · Other food - 29% · Motor vehicles and parts - 29% · Machinery manufacturing - 28% · Other electrical equipment and component - 28% · Securities and commodity exchanges and other financial investment activities - 27% · Architectural, engineering, and related services - 26% · Credit card issuing and other consumer credit - 26% · Petroleum refineries (including integrated) - 25% · Navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments - 25% · Petroleum and coal products manufacturing - 25% · Transportation equipment manufacturing - 25% · Commercial and service industry machinery - 25% · Basic chemical - 24% · Investment banking and securities dealing - 24% · Semiconductor and other electronic component - 23% · Paint, coating, and adhesive - 22% · Printing and related support activities - 21% · Chemical product and preparation - 20% · Iron, steel mills, and steel products - 20% · Agriculture, construction, and mining machinery - 20% · Publishing industries - 20% · Medical equipment and supplies - 20% Thus it shouldn't surprise us that the cons have sold off our ports as well, and will defend it to the bitter end. They truly believe that a "New World Order" with multinational corporations in charge instead of sovereign governments will be the answer to the problem of world instability. And therefore they must do away with quaint things like unions, a healthy middle class, and, ultimately, democracy. The "security" implications of turning our ports over to the UAE are just the latest nail in what the cons hope will be the coffin of American democracy and the American middle class. Today's conservatives believe in rule by inherited wealth and an internationalist corporate elite, and things like a politically aroused citizenry and a healthy democracy are pesky distractions. Everything today is driven by profits for multinationals, supported by the lawmaking power of the WTO. Thus, parts for our missiles are now made in China, a country that last year threatened us with nuclear weapons. Our oil comes from a country that birthed a Wahabist movement that ultimately led to 14 Saudi citizens flying jetliners into the World Trade buildings and the Pentagon. Germans now own the Chrysler auto assembly lines that turned out tanks to use against Germany in WWII. And the price of labor in America is being held down by over ten million illegal workers, a situation that was impossible twenty-five years ago when unions were the first bulwark against dilution of the American labor force. When Thomas Jefferson wrote of King George III in the Declaration of Independence, "He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitutions and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation…" he just as easily could have been writing of the World Trade Organization, which now has the legal authority to force the United States to overturn laws passed at both local, state, and federal levels with dictates devised by tribunals made up of representatives of multinational corporations. If Dubai loses in the American Congress, their next stop will almost certainly be the WTO. As Simon Romero and Heather Timmons noted in The New York Times on 24 February 2006, "the international shipping business has evolved in recent years to include many more containers with consumer goods, in addition to old-fashioned bulk commodities, and that has helped lift profit margins to 30 percent, from the single digits. These smartly managed foreign operators now manage about 80 percent of port terminals in the United States." And those 30 percent profits from American port operations now going to Great Britain will probably soon go to the United Arab Emirates, a nation with tight interconnections to both the Bush administration and the Bush family. Ultimately, it's not about security -- it's about money. In the multinational corporatocracy's "flat world," money trumps the national good, community concerns, labor interests, and the environment. NAFTA, CAFTA, and WTO tribunals can - and regularly do - strike down local and national laws. Thomas Paine's "Rights of Man" are replaced by Antonin Scalia's "Rights of Corporate Persons." Profits even trump the desire for good enough port security to avoid disasters that may lead to war. After all, as Judith Miller wrote in The New York Times on January 30, 1991, quoting a local in Saudi Arabia: "War is good for business." Thom Hartmann is a Project Censored Award-winning best-selling author of over a dozen books and the host of a nationally syndicated noon-3pm ET daily progressive talk show syndicated by Air America Radio. www.thomhartmann.com His most recent books are "What Would Jefferson Do?" and Ultimate Sacrifice. ### Printer Friendly Version E-Mail This Article FAIR USE NOTICE This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Common Dreams NewsCenter A non-profit news service providing breaking news & views for the progressive community. Home | Newswire | Contacting Us | About Us | Donate | Sign-Up | Archives © Copyrighted 1997-2008

It doesn't matter how much tax credit the government gives to buy a car or truck. Unless financing is available sales will be very slow. The economy will not recover until business credit to all size businesses is again available.

" Comment by Dave Nov 6th, 2008 at 6:20 pm It doesn’t matter how much tax credit the government gives to buy a car or truck. Unless financing is available sales will be very slow. The economy will not recover until business credit to all size businesses is again available." The problem is not that there is too little credit available, the problem is that there are two few potential customers available that are credit-worthy. No subsidies, gimmicks, rebates, stimuluses, Fed gushing, or other artifices will really change that.

Republicans should be absolutely elated that Nancy Pelosi thinks that a bail out of a company once great is dead in the water with it's only hope of recovering is based on the Volt a car that goes 40 miles on a charge and will cost upwards of $35,000. This type of policy will be just the thing to make Americans crazy and if President elect goes along with this proposal the honeymoon is over. Change we can believe in is the same old answer. Let the markets work themselves out, Republicans might have it right and but they were bullied out of probably what made the most economic sense. The capitalist system is designed to correct itself. A whole new industry is about to unfurl that is an automobile that is electric/Hydrogen powered and no longer a gas combustion engine, making the preexisting factories of GM, Ford, Chrysler, etc obsolite. What are you going to save President elect Obama's promise was a promise to look forward but folks like Nancy Pelosi apparently clings to the old ways of addressing problems faced by large American companies. The list of faltering companies is unfortunately going to grow. What in God's name is she thinking about can't someone take a deep breath and allow the economy to do what it needs to do. Government intervention at this point doesn't make much sense.

If America had mandatory drug testing for politicians,people like Pelosi, Reid and Franks,might never have got sworn into office,I think mandatory drug testing for all politicians is the answer.

I think as long as the Democrats spend, spend, spend; in the words of Barney Franks. We will certainly be taxed, taxed, taxed; also in the words of Barney Franks. Nothing will be fixed except that large corporations and prominent people like Saint Warren will have tax dollars to work with instead of their own capital. What a sweet deal huh? America wake up and enjoy your screwing.

B Scott...I concur, BRILLIANT IDEA!!!

Our new President should take her to the side and tell her in so many words to shut up She is either with the program or against it-- Education teaches policy starts at the top- not with lietenents RG

Pelosi is on another fishing expedition.... tryting to say something popular in order to boost her popluarity and indicate that she might know something about anything. Remember, this is the same woman who told us Catholics have been unsure about their position on abortion for centuries. Like Dodd, Franks, and Reid, she is merely out for herself and hasen't a clue.

I really wish you guys would quit referring to these tax incentives as tax cuts. It confuses the issue. This isn't a tax cut. This is a tax credit based upon the qualification that you buy a car, and this sort of thing is exactly why I said that the media (not referring to this article but rather the general reporting on the Election) was seriously misleading people where Obama's tax policies were concerned. If people had been informed of all of the loops they were going to have to jump through to get their own money back - they'd likely not have been so ecstatic about the so-called "tax cuts" Obama was proposing. These tax credits are nothing more than a cheep ploy to micromanage the American's spending habits. The government doesn't need to tell me how to spend my dollars. It needs to quit taking my dollars so I can spend them on what I see fit to buy. Just my two cents. Good article by the way.

We are going to borrow more money from the Chinese to give to people so they can go to Wal-Mart to by goods from China. Brilliant

"If America had mandatory drug testing for politicians,people like Pelosi, Reid and Franks,might never have got sworn into office,I think mandatory drug testing for all politicians is the answer" Nice thought, B Scott, but B.O. would have been elected even if he still smoked crack. Moral standards are for Republicans, not Democrats.

It's high time for the government to get out of funding and running American businesses AND replacing the losses of theose on Wall St. PERIOD!

Does anyone think for themselves any more -- as opposed to what you perceive is the position of the party to which you belong? Any one who agrees with (1) most economists, (2)republican economic principles, should be thrilled that Nancy Pelosi is talking about permanent tax cuts, and capital gains tax cuts at that. It is nothing short of pathetic that she is now being denounced for those positions. It won't help this country or this economy to view her (one of our most powerful leaders, whether we like it or not) in a purely cynical manner. Come on! If she wants to cut taxes, let's get on board!

Gee, if Al Franken squeaks in we'll have a professional added to the comedy act. Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, Harry Reid, Chuckie Schumer, Chuckie Rangel, yea that's the brain trust that will save us.

Ya! now that the new admin is in-- opps still a few months to go. Lets all jump on board and back them. We can all go down together, United.

To Shawn who posted Thom Hartmann and anyone else who is confused by this, I respectfully disagree with Hartmann's analysis. He is confusing monetary GDP with real wealth. For example if the whole world produces $5000 of goods and next year someone in a foreign country produces those same goods for less, and we hold the total money supply constant, more goods will be produced, we'll still have the same $5000, but prices will fall reflecting that more goods were produced. If some foreign country is producing for less, it frees up our labor to work on newer inventions, technology, etc., that can't be easily done elsewhere. This is the same thing that happens when we come up with various capital improvements that elminate labor. For example, it is better to use one extremely large dump truck than hundreds of people and donkeys in a mining operation. His analysis states that we would be better off if no tractors were used on farms, and instead we used oxen to plow the fields. Overall, if Hartmann's analysis was correct, all of us in the U.S. would be better off if each state charged a tariff on any goods imported from across state lines. So while wages may decline, that decline will be offset by lower prices. Now when the prices don't go down, it's generally due to excessive government borrowing/spending which leads to inflation. If you would like a more in-depth understanding and a much more articulately written defense of globalization, go to here: http://www.capitalism.net/articles/Globalization.htm.

Pelosi, and not Obama, will run the country. There simply will be more bureaucrats, lobbyists and lawyers, at state and local levels as government grows bigger and bigger.

T.M.O. Hey I'm right there with you about someone cutting taxes. I don't are who cuts them, just get them cut. What I am concerned about, whether it be a republican or democrat, is increased excessive gov't spending. Gov't can only spend taxpayer's money since gov't does earn a living like you do or a business does. So if at the same time we are cutting taxes (a good thing), we are then turning around and increasing deficit spending, we're still being taxed. How you ask? Because if gov't doesn't have the money, it borrows it into existence off the old printing press. More paper money, means inflation, and that means the dollar in your pocket just went down in value. The value that it went down was the amount you've been taxed. I want the politicians to cut taxes, cut spending, balance the budget, and begin repaying the obscene amount of debt it owes. I want it to get out of our daily lives with a tax on everything we do, electricity tax, gasoline tax, telecomm tax, cable tax, income tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, social security tax, medicare tax, unemployment tax, tire tax, sales tax, real estate tax, and on it goes. That would be a real stimulus to the economy. Money would be spent/used by individuals efficiently instead of wasted by gov't. If left to itself, the gov't would spend itself and all of us into the poor house, see the old Soviet Union. We're no where near that bad, but we are slowly moving in that direction. We need to go back the other way, toward Thomas Jefferson's economic ideas.

A stimulus package does little good if consumers do not spend it. So I have devised the ultimate stimulus package. I call it consumer credit roulette. First we get ten economists to agree on what social securities numbers should be included (demographic eligibility). Next we get the same ten economists to decide how much we want to stimulate the economy. Now, in lottery fashion we randomly pick social security numbers and pay off all of their consumer credit: Boats, cars, student loans, credit cards, gas cards, mall cards. Hey if you owe your bookie we will pay him too! We keep picking social security numbers until we run out of money. Check out www.fluetschfinancialservices.com and read all of my blog posts.

Like the article "when America no longer owns America" says, we basically have gone from a producing society with the production (ie. jobs) and profits staying here in the U.S. to a bunch of brokers and consumers with a credit card. Wow, that party is over. Ya can't run, on avg. 27 to 1 in derivatives, and expect that to last. Pelosi, I ask you please....please don't try to give the USA any of your "solutions". Your only "solutions" are more debt, more inflation, more subsidies, more redistribution of wealth, more regulation, more govt intervention, and more taxes. These are not answers to a capitalistic society and certainly does not bode well for the stock market. No wonder the companies that have made the USA economically balanced for years have gotten out of dodge. Why would anyone, with the taxes, union control, regulation, and legal risks want to start or invest into a company in the great ol USA? If only they would give incentive for the investors to invest, owners to take risks, and a risk/reward proposition that was worth investing back into America, capital would come on back, but they just don't. They just don't understand. The majority on capital hill are lawyers, and have never took one risk of starting their own company in the USA. Brian, you have on your show these small business owners (ie. car dealers, house builders) that tell us the problem is a credit freeze, yet you don't spend time dealing with the real issues to our economy. Are economy does not need easier credit and forced lending by banks to shove people into homes and cars they can't afford. There is an oversupply of housing and we just have to deal with it. What our economy needs is solid policy making that provides the incentive for capital to flow back and allows the production and profits to stay here in the US. You have the platform Brian, and your smart, and you seem to be an honest guy. We all need to understand what is really wrong before we can fix the problem. You can help America understand.

Gov't stimulus packages are like being forced to go on a shopping spree to buy goods you don't want. They tax you, give you some (not all) of the money back and tell you to spend it. Some get money back that never paid tax. That would be your money the gov't gave to someone else. Now, someone else spends it on things you didn't want. But that's ok, you didn't get to keep what they purchased with your money anyway. This form of gov't stimulus package is nothing but a wealth redistribution combined with a small tax break for some. I say it again. If you want to stimulate the economy, stop the gov't from spending. Gov't stimulus spending just stimulates inflation and wastes resources.

Comment by a Capitalist, why weren't you nominated??? Very smart!

Brian Shawns reference to the artical below regarding who owns America is well recieved by this conservative. However, who cares whether Pelosi or Obama wins the race to the bully pulpit... either way the markets will crash. What is important is what will America do about it after the collapse. There is a another great depression out there just around the corner and the liberal media is covering it up outright, the conservative media is suspiciously absent. Socialists like Pelosi and Obama are going to kill the free market system and soon folks wont have the luxury of reading comments like this - they will be too busy waiting in bread lines - that is assuming they survive the race riots that certainly will follow an Obama failure. Don't misunderstand me, I don't believe that race should be an issue, I just recognize the likely hood that it will occurr. The only comfort I take from the idea that the world is 'flat' and America is owned by foreigners is the possibility that these foreigners will realize that if America fails, they fail. I have no faith though that Obama and Pelosi have what it takes to manipulate this scenario to our favor. On the contrary, they race to push us over the cliffs edge is too tantalizing to them. Instead of reporting on who wins this race... maybe report on why they are racing and what the consequences are of either one of them winning, or losing, as I look at it. David Aldridge