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Although the U.S. trade deficit shrank in June, the gap widened in manufacturing and high-tech goods. The trend for U.S. competitiveness in these vital areas is not good. | | Alan Tonelson | Monday, August 18, 2008 | The current Olympics are eerily reminiscent of the 1936 Berlin Olympics -- when another rising, authoritarian power sought to showcase for the world its capabilities. China is posing an increasing economic challenge to the United States and the global trading system. Unless the United States begins to recognize that fact and adapt its trade and economic policies to deal with the reality of Chinese cheating -- whether through currency manipulation, IP theft, illegal subsidies, etc. -- global imbalances will grow even greater and the entire world economy will be put at risk. | | William R. Hawkins | Saturday, August 16, 2008 | Overdependence on Mid-East oil, currency manipulation by China to keep its goods cheap, and sharp practices by Japanese and Korean automakers along with mismanagement by the U.S. Big Three automakers are the major factors in our gargantuan trade deficit. The Bush administration and Congress dither while the longer-term prospects for the U.S. economy and living standards for average Americans get ever worse. Cutting the trade deficit in half would boost U.S. GDP growth by one percentage point a year.
Lost growth is cumulative. Thanks to the record trade deficits accumulated over the last 10 years, the U.S. economy is about $1.5 trillion smaller. This comes to about $10,000 per worker.
When will Washington act?
| | Tuesday, August 12, 2008 | Solid gains in productivity should allow the Federal Reserve to stop fretting about inflation -- especially that caused by oil prices, which it can't control in any case. Instead, the Fed should turn its sights toward banking reform and regulation in order to end the subprime and credit crises. If the Fed can't act quickly and decisively -- and so far it has dithered, then Congress must get serious and step in as soon as it returns from recess with real reform, not more get-reelected rebate checks that have nothing to do with the structural reforms needed to allow the economy to grow. | | Friday, August 08, 2008 |
Opinion Archive... |
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Barry C. Lynn
| Alan Tonelson Looking for ammunition showing why current globalization policies are undermining the U.S. economy? Look no further than Alan Tonelson’s The Race to the Bottom. A consultant for CNN anchorman Lou Dobbs, Tonelson has been called “probably the most significant economist spreading the nationalist gospel” by The New Republic and has been named one of “Washington’s Top China-Watchers” for 2004 by The International Economy magazine. | William R. Hawkins William Hawkins, a Senior Research Fellow specializing in national defense issues for the U.S. Business & Industry Council (USBIC) reveals how the proponents of an open borders agenda have imperiled U.S. economic and political security. His book details how a "cheap labor" corporate lobby has manipulated public opinion on immigration, leading to flawed INS policy and an ever-increasing illegal alien problem. | William R. Hawkins Unchecked illegal immigration and a radical open borders agenda are threatening the economic security of the United States. Veteran researcher William Hawkins explores the dangers faced by the U.S. in the 21st Century as it confronts terrorism, unprotected borders, massive ilegal immigration, and a radical "open borders" lobby. |
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