Feb 2005,
A Bush Administration Official says the record breaking trade deficit negatives are over emphasized while
they neglect to comment about a Walmart opening a store in China that has virtually no products
made in the USA in the store. The trade deficit with China is overwhelming. Some say the overall
trade deficit could have been the equivalent of a $50,000 home for every family in the USA.
The Official said Germany has a trade surplus but has 10% unemployment while the USA has only 5 1/2 %. ( Real
unemployment in the USA is more like 15% if compared with the way unemployment was reported in the past. )
The Official did not get into how Germany collects unemployment rates compared to the USA. We doubt
if they do it like we do in this country polling households since it is impossible to obtain an real data from
the unemployment insurance offices since only about 38% of all Americans qualify for unemployment. Besides this the Germans
try to maintain a living wage for the average German worker and balances out unemployment accordingly.
Here we have created a working poor class where even someone making only a $100 a month is considered employed.
Neither the media or our poltical leaders question if the statistics are fabricated or manipulated to hide reality.
The loss of jobs continue. The cuts are endless. Even UPS is closing down a hub in Dayton Ohio cutting 1400 jobs.
Standard and Poor warns that airline cuthroat competion could create "a domino effect" of airline bankruptcies
with the airlines seeking to get rid of their pension funds. The government again would have to take over these pension plans
with the taxpayers paying the toll. Many in the working poor class would end up paying for others pension without ever
seeing any themselves. The government pension plan is already broke and needs more funding now. Many of the steelworkers
with pensions now are paid by the government with the tax payers absorbing the cost.
Meanwhile, Mittal Steel Company plans to cut 45,000 workers worldwide after it completes the purchase of International
Steel Group (LSG) who pick up all the assets of bankrupt LTV Steel which in turn took over Republic Steel and J&L Steel.
In the process, about 700,000 steel workers and related workers lost their jobs since about 1990. Over 30 steel companies
went broke during this time.
When NAFTA and GATT trade agreements were announced. we were told that anyone who lost their jobs due to the new trade
agreements would be helped. No one got any help in the steel industry or for that matter in all the other companies that closed
down or moved outside the USA.
At the same time, companies are still being challenged by federal prosecutors regarding their accounting practices.
The latest is Krisby Kreme Donuts.
A "money talk" article has a story about a worker who worked as a
nanny and housekeeper and who was paid under the table in these jobs her whole life. Now she is old and can not continue
to work but has no Social Security to rely upon because she never paid into it.
How many times has this happened? Reportedly, only 88 million workers have full time jobs in the USA. This means
there is a 100 million workers with only part time jobs, or in the underground economy with many missing in action from
any kind of reporting. How large is the underground economy? How can anyone talk about Social Security reforms
without considering the underground economy and companies moving out of the USA to escape paying the payroll tax.
Who will untangle the terror Globalism and Free Trade have bred?
