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Chair column for January, published in the Kenosha News
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Jan 15, 2007 Posted by Bryan MillerChair column for January, published in the Kenosha News
Just a couple decades ago, "Made in America" meant we shopped at Wal-mart. They imported an estimated $25.2 billion of their 2006 inventory from China. This new way of "doing business" helped to put the United States' trade deficit at $68.9 billion in December 2006 alone. Especially in a time of war, manufacturing locale is a matter of national security.
Most companies in China are partially owned by their government, have government supplied healthcare, and have workers that are willing to earn a lesser wage due to their currency-imposed lower cost of living. Their currency policy does not help us. If the United States government could simply lift the burden of healthcare off of our employers by providing a universal health care system, we may have kept the manufacture of IBM computers in America.
Although some of our corporations helped to create trade, safety, and intellectual protections here at home; most of our "free trade" counterparts do not allow these protections to be negotiated between countries. We could see more job protection in our country if trade protections and human rights protections were a Republican agenda, thus creating a level playing field in the growing global economy.
Although China requires their employees to pay for company-owned housing, forces these laborers to work 80+ hours a week, doesn't give them a day off, encourages child labor, and doesn't provide appropriate work conditions; we in America have different values due to unions, which are continually under attack by the Republican Party. Our unions have been instrumental in helping with pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays, vacation, and age-relevant labor laws. Thank you, unions, for American labor values.
Unions helped bring us out of the anti-worker industrial era from the late 1800's. "Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth" was one of Abraham Lincoln's most famous statements. This statement, however, is only recently represented as a Democratic value. We the people have lost to shareholders and corporate lobbyists; specifically relating to outsourcing our jobs. Was your "American" car manufactured in America? If so, it's VIN starts with a 1, 4, or 5. Do you feel deceived?
Democrats want to eliminate the tax cuts for the upper 1%, yet we are labeled as "tax and spend?" The real wage in the 50th percentile of taxpayers in America was down 1.3% between 2004 and 2005. Of the 4.8 million jobs created between 2001 and 2005, 2.8 million were created to support our bloating federal government and to support our criminal war in Iraq. Considering these corporations that are growing to profit on our tax dollars pay only 6% of our tax base, we as tax payers are forced to pay an increasing share to fuel the fire to keep this militaristic government growing. Thanks, Paul Ryan, for towing your party line of the GOP.
Have you had enough? I have, and the first 100-hour agenda from the new Democratic controlled legislature helps to address lobbyist influence.