Cross posted at DailykosThe United States is giving us away and she's doing it through incredibly bad trade policy. Since 1993, we have over $5 TRILLION dollars in trade losses. Pause for a second and contemplate that number. If you stacked silver dollars to 5 trillion you would have a height 28,305,000 times taller than the Empire State building.
That is INSANE!
If that fact boggles your mind, hold onto your seat, for the next graph dropped my jaw....
Did you jaw just drop? Are you stunned?
This detailed China trade history graph is by Charles McMillion. Beyond the dramatic acceleration of trade deficit increases with China upon entry into the WTO, notice that the trade deficit increases even when China decreases it's tariffs. Why is that? Well, one major factor is cheap labor. That's the big secret that globalists making huge bucks selling our nation down the river do not want you to see, no one can compete with China's cheap labor supply.
When transnational firms can pay very talented people in China a small fraction of what very talented Americans require just to pay their mortgage, lowering tariffs makes no difference. Indeed, China's government is smart enough to only make moves after they know it will make no difference. So, look at this pattern: China obtains the technology, establishes the industry and after the technology, manufacturing, industry is transfered, they might give a token performance, say lower a tariff, give a couple percent on a pegged currency, but only after the industry has already moved to China.
Who was it who said possession is 9/10ths of the law? China's has our manufacturing base people.
Anybody notice that Goldman Sachs is the 1st foreign investment firm in China? See when China bought IBM's PC business?
If you were looking at a strategy for warfare this graph would illustrate perfect execution. Of course the United States is being run by a series of multinational corporations who don't give a rats ass about what happens to us as a nation. So continuing with the military analogy, our economic troops are working for the other side, or are simply guns for hire, loyal to those who currently have the biggest wad of bloody cash.
This isn't "free" trade, this is giveaway trade. These results are damning and anybody, anywhere claims that you are a "protectionist" say hell yes, I want to stop the giving away of the United States of America!
Now, let's look at some history. NAFTA has been around since 1994.
Look at the divergence in the two lines between projected trade surpluses and actual deficits. These are actual trade deficit results plotted against what the American public were told would happen. The divergence is so steep, it graphs like the gap between projected weapons of mass destruction to be found in Iraq and actual!
Mexico now exports 68% more automobiles to the US than the US exports around the globe. Again, one of the huge lies which was propagated was the great US productivity would not enable jobs to be shipped offshore and thus these trade agreements were resolutely excommunicated by the free trade church as cheap labor vehicles. But look at the evidence, that is what they have turned out to be! Glorified labor arbitrage vehicles!
(Oh, my, oh my...did labor even get a kiss when being sold this lie? Of course not, not even a flower).
Did the United States learn from it's mistake? Hell no!
Deficits of displaced goods production hit a new record low in 2006. Manufacturing worsened even further and was led by Cars, Electronics, Clothing and Furniture.
Clearly trade deficits don't matter if and only if you are a multinational corporation or you personally will not be affected.
The above graph is particularly frightening.
This graph represents patents, innovation, inventions, R&D in high tech as trade.
Remember when it didn't matter that corporations were moving manufacturing jobs to Mexico, (and not the wages of course), and China? But we were told, "oh that doesn't matter, we are now in the knowledge and information age!".
Remember when they said if one obtained in depth technical expertise in science, technology, engineering and mathematics one was "set"? Remember when we were told higher education was the key? Well, well, this graph clearly shows the same thing that happened to blue collar auto workers, manufacturing workers is now happening to service workers, white collar workers and highly educated STEM professionals.
The only pattern of success I see here is the public relations snow job on the American people that these trade agreements would be good for them.
To put things in perspective, read this article from 1987 describing the crisis in trade.
In 1986 the trade deficit hit 3.4% of GDP. Reforms were discussed and remember, this is before NAFTA and the China PNTR. In Q3, 2006, the current trade deficit was 6.8% of total GDP. That is DOUBLE the GDP amount that created the 1986 crisis. For another reference, in the 1920's an over 5% trade deficit of Italy's GDP contributed to the overall economic crisis which helped bring Mussolini to power.
The 2006 Q3 deficit was $225,550,000,000. That means every minute, every single minute the US trade deficit in Q3, 2006 grew by over $1.7 million, yes million dollars.
We're bleedin' people, we're bleedin' bad.
What is the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.
Please note I used raw materials from:
Charles W. McMillion, Ph.D.
President & Chief Economist
MBG Information Services
McMillion is a highly regarded economist and these graphs are copyrighted. These graphs were used with explicit permission.
Definitions:
MOU Memorandum of Understanding
MFN Most Favored Nation
STEM Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
But, the real brilliance is Dr. Charles McMillion. While I am of course commenting and interpreting his graphs (and hopefully correctly! I sure didn't check w/ him!), maybe this diary will steer progressive Democrats to his expertise. He works, or has obviously for government already and so far I find him uncompromising in truth, even when it's probably not so politically useful. ;)
That's my thing personally, objectivity, detailed correct analysis, accuracy.
I am getting infuriated with our expertise in the United States being compromised by "outside influences".
Without even an accurate compass how the hell can we know where we're goin'?
In Mexico, NAFTA is seen by many as one of the main reasons why Mexicans are forced to move to the U.S. The treaty is seen as being unfairly advantageous to the U.S. Thanks to NAFTA, poverty has grown in the Mexican country-side, which in turn become illegal immigrants to the U.S. when every hope is lost in Mexico.
Yet the graph makes it clear that that Mexico is exporting more to the U.S.
Obviously a group is getting rich on these arrangements, but it happens that neither the American or Mexico people are benefiting from this.
But I am sure that the elites from both countries are. :)
This is a home of a Maquiladora worker.
This is an excellent post, and provides more evidence of the rising age of corporate feudalism on a global basis. The faceless corporate elites do not, as you say, give a rats' ass about nation states and the general masses who inhabit the nation states. They use nation states as a means to promote their own interests, and patriotism is a marketing weapon they employ to con us into doing whatever they decide will provide them with profits. Or, so it seems.
When you look at armed conflicts in our past, those wars were won by the nations who could readily transform their commercial manufacturing sector into a war machine. You only have to look at the American civil war to appreciate the importance of manufacturing in warfare.