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LibertyPen is probably my favorite youtube channel (other than Swifteconomics of course) and they recently came out with a great video translating politicians’ economic jargon into what those mindless terms actually mean: Continue reading The Ultimate Economics Translator 4 Sep 2010 // When the Education Department proposed tougher regulation of for-profit colleges, it seemed like the beginning of just another lobbying battle pitting business interests against consumer advocates. Continue reading CREW Sticks Up For For-Profits Earlier this week I reported on SwiftEconomics.com how the bank trend in delinquencies (nonperforming assets) had peaked and over the next 2-3 three years are likely to return to pre-recession levels. Today, I would like to share with you how resilient the banks have been through the recession and how they are paying off the $400-$500 billion bill for their poor lending practices earlier in the decade. Continue reading Why You Cannot Keep the Banks Down–a Five Year Perspective Q: Will “the largest tax hikes in the history of America” take effect next year? Will ordinary taxpayers see taxes “skyrocket”? Continue reading 2011 Tax Increases On Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” host Jon Stewart powerfully attacks President Barack Obama as a hypocrite and power-mongering opportunist regarding the writ of habeas corpus and other legal standards as protected under the U.S. Constitution. As Stewart shows, Obama repeatedly claimed that he was going to reverse the unconstitutional assaults on civil liberties by the Bush Administration, but has instead deliberately continued and indeed worsened such intrusions via Jon Stewart Bashes Obama as Hypocritical Enemy of Civil Liberties | The Beacon. Continue reading Jon Stewart Bashes Obama as Hypocritical Enemy of Civil Liberties | The Beacon At least five freshman Democratic House members are running ads claiming they voted against the bank “bailout,” when in fact none was in Congress when the bill setting up the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, was enacted. Mary Jo Kilroy says… Continue reading Democratic Bailout Baloney In episode 27 of our podcast, we look at misleading ads from a conservative and a liberal group: Crossroads GPS, a group with ties to Karl Rove, and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees labor union. Plus, we tell listeners … Continue reading Corporate and Union Ads 3 Sep 2010 // Labor Day marks the beginning of the new school year, but like many traditions, this one is being reevaluated to address new needs. What is the best way for us to have an educated population while we face a challenging economic environmen… Continue reading The Future of Education in the U.S. In Wisconsin and Kentucky House races, the Democrats are attempting to mislead voters into believing the Republican candidates support the privatization of Social Security — despite evidence to the contrary. Continue reading Democrats Misfire on Social Security — Again Right now, however the Fed is on record that they will start monetizing debt and already basically doubled the monetary base. Velocity is still low and many banks aren’t lending, but still, with that kind of monetary expansion, there’s no reason to expect gold prices won’t continue to rise… be it to $1500 or beyond. Continue reading Gold to Rally to $1500? MYFOXNY.COM – If you think you’ve been seeing more people sleep on city streets, statistics back up the perception. The homeless population living on New York City streets has gone up 50 percent in the past year, according to city statistics reported by the HellsKitchenLife.com blog. 2 Sep 2010 // WARREN – Members of the Trumbull County Board of Elections gathered Wednesday afternoon in the small but cramped board room to announce that former congressman James A. Traficant has gathered enough signatures to be placed on this Novembe… Continue reading Traficant will be on ballot 2 Sep 2010 // Rep. James Clyburn’s recent comments about the Office of Congressional Ethics and my organization, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, suggest it is the congressman, and not CREW, who has “gotten a wild hair” and “just s… Continue reading Letters to the editor Thursday: Clyburn wrong to blast ethics watchdogs Summary Continue reading AFSCME’s Big, Brazen Attack Time for some answers It is time to ask some questions and get some answers. Who was doing the thinking when the government started giving corporate America incentives to offshore our best highest paying jobs to India and China? The deflation of wages due to offshoring is exactly the kind of dynamic that is crushing the American middle class. Who was doing the thinking when American agriculture was outsourced to Mexico with the help of NAFTA? Who sold NAFTA as free trade instead of what it is, a corporate land grab south of the border? What interests of American farmers in such a thing? How is it that higher education is now only affordable for the very rich? How is it that our public education system has sunk to the point where schools are in some cases limited to four days a week? How is it that with one of the worst and most unaffordable healthcare systems that we get health care reform giving us still the worst and most unaffordable healthcare system? via Why Economic Growth in the United States Cannot Happen | Dailycensored.com. Continue reading Why Economic Growth in the United States Cannot Happen | Dailycensored.com For the first time since this Greatest Recession Since the Great Depression (GRSGD) began, bank delinquencies on the books of the more than 7800 banks that report to the FDIC are on the decline. And Exhibit 1 shows the first point on what should continue to be a downward trend as loan delinquencies return to pre-GRSGD levels over the next few years. Continue reading Good News from the Latest FDIC Bank Reports 1 Sep 2010 // The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation scholarship program will undergo an “extensive audit” in the wake of Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson’s admission that she had awarded eight scholarships last year to her grandsons, great-nephews … Continue reading CBC Foundation to Audit its Scholarship Program 1 Sep 2010 // NEW YORK — The 10 banks that received the most bailout aid during the financial crisis spent over $16 million on lobbying efforts in the first half of 2010, as the debate over financial regulatory reform reached its height. More» Continue reading 10 bailed-out banks spent $16.3M lobbying in 1H 1 Sep 2010 // WASHINGTON — House investigators recommended Tuesday that Rep. Tom Price, (R) GA 6th District, and two other lawmakers be further investigated to determine whether political contributions were improperly linked to votes on a huge financi… Continue reading Price Faces Possible House Ethics Investigation on Wall Street Voted |
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Sucker Punching the American Economy
I’ve followed the “free trade’ movement most of my adult life. While, in the 1980’s, there was some resistance to the idea of buying imported goods (BUY AMERICAN!) a combination of shoddy quality and Government policy to “open up’ free trade with Mexico (NAFTA 1994), China (China Trade Relations Act 1999) and other “free trade’ policies has had the effect of gutting American Manufacturing to the point where it is literally impossible for many U.S. based companies to find a U.S. manufacturing plant to produce their goods. They must outsource manufacturing to factories off-shore. This is especially true in the consumer sector from clothing to appliances to electronics.
And while the U.S. has the largest consumer market in the world, we no longer have the ability to make most of the products we consume.
The hidden cost of off-shore production is not only the cost of manufacturing jobs, but is also a lack of opportunity for entrepreneurs to start businesses in the U.S.. Manufacturing has a cascading effect of producing companies and jobs to support the manufacturing effort. And without the ‘anchor’ manufacturer, these support businesses and jobs simply dry up.
As an example, let’s take the Apple iPhone 4.
iSuppli of El Segundo, California is a market research outfit that specializes in ‘teardowns’ of products to produce a Bill of Materials (BOM) list and estimates as to component costs (Link). In its recent teardown of the Apple iphone 4
Continue reading Sucker Punching the American Economy