Obama Trade
We like trade. That’s how we get our houses stuffed with old and new special things. Years ago, more merchandise came from the USA than today. I remember when I was a teenager in the 1970s, if something was made in Japan, that was a sign of low quality. Japan has come up in the world and now being made in Japan is more of a sign of high quality.
In the 1990s, Walmart boasted that its merchandise was “Made in America”. It seemed to lose its commitment to buying products here when it discovered that the consumers care more about low prices than where something was manufactured.
As a retailer, it shocks me to see how much of our own inventory is coming from China. I wish we could strengthen our own economy, bolster our middle class and help our neighbors with more employment opportunities.
Our country used to have taxes on the products being shipped into our Nation. This helped our own companies to compete. When the North American Trade Agreement (NAFTA) passed, it harmed not only our own economy, but the economies of other countries as well.
The numbers after 20 years of this failed experiment show that it cost our country around 700,000 jobs, and it hurt Mexico as well. When our heavily-subsidized farmers shipped our agricultural products into their country, we put a lot of small farmers out of business.
That’s my definition of a flop.
You would think we would have learned something and applied it to future trade agreements, but not so.
You would also think that since we have a Republican majority in both House and Senate that we would have better control, but not so. When NAFTA passed, our country was governed by a Democrat President and a Democrat majority in the House and Senate.
A few weeks ago, our Congress passed another wrong-headed law called “Fast-Track” or the Trade Priorities Authority (TPA) Bill.
If you care about our economy and want to understand this in greater detail, you should listen to our show this week. We break it down for you into manageable pieces.
Our country has the strongest economy in the world, but we can squander our machine with bad policies that will ultimately harm our families.
Here is a list of the Representatives who voted for this:
Here is a list of the Senators who voted for this:
Curiously, the vote split along party lines with the Republicans voting to support Barack Obama, and most of the Democrats voting against the proposal. Am I the only one who thinks that is odd?
WHAT YOU CAN DO…
1.) Listen to our podcast this week. When you’re informed, it helps others and bolsters all of our confidence in being able to change the future.
2.) Start thinking about how we can send better people to Congress. All the members of the House of Representatives are up for re-election next year. Even if you can’t stop them, you can make them feel our disappointment and that will create some level of accountability. THERE ARE MORE VOTES COMING UP IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS. They need to know we care.
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