Protectionist

I am steadily moving into the "protectionist" side of the aisle with regard to the American economy. As the Richmans write in the book "Trading Away Our Future":

The financial flows that sustained these deficits did not go to expand the U.S. capital stock – they mostly financed consumption of foreign goods," they explain. "Japan and China and other Pacific Rim nations stole industry after industry from the United States. America's manufacturing investment declined so much that by 2004 and 2005, net investment in American manufacturing actually went into negative territory, meaning that U.S. manufacturers were not even investing enough to replace wearing out machinery and plants.

The U.S. manufacturing workforce declined steadily, so that by 2007 over a fifth of the U.S. manufacturing jobs that would have existed given balanced trade had been lost. Those losing their manufacturing jobs often took less skilled jobs in the service sector, causing media wages to stagnate. In 2007, the United States was in a much weaker position to compete in world markets and the dollar had nowhere to go but down."

Repeal NAFTA? CAFTA? I'm thinking this is a good idea. Moving towards protectionism? I'm starting to go there as well.

First, we go out of way in this country to punish success. And businesses, whose job it is not to be the government, still have to operate within budgets and cannot "print" money and simply stray into deficit territory for years on end.

On the other hand, how is it can American businesses and American industry can compete with what are, essentially, slave wages in other third, fourth and fifth world countries? How can America compete with its own school of sharks waiting, just waiting, to sue businesses large and small over the slightest grief or affront?

So what's the answer? How can we bring industry and business back to America? How can we become more commercially independent? How can we regain that industrial powerhouse that was once the United States of America?

BZ