Unemployed? Worried? Read On...

By Carl F. Worden

7-14-3

Now that at least 6% of you are unemployed in the United States and have more free time to read, perhaps you'd like to know why you no longer have a job, why your job-finding prospects are bleak, why our trade deficit is off the charts and even more importantly, who did this to you.

 

In order for you to fully grasp what I'm about to write, we'll need to review what worked to make this nation the most wealthy and powerful nation ever to grace the face of this earth.

 

First, we need to remember how wealth is created. The average high school graduate comes out thinking that if they get more of the money others have, then that's the way to create wealth. They don't have a clue about wealth creation, because in most cases, the schools don't teach it, and most of the kid's parents don't know either -- so herewith is a refresher course.

 

In the most perfect scenario, and one that the United States of America just happened to follow, this nation was established on a continent that was blessed with magnificent amounts of raw materials, like wood and metals, and an agricultural breadbasket that could produce far more food than the domestic population could possibly eat. Add to that potent mix a population with a strong work ethic, solid moral integrity and the freedom to be as personally successful as they want to be, and the Founding Fathers just let human nature take its course.

 

Those raw materials are mined and harvested, then manufactured into items of quality and desirability that the entire world wants to purchase. That is how wealth is created. The same goes for a vigorous agricultural program: You plant a seed and water it, it grows and produces whatever, you sell it, and voila! You've created wealth.

 

In the meantime, people need to be employed in order to manufacture and grow things, and if you employ someone, you have to pay them for their contribution to your efforts. As time goes by, more and more of your domestic population becomes employed, which means they are making money and able to purchase land, homes, cars and other things themselves.

 

Over time, our growing domestic population became this nation's largest consumer of U.S. manufactured goods. Because of our Constitution and our Republican form of government, our people were free to explore and invent with little or no government intervention. This led to technological advances that produced goods of such fine quality and craftsmanship that no other nation could compete with us at the same level. The world could buy cheaper goods of lower quality made in Japan, for example, but if you wanted quality that would last, you bought American. As a result, wealth poured into this nation, creating more millionaires per capita than any other nation on earth.

 

As our population came to earn more and more money in salaries and wages, our domestic manufacturers employing those workers had to charge more and more for their goods at the wholesale level in order to maintain a profit and stay healthy.

 

The workers employed in other nations earned far less than our workers, so in theory, they could produce manufactured goods at a lower cost than our domestic manufacturers could. The problem is that they generally lacked the raw materials we had in such abundance, and they also lacked our superior manufacturing technology, making foreign-made goods generally inferior.

 

Even so, the United States maintained tariffs and trade restrictions that forced the shelf price of imported manufactured goods high enough to keep their price comparable to the goods produced by American manufacturers

 

As a result, the American standard of living kept climbing and outpacing that of the rest of the world - by leaps and bounds.

 

Later on, foreign manufacturers managed to steal a great deal of our technology, but the tariffs and trade restrictions still kept doing their intended duty of protecting American jobs.

 

That is what made America the most wealthy and powerful nation on the face of this earth, and all that changed with the passage of NAFTA and GATT in 1994. We are now hemorrhaging jobs and wealth to other nations, particularly China, at such an astonishing rate that there is no foreseeable way to stop the carnage. The North American Free Trade Agreement and the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs quite literally slashed America's economic throat. NAFTA/GATT were pushed through by the Republicans, and signed into law by President Bill Clinton over the strenuous objections of his fellow Democrats.

 

NAFTA/GATT removed our last line of defense against unfair foreign competition by manufacturers who now use cheap labor, equal manufacturing technology and even our own raw materials to compete with American manufacturers in a so-called "free" market. NAFTA/GATT were international treaties requiring a 2/3 Senate approval - votes they didn't have - so they just passed them as regular legislation. Incredibly, when American labor unions challenged the passage of NAFTA/GATT as unconstitutional, the Supreme Court let them stand!

 

So what I want you to understand here is that all legal means for ridding ourselves of those treasonous acts have been exhausted. Our elected representatives show no signs of wanting to end our participation in NAFTA/GATT, therefore nothing short of a bloody and violent revolution to take this government back will have any chance of stopping our economic nosedive. This slide will not, and indeed, cannot end until our wages and our standard of living have equalized with the rest of the world.

 

Ross Perot held the public forum during his presidential campaign, and screamed from the rooftops that if NAFTA/GATT were passed, we'd hear this giant sucking sound of American manufacturing jobs going to other nations, remember that? He was out-shouted by that truth-impaired radio talk show host, Rush Limbaugh, who assured us all that NAFTA/GATT were a good thing for America and would enable American consumers to buy manufactured and other goods at substantially lower prices.

 

Where it comes to basic math and economics, Rush Limbaugh is definitely not the guy to ask. You have to have a job to buy manufactured goods and foodstuffs, no matter what the price, right? And if American manufacturers close their plants in America and start manufacturing in China and elsewhere, as they had to do in order to stay competitive and viable, doesn't that mean those high-paying American manufacturing jobs are now held by slave-laborers in China? Is this treason starting to sink in yet? You didn't seem to care when you had a job, right? Well, I'll bet you do now.

 

Oh, and what about those lowered prices for foreign-made goods we were promised ala Limbaugh? Seen any lately? No?? And why? Because the formerly American and foreign manufacturers now in China and Taiwan didn't 't have to lower them! All they had to do was lower their price a buck or two under what the American manufacturer had to sell the same product for here.

 

You see, it doesn't matter that it only costs them pennies on the dollar to make the same item an American manufacturer does. They have no obligation whatsoever to pass those savings on to you and me if they don't have to - and under NAFTA/GATT they don't have to! The whole idea is to make the highest possible profit while remaining competitive, right? Well, if that's the case, then prices won't drop until Americans have lost so many family-wage paying jobs that they simply cannot afford to pay the higher prices anymore.

 

I wish I could end this article with a ray of hope for our economy, but I cannot. If we are to have free trade with other nations, then the inevitable result will have to be our parity in living standards with the rest of the "global" community, and because we have a comparatively high standard of living, it naturally follows that our standard of living will have to decline. This is Math 101, and there's no way around it.

 

I just read an interesting Associated Press article at (http://www.msnbc.com/news/937578.asp?0cv=BB10&cp1=1)

 

If you have been paying attention to this mess, you'll recall that President Bush slapped a 30% tariff of foreign steel imported to the United States. At the time he did it, I couldn't figure out where NAFTA/GATT allowed him to do it, but if they did, why don't we just slap tariffs on all imported foreign goods to protect our remaining domestic manufacturers who are too stupid to close up and move to China?

 

Well, I just got my answer: The World Trade Organization, whose rules we agreed to abide by under NAFTA/GATT, just ruled Bush's tariff violates "global trade rules". If the American appeal fails, we taxpayers will pay a stiff fine and thousands more American steel manufacturing jobs will be lost.

 

Would you like to hear some good news? I thought so. Here goes:

 

I just read somewhere that China was being lauded for having reduced its poverty level by more than half. I wonder how they did it, and where they got the money?

 

http://home.flash.net/~rhmjr/

...is the ability and willingness of it's people to work.

Dennis Kucinich wants to repeal NAFTA.

Let's vote for him and give him the chance to be a liar too. Imagine how he must feel in Washington... being the only one that's not a liar.... he must get picked on a lot. .. Must be pretty lonely for him. Help Dennis Kucinich become a liar and fit in by making him President so that he has the opportunity to sound the final bell of the hopefuls by becoming a liar.

Armed propaganda includes every act carried out, and the good impression that this armed force causes will result in positive attitudes in the population toward that force; and it does not include forced indoctrination. Armed propaganda improves the behavior of the population toward them, and it is not achieved by force.

This means that a guerrilla armed unit in a rural town will not give the impression that arms are their strength over the peasants, but rather that they are the strength of the peasants against the American government of repression. This is achieved through a close identification with the people, as follows: hanging up weapons and working together with them on their crops, in construction, in the harvesting of grains, in fishing, etc.; explanations to young men about basic weapons, e.g. giving them an unloaded weapon and letting them touch it, see it, etc.; describing in a rudimentary manner its operation; describing with simple slogans how weapons will serve the people to win their freedom; demanding the requests by the people for hospitals and education, reducing taxes, etc.

The purpose is to cut off debate by turning people off. It is Spam with a purpose - and not a friendly one either.

(we could scroll down to #3 but....)

wouldn't it be nice

if we could have a constructive discussion

instead?

-sigh-



---------------------------------------------------------------------

anticrisis

1. Throw the Rascals out.

2. Go after the Bankers and financiers who put them in office.

2a. Hang them.

3. Repeat as necessary.

Phase 2.

Return the National Government to it's VERY Limited proper role of:

1. Honest Courts

2. Honest Coin

3. National Defense (Defense not Imperial Expansion)

Nothing more.

how advocating violent acts against elected officials is going to solve the problem of unemployment. That doesn't sound like the thoughts of a rational mind to me.

And who exactly should we "hang", Mr. Diogenes? Be specific.

I strongly suspect that this fellow has a more sinister purpose than turning people off. I think he wants to tempt some head cases into posting demands here that "we" should start violent assaults on govenrment offices or perhaps attempt to kill Bush and his cohorts. This will give Ashcroft and company an opportunity to move against IMC on the grounds that it is a threat to "national security" in a time of "terrorist violence."

...I am not advocating violence against elected officials.

I was quite specific. The reference applies only to the members of the International Banking Cartel that is the power behind the throne. Of course I would want them to have a fair trial before they are hung.

P.S. Do your own homework.

Try a Google on: "The Creature from Jekyll Island".

Also Congressman Louis T. McFadden's 1933 Speech to the House on the Federal Reserve Scam.

Also:

International Banking Cartel

Rothschild Family

Rockefeller

Tri-Lateral Commission

Council on Foreign Relations

Skull And Bones

The information is largely in the Public Domain. It is cross checkable and much of it verifiable from public documents. Trying to label this information "Conspiracy Theory" is the cop-out of weak minds and Shills. These organizations have largely stated publicly their motivations and designs it just requires the fortitude and willingness to learn and analyze.

In my posting I was referring to the guy who posts guerilla war tactics quotes and advice to forcibly remove Bush from office, presumably by killing him - not to hypothetical slang about "hanging" corrupt politicians.

That's a nice disclaimer Diogenes. Better be glad you did to. We had dispatchd cars to your house.

And believe me, we do know where you live.

...since I was in my early teens. Tell me something I don't know.

...I didn't think you were referring to me - your post was made as I was writing mine which was in response to the Post above yours.

Now if that didn't confuse you you are ready to read Bush's latest excuse for lying.

Of course anyone who has mastered "See Spot Run" can tell when Bush is lying. If his lips are moving he's lying.

FIGHT FOR FREEDOM.

Please explain why the above post of Systemfailure's is not advocating violence against elected officials. Is he attempting to criminalize this website? Perhaps he is an agent provocateur?

Mr. Wilson. I'm shocked! Do you hear me? Shocked!

some son of a bitch would die.

The website will be criminalized?

How so?

I believe that in the Constitution it says: (4th Amendment)

The right of the people to be secure in their houses, papers, (websites), and effects, against unreasonable search and seizures, shall not be violated.

==The above picture was taken at a rally that adhered to the rights alloted to all americans via the constitution.

1st Amend. Freedom of speech and the right of the people to freely assemble and associate.



Our Founding fathers would have been considered terrorists today.

Everyone better sit down and do some serious thinking about the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter.

WHO ARE YOU FOR?

THE GOVERNMENT OR THE CONSTITUTION?

Frequently a misunderstanding exists on "armed propaganda," that this tactic is a compulsion of the people with arms. In reality, it does not include compulsion, but the guerrilla should know well the principles and methods of this tactic. The objective of this section is to give the guerrilla student an understanding of the armed propaganda that should be used, and that will be able to be applied in guerrilla warfare.

It couldn't be that you posted that photo, now, could it? If you put it there, I'd say it was certainly the work of a provocateur. It may have been the work of someone simply making the point that it is ok, in the name of free speech, for people to propose assassination or anything else on this site. I've already stated that I don't agree with that argument. In my opinion, you probably posted the photo in a deliberate attempt to disrupt and discredit the IMC.

It couldn't be that, perhaps there are radicals that call IMC home that advocate rebellion and the forcible oferthrowining of our elected government, now could it? Or perhaps it is YOU posting the photos and the provoking comment just so you can blame the innocent and have a scapegoat for an excuse when Ashcroft and company comes rolling in? No one really knows for sure, now do they?

But wouldn't it be logical to think, that if I wanted to criminalize you or this site, I'd just come right out and post some blatant crap under your moniker, and then report you to the FBI? Since IMC doens't track IP addresses, it would be all too easy. Not to mention the fact that anonymous proxy servers are plentiful.

So genius, as you can see, it would be all too easy for someone to sabbatoge this forum if they so chose. And there's little your whining could do do prevent it.

On another note, I am not here cause trouble. I'm here for an intelligent discussion or two. Something you have thus far been unable to muster.

I have an honest question to ask.

We are now living in the 21st century. A civilized time period in which we live and grow as a society. As a society, we survive only because we are a team. As a team, we should support each other.

Therefore I feel that healthcare is a birthright. It is a basic right that should be provided to all citizens. I personally would rather pay more taxes if I knew they were going to pay for services that actually helped people. If there was a national health plan paid for by the government, there would be no need for medical insurance companies. All the insurance money that we pay (since only a small fraction of us need medical attention each year) goes mostly to making the insurance companies richer. If we payed into a government sponsored national health plan, the money that would not be used could perhaps be given back to us in the form of tax rebates.

Does this idea make sense or is it stupid for reasons I failed to foresee?

But i think that to say 'all our money goes to the insurance company' is perhaps a bit of an oversimplification. Yes the insurance companies are some scumsucking toads, and yes they make too much money for NOTHING, but in all reality the chances are likely that the bulk of the money paid into insurance actualy gets used to pay off malpractice lawsuits and malpractice lawsuit insurance (paid for by the doctors who must have it). Truly, lawyers are scum of the earth.

It would be nice to replace that giant 80% of all our tax dollars with universal healthcare / social services though, thats for sure.

"Oooohhhh nooooo, the libs are trying to take all our hard-stolen profits from us with gov handouts!!! oohh poor rich us" - get over it... reformed medical malpractice laws would result in much lower healthcare costs, signifigantly lower than what we pay in intrest on the debt owed on our military industrial complex now, not to mention the actual military debt.

Ah but at least we know that when we want to go bomb the hell out of some third world brown people though, we can do so authoritatively. And win, we always win, militarily. Except in ground wars in southeast asia. Or, apparently, in ground wars in the middle east. Or world war 2. Come to think of it, when was the last time we won a military encounter? Spanish-american war? What a bunch of losers we are, to keep losing all these stupid ass wars over and over and yet we pay so much for the privledge of being a bunch of well armed losers who lose.

Yeah, let's socialize everything.

I pay for healthcare through my job, and have for 16 years. I've only ever used it once, when I was in a minor motorcyle accident and broke a few ribs. A few other times I went for like sore throats and stuff, but nothing serious, and I had to pay a deductible which basically covered all the costs anyway.

So why should I be forced to pay higher taxes to pay for the healthcare of all YOU hypochondriacs that are in the doctors offices every time your farts smell funny? I just can't see it. I doubt I'll ever have to use medical care seriously until I'm an old man, and then medicare will cover most of it.

Pay for your own medical like the rest of us and shut your whining pie holes.

... socialized military / roadways / standards commissions / safety regulations are ok, from our perspective there is no other way now, but all these things used to be privatized and that got us... the dark ages. Very enlightened mr payityourself. I suspect you are suffering from cognitive dissonance, you figure you've paid into good health for 16 years, so naturally everyone else should have to pay as well. Never mind that what we spend on interest to keep these fat banking fuckers rich and in control could easily keep everyone healthy and fed. Hell no, that would be barbaric.

It is obvious that Republican is Bush Admirer, as well as, in all probablity, a lot of other right-wingers who frequent this site.

By the "free" healthcare logic, that we should all be luvy-dovy and just give to one another, well...by that logic we should get free food, free water, free sanitation pickup and sewer service, free telephone and electric service, free public transportation, hell let's just make life completely free for everyone!

Only one problem with that. Free is not free. Free would come from taxes. Right now, the wealthiest top 10% pay 90% of all the taxes. You leftwingers are already getting a free ride.

yeah, it's "obvious" isn't it Meyer?

No wonder you buffoons never accomplish anything.

"It is obvious that Republican is Bush Admirer, as well as, in all probablity, a lot of other right-wingers who frequent this site.

Actaually only two people post at this site. You and I.

Just us, on different sides of the fence using all sorts of different names.

Setting history straight, a Democratic President and a Democratic controlled Congress passed the GATT Trade Agreement. President Clinton called for a lameduck session during the Thanksgiving holiday to vote on this issue. As it turned out, the new Republicans running with the Contract to American led by Rep Newt Gingrich won Congress with a big victory. Instead of waiting to vote on such an important issue with the newly elected Congress, all agreed to vote in the Lameduck session. The issue passed with the support of both parties. Rush Limbaugh was in a position at this time to affect the vote. He betrayed the American Worker by promoting the vote for GATT. He even strongly said that he did not care if a 62 year old was out of a job because of Free Trade. Tapart News and Art that Talks has an editorial cartoon depicting the bombing of American workers by President Clinton, Newt Gingrich, Bob Dole, Rush Limbaugh and later Bush joining in the bombing. Clinton and Bush are one is this main issue of our times. See http://yestapart.bizland.com/tapartnews/

"Rush Limbaugh was in a position at this time to affect the vote."

The guy's a radio talk show commentator, just like Paul Harvey. You're giving him way too much credit. Leave him alone. He'll either make it or not based upon his own ability's.

Rush Limbaugh was instrumental in getting the new Republicans elected with Gingrich's Contract with American. He was honored as such after the victory. He held his silence about the GATT trade agreement until after the election. It would be have been normal to have the vote on the important issue of GATT after the new Republicans took office winning control of Congress. Limbaugh never questioned the Lame Duck session with Democrat President Clinton and a Democrat controlled Congress voting for the last time on such an important issue as GATT. Congress was called back for this vote during the Thanksgiving Holiday. Limbaugh ended up supporting Clinton and the Democrats in the vote for GATT. Listeners were angry with Limbaugh and Limbaugh responded in anger too. On one program while apparently losing his control he said that he did not care if any 62 year old lost their job.

See editorial cartoon the Pearl Harbor attack on workers via NAFTA, GATT and Fast Track by Clinton, Dole, Gingrich and Limbaugh with Bush joining the "bombing" when he took office at http://yestapart.bizland.com/tapartnews/

Yes, Limbaugh had the opportunity to stop this vote. He had the power at that time.

Rush Limbaugh was instrumental in getting the new Republicans elected with Gingrich's Contract with American. He was honored as such after the victory. He held his silence about the GATT trade agreement until after the election. It would be have been normal to have the vote on the important issue of GATT after the new Republicans took office winning control of Congress. Limbaugh never questioned the Lame Duck session with Democrat President Clinton and a Democrat controlled Congress voting for the last time on such an important issue as GATT. Congress was called back for this vote during the Thanksgiving Holiday. Limbaugh ended up supporting Clinton and the Democrats in the vote for GATT. Listeners were angry with Limbaugh and Limbaugh responded in anger too. On one program while apparently losing his control he said that he did not care if any 62 year old lost their job.

See editorial cartoon the Pearl Harbor attack on workers via NAFTA, GATT and Fast Track by Clinton, Dole, Gingrich and Limbaugh with Bush joining the "bombing" when he took office at http://yestapart.bizland.com/tapartnews/

Yes, Limbaugh had the opportunity to stop this vote. He had the power at that time.

Rush Limbaugh was instrumental in getting the new Republicans elected with Gingrich's Contract with American. He was honored as such after the victory. He held his silence about the GATT trade agreement until after the election. It would be have been normal to have the vote on the important issue of GATT after the new Republicans took office winning control of Congress. Limbaugh never questioned the Lame Duck session with Democrat President Clinton and a Democrat controlled Congress voting for the last time on such an important issue as GATT. Congress was called back for this vote during the Thanksgiving Holiday. Limbaugh ended up supporting Clinton and the Democrats in the vote for GATT. Listeners were angry with Limbaugh and Limbaugh responded in anger too. On one program while apparently losing his control he said that he did not care if any 62 year old lost their job.

See editorial cartoon the Pearl Harbor attack on workers via NAFTA, GATT and Fast Track by Clinton, Dole, Gingrich and Limbaugh with Bush joining the "bombing" when he took office at http://yestapart.bizland.com/tapartnews/

Yes, Limbaugh had the opportunity to stop this vote. He had the power at that time.

...I believe the term was "Carpet Bagger".