Thom's blog - Monday November 8th, 2010
By shawnt56
You need to know this about President Obama’s trip to Southeast Asia. He says it's an effort to open up markets to India – the world’s largest democracy – and for the Wal-Mart executives with him, that's true. They want to sell more stuff made in China in India in their retail stores, and are frustrated that Indian law only allows one company to own two retail stores. They're using Obama's prestige to get that law blown up. Additionally, Obama is there selling the only things we still make in the US - military hardware and airplanes. He says that will create as many as 54,000 jobs in the US, because, he says, the Indian consumer market is so large. But we no longer make consumer goods in the US! Meanwhile, the President is also bringing with him more than 200 business leaders – including leaders from Wal Mart. As Wal Mart CEO Michael Duke points – more than 3 million jobs can be created in India if he can get their laws changed. That’s 3 millions jobs in India – not the US. Likewise, Honeywell already operates a facility in India employing 11,000 low wage engineers and scientists. Honeywell CEO David Cote says his company has moved American engineering jobs to India because India has "superior engineering". What they really have is cheap labor. Obama's simply continuing the insane free trade policies of Reagan, both Bushes, and Clinton. And, as long as they continue – your jobs will continue to vanish overseas.
Comments
#2
It's time the H1B work visa be revisited. There is no shortage of qualified engineers in the US, there is a shortage of qualified engineers, saddled with debt, willing to work for a meager salary.
#3
We have watched year by year Wall Street take over our country the past 30 years and all we need to do is look at the Republican snide arrogant lies year after year and now watch big corporatism and its relation to dems and Obama and his capitulating to the ruling class aka: PRIVATE FISCAL FEDERAL RESERVE, BIG BANKS, OIL, HEALTH INSURANCE, BIG PHARMA....THE PENTAGON, DEFENSE DEPARTMENT, INTELLIGENCE. When Obama says the people do not know how things progress on capital hill he is saying our elected government does not run the show anymore has not been running the show for sometime.
#4
Tom Pauken, a Republican making sense, probably explains why he is the "former" head of the Texas Republicans.
#5
I'm not going to knock GM, Chrysler and Ford making cars in Canada. At least Canada has comparable wages and public healthcare.
#6
Ross Perot is considered a liberal . . . Now:
#7
I just called and waited on hold for about 25 minutes before getting the ability to make the point I wanted to make on air. First of all I wish we had more Thom Hartmanns out there as Americans are severely misinformed. Sadly I think many of us Liberals must accept responsibility for this as we have not been willing to frame the message in a way that make the middleclass feel they have a vested interest in the policies advocated by Liberals.
Republicans are excellent however disingenuous in making their policies which are generally anti-middleclass, palatable inasmuch as they are actually voting against their own financial interest. We lost the House of Representatives and instead of redoubling our efforts to educate Americans, many are already talking about adopting tax policies and programs closer to that of the Republicans.
What I think is important is that we frame the message as class warfare. The upper class, the top 2% have been pilfering the middleclass for the last 30 years. This can be shown in a manner that does not bore Americans but will get them fired up to support policies that stops this transfer of wealth upward. This summer I wrote a book called “As I See It – Class Warfare the Only Resort to Right Wing Doom”. The book provides the real narrative that should be the balance between the corporation, the government, and the individual citizen. It dispels the notion of the corporation being inherently more benevolent than the government.
#8
What do we make here? Well, we still make cars that we are restricted from selling in countries that protect domestic production.
#9
Trickle-down economics still "works" because now the threat of losing jobs to outsourcing hangs over every workers head.
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By webmaster
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As long as we keep arming the rest of the world, we will always have a bogeyman around the corner.