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Today
President Bush gave a speech
about the economy in Miami,
Florida. It was yet another
formula speech with the
standard boilerplate inserts.
He spoke in glowing terms
about how well the economy is
doing in South Florida because
of the Port of Miami. Why
wouldn’t they be doing well?
It helps to be ‘connected’ and
there is nobody better
‘connected’ than Jeb Bush.
Excerpts from his speech:
“From these
docks, ships loaded with cargo
deliver products all around
the world carrying that label
"Made in the USA."
I’d
be curious to know what
products “Made in the USA” are
being shipped because products
“Made in the USA” are very
hard to find. Perhaps he was
referring to the crates that
ship Florida produce. More
likely though, they are
shipping weapons because war
is America’s biggest export at
the moment.
Nelson Gonzalez
and a partner started a
business in their garage 10
years ago with $10,000
capital. First year revenues
were $87,000 building
“high-performance,
custom-designed personal
computers”. Their revenues
last year were $192 million so
Bush says.
This is a standard ‘prop’ in
all of Bush’s speeches on the
economy. Implicit - immigrant
makes good on the American
Dream. [I hope the FBI was
listening because this
business sounds more like a
money laundering operation.
The market for
custom-designed,
high-performance computers is
not that large and secondly
there isn’t that kind of money
in it. Why do I say that?
Because in every town in this
country there are people who
can build custom,
high-performance machines.
It’s not a specialized or
unique business.]
“And here's another way that
we can help the
entrepreneurial spirit
flourish and help make sure
south Florida remains a
vibrant part of our national
economy, and that is to open
up markets for trade.
I'm worried about
protectionist tendencies in
the United States, people
saying, well, we don't want to
-- really want to compete.
Let's just kind of throw up
some walls and barriers so
people can't sell products
into the United States. Such
policies will damage the Port
of Miami; such policies are
short-sighted, as far as I'm
concerned.”
[Our
trade deficit is over $750
billion dollars a year and it
increases every year.
The trade deficit is the
amount of credit buying from
foreign ‘competitors’. In
effect, they are buying
America because we don’t
produce enough goods for
export to pay for the imported
goods. The foreign
‘competitors’ are in reality
expatriated American
corporations that moved
offshore to take advantage of
the WTO rigged trading system
that favors third world
countries and multinational
corporations over American
domestic businesses.]
“America is
home to 5 percent of the
world's population. That means
95 percent of the world's
population are potential
customers. The port is known
as
"The Gateway of the Americas"
for a reason, because
international trade is one of
the key reasons why Miami
prospers. I don't know if the
folks realize that because of
trade -- in other words, the
ability to move products
overseas -- 120,000 jobs here
in this part of the world are
supported by trade. “
[The 95%
of the world who might be
potential customers - aren’t
potential customers because
corporations operating in
countries without labor laws
turn people into slaves. They
can’t afford the products that
are produced. The products
produced by multinational
slave labor are imported to
the U.S. to purchase on credit
- because we don’t have the
hard currency to pay for
them. Best case in point is
Mexico, the people who work in
the
Maquiladoras
- and soon the American people
will be in the same boat.
“I believe
trade leads to opportunity,
trade leads to jobs, trade
means this port will remain
vibrant. And so good policy
from our government
perspective must be to
continue to working up --
working to open up markets for
U.S. products, and say to
people around the world, you
treat us the way we treat you.
In other words, trade must be
a two-way street. We must work
to open up markets, but at the
same time, we must say to
foreign nations, as we open
our markets to your goods, you
open your markets to our
goods. The United States can
compete with anybody anywhere
so long as the rules are
fair.”
[American businesses and the
American people have been slow
to realize that ‘opening
markets’ means that government
officials have agreed to
sacrifice sectors of the U.S.
economy as loss leaders in
exchange for the
multinationals being given the
right to set up business in
the foreign country. In
effect, if you are a small
manufacturer in America - they
sacrifice your business for
the benefit of the
multinationals. The
multinationals use the cheap
(slave) labor in the foreign
country to produce products
for export back into this
country so it’s a lose-lose
for America and a
WinBig-WinBig for the
multinational corporations.
“Congress passed NAFTA, and as
a result, Florida's exports to
Mexico tripled. Two years ago,
we passed a free trade
agreement with Chile. Florida
exports to that country have
jumped by 40 percent. Now,
when you hear me say,
Florida's exports, that means
exports of products made in
the United States leaving
ports like Miami which creates
jobs. Exports means work.
Exports means vitality at our
ports.
Last year we passed CAFTA. I
want to thank the members of
Congress who supported me on
that important agreement. This
port handles nearly one-half
of all American exports to
Central America. And as CAFTA
takes hold, we can envision
more products passing from the
United States to Central
America through the Port of
Miami.”
[Doesn’t it just warm your
heart that Florida is doing so
well under the international
agreements that are driving
the majority of the rest of
the people in this country
into poverty?]
Reminder - there is a
video press conference of the
AFL-CIO and USBIC 2006 Trade
Summit
on
AmericanEconomicAlert
“Now, one of the most
promising ways to open up new
markets for our worker and
businesses is the Doha Round
of negotiations at the World
Trade Organization. See, these
talks are important talks.
They have a chance to break
down trade barriers around the
world. They have a chance to
expand the flow of commerce,
which is what we want. They
have a chance to create new
jobs and economic growth not
only here, but elsewhere. And
they have a chance to help
lift millions of people out of
poverty around the world.
These are important
negotiations taking place. And
our government is strongly
committed to a successful
outcome of the Doha Round.”
New Study
Shows WTO’s Doha Round
“Development Package” Proposal
Would Leave Many Poor
Countries Worse Off
“The
problem is, is that some
others aren't committed.
Recent discussions broke down.
In order to make sure that
they don't break down
permanently,
I asked Trade Representative
Susan Schwab to
continue to work with her
counterparts, to continue to
discuss ways for the United
States to be flexible,
particularly on agricultural
subsidies, and for our
counterparts to be flexible
when it comes to
achieving fairness when it
comes to trade.
We'll do everything we can to
get Doha back on track. That's
what the people in this port,
who rely upon the export of
goods, must understand. We
understand how important
exportation is to the Port of
Miami. We understand how
important trade is for the
economy of the United States.
And so Susan Schwab now has
been in Brazil recently, and
will continue talking with
other trade ministers.
Completing the Doha Round is
going to demand tough choices.
We're willing to make those
choices. And others
nations should, as well. This
is a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to jump-start
global trade and create
opportunities around the
world.”
[Somehow
I just don’t see that selling
other people’s businesses is a
tough choice. I’d like to
sell GE and pocket the
profits… how about you? Is
there somebody’s business that
you’d like to sell?]
The
USTR is going all out this
time
- offering up the U.S.
agriculture sector as the loss
leader in the Doha Round.
American farmers are
struggling now (see the video
above - Farmers Union
speaker). Next year the U.S.
will become a net importer of
food - not an exporter. USTR
is offering to cut all
subsidies to U.S. farmers and
allow tariff free commodity
imports. This should finish
off American agriculture. ]
UN Millennium Campaign -
global redistribution of
wealth -
equal poverty for all the
world’s people:
“Bank President Paul Wolfowitz
sent a letter to the G8 +5
leaders -- Brazil, China,
India, Mexico and South Africa
-- urging them to reach
agreement on the Doha round
trade talks at the St.
Petersburg meeting. "With time
running out,
our collective efforts
can make the difference. We
can work to lift millions from
poverty, boost developing
country income, improve global
market access and reduce
taxpayer and consumer costs
for all -- or allow the whole
effort to collapse, with harm
to everyone," Wolfowitz said.
[Now to the portion of the
speech devoted to replacing
Americans in the labor
market.]
“In
order to make sure this
country continues to remain
strong we must also ensure
that America welcomes new
immigrants, people who add to
our prosperity. See, we can be
a nation of law and a
welcoming nation at the same
time, and we don't have to
choose.”
[Bush
doesn’t believe in being a
nation of laws - or if he does
- it’s just that
the laws don’t apply to him.
To him, the Constitution is
just a piece of paper.]
“We must be logical about the
approach we take to
immigration.
Of course, we want to enforce
our borders. The Coast Guard
works hard to enforce our
borders. We got
hardworking people on the
Mexican border working hard to
enforce our borders.
And we'll provide more Border
Patrol agents. And
we'll provide new technologies
to help those working hard.
But in order to enforce the
border, we have got to
recognize that people are
sneaking in here to work;
the best way to enforce the
border is to have a rational
way for people who are doing
jobs Americans aren't doing to
come to this country on a
temporary basis so they can
realize their dreams.
We need a guest worker program
as part of a comprehensive
reform.”
So
magnanimous of Bush to want to
make the dreams of
corporations and foreigners
come true by allowing them to
import the foreigners to take
American jobs - thereby
crushing the dreams of
Americans who want jobs.
Remember New Orleans - the
Katrina victims?
"It's hard for an employer to
know whether someone's here
legally, or not."
[I don’t know many people who
can’t identify illegal aliens
at 20 paces. They are usually
short and they speak Spanish
fluently and English poorly -
if at all].
"Amnesty is not the right
approach. But neither is
trying to remove the 10
million or 11 million people
who've been here illegally.
Deportation is not going to
work. What must work is a
rational middle ground that
says, you can pay a fine, you
can learn English, you can
prove you've been a lawful
citizen, and then you can get
in the citizenship line -- but
at the back of the line, not
the front of the line."
[I thought he wanted to be
logical - at least that's what
he said. Logic problem:
illegal aliens are
not lawful people otherwise
they wouldn’t be called
ILLEGAL aliens. I think we
should give deportation a
try. It would put a lot of
Americans to work doing
something to help their
country and their fellow
Americans. A happy American
is a productive American. We
can do it. Let’s export
illegal aliens.]
Wrapping
up… TERROR,
TERROR, TERROR We
are at war. Boogey man
will get you… you need me to
protect you. And … more
money for the Florida economy
and Coast Guard ‘border
patrol’.
"And one of the most important
parts of securing our country
is securing our ports. Port
security is one of the top
priorities of our government.
Since September the 11th,
we've provided $700 million in
grants to enhance physical
security at our ports, and the
Port of Miami received about
$25 million of those grants.
We understand the important
the Coast Guard plays to port
security.
And so we've
increased funding for the
Coast Guard by almost $2.9
billion." (Applause.)
And I’m going to keep this
commentary for his next speech
on the economy. Boilerplate
for Boilerplate.
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