Some excerpts from, Stats That Show How The Emerging One World Economy Is Absolutely Killing American Workers by Michael Synder of Economic Collapse.
Trading with other countries is not a bad thing as long as the level of trade is fairly equal on both sides. When trade becomes very unequal, the consequences can be absolutely catastrophic. Since 1975, the United States has bought more than 8 trillion dollars more stuff from the rest of the world than they have bought from us. We are the only economy on earth that could have had 8 trillion dollars drained out of it and still be standing. Instead of leaving the country, those 8 trillion dollars could have gone to U.S. businesses and U.S. workers. If we could go back and have a "do over," how much more prosperous would we be today if we had kept that 8 trillion dollars inside the country?
And this emerging one world economy is absolutely killing American workers. It lumps them into a global labor pool with workers in other countries where it is legal to pay slave labor wages. Just think of it this way. Imagine that you are a giant corporation that makes "widgets". You can make them in the United States, but you would have to pay your workers about $10 an hour, provide them with a whole bunch of benefits, pay very high taxes, and comply with a dizzying array of laws, rules and regulations. Or, you could set up shop on the other side of the world where you could pay your workers a dollar an hour. Those workers would receive no benefits and you would have to deal with very little red tape.
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| look at all those jobs. Guess where? |
Some stats from the article:
#The United States has a trade imbalance that is more than 7 times larger than any other nation on earth has.
#Overall, the United States has run a trade deficit of more than 8 trillion dollars with the rest of the globe since 1975. That 8 trillion dollars could have gone to support U.S. businesses and pay the wages of U.S. workers. Federal, state and local taxes would have been paid on that 8 trillion dollars if it had stayed in the United States. This is one reason why our national debt is getting ready to cross the 16 trillion dollar mark.
#When NAFTA was passed in 1993, the United States had a trade surplus with Mexico of 1.6 billion dollars. In 2010, we had a trade deficit with Mexico of 61.6 billion dollars.
#In 2001, American consumers spent 102 billion dollars on products made in China. In 2011, American consumers spent 399 billion dollars on products made in China.
#The Chinese undervalue their currency by about 40 percent in order to gain a critical advantage over foreign competitors. This means that many Chinese companies are able to absolutely thrive while their competition in the United States goes out of business. The following is from a recent Fox News article....
To keep Chinese products artificially inexpensive on US store shelves, Beijing undervalues the yuan by 40 percent. It pirates US technology, subsidizes exports and imposes high tariffs on imports.
#According to the New York Times, a Jeep Grand Cherokee that costs $27,490 in the United States costs about $85,000 in China thanks to all the tariffs.
#The U.S. trade deficit with China during 2011 was 295.4 billion dollars. That was the largest trade deficit that one nation has had with another nation in the history of the world.
#Back in 1985, our trade deficit with China was only about 6 million dollars (million with an "m") for theentire year.
#U.S. consumers spend about 4 dollars on goods and services from China for every one dollar that Chinese consumers spend on goods and services from the United States.
#The United States has actually lost an average of about 50,000 manufacturing jobs a month since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.
#According to the Economic Policy Institute, America is losing about half a million jobs to China every single year.
#The United States has lost more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities since 2001.
#During 2010 alone, an average of 23 manufacturing facilities closed their doors in America every single day.
#Since the auto industry bailout, approximately 70 percent of all GM vehicles have been built outside the United States.
#As I have written about previously, 95 percent of the jobs lost during the last recession were middle class jobs.
#According to Professor Alan Blinder of Princeton University, 40 million more U.S. jobs could be sent offshore over the next two decades if current trends continue.
#The percentage of working age Americans that are employed right now is actually smaller than it was at the end of the last recession.
#The average duration of unemployment in the United States is nearly three times as long as it was back in the year 2000.
#Due in part to the globalization of the labor pool, only about 24 percent of all jobs in the United States are "good jobs" at this point.
#Without enough good jobs, more Americans than ever before are falling into poverty. Today, more than 100 million Americans are on welfare.
#In recent years the U.S. economy has embraced "free trade" and the emerging one world economy like never before. Instead of increasing the number of jobs in our economy, it has resulted in the worst stretch of job creation in the United States in modern history....
Now as much as some may wish to believe if like good little lemmings we all trot down to our local voting booth either, Obama or Romney can fix this mess we can assure you much disappointment. Check out the interactive map here and you can see how Manufacturing jobs in the U.S. have been declining since 1971 under both Democratic and Republican administrations.
So who is to blame???
Well, who runs down to their local Wal-Mart or Target or wherever to buy the latest and greatest and "cheapest" widgets made by slaves in China, third world countries and American Prisons?
You see there is a bit of Karma going on here. What goes around comes around. If you sell your soul for a cheap widget believing that all the bad things happen to other people and not you, well then, you lose!
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