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Originally posted by marg6043
Incredible to see how America has lost its Sovereignty to the greed global elite.
Where are the American patriots, the fighters of this nation and the supporters of Americas constitution.
What we have in our nations government is nothing more than a whole bunch of traitors.
If you think that having such a policy led to the recession of the 30's, I suggest you look more into income taxes and the federal reserve. It was what i would consider a manufactured mess, and not by accident.
My friend how can America be hurt when we have one of the biggest trade deficit in the world.
We buy more than we trade, how do you expect any America to see this as fair?
Most economists agree the Depression began with the U.S. stock market crash of 1929, but it took Reed Smoot and Willis Hawley to really make it "Great."
The two U.S. politicians sought to protect U.S. workers from cheaper European imports and in July 1930 wrote a bill that hiked tariffs on 20,000 imported goods.
In one sense, it worked great.
The U.S. State Department says the Smoot-Hawley Tariff was responsible for imports from Europe declining from a 1929 high of $1.3 billion to just $390 million in 1932.
As for protecting the American worker, unemployment was at 7.8 per cent in 1930 when the bill was passed, but jumped to 25.1 per cent by 1933. U.S. exports to Europe fell from $2.3 billion in 1929 to $784 million in 1932.
Canada didn’t even wait for the Smoot-Hawley to pass before it retaliated. In their book International Economics In the Age of Globalization, authors Wilson Brown and Jan Hogendorn say Canada put new duties on 16 U.S. imports to Canada, affecting about 30 per cent of cross-border trade. A month after the bill was passed, 125 products were hit with new or higher tariffs, and Canada looked to Britain and the Empire for new markets.
Now Smoot and Hawley are back.
On Monday, International Trade Minister Stockwell Day compared the provisions in the new U.S. stimulus bill to the pair.
As written, the bill would require major public works projects to favour U.S. steel, iron and manufactured goods over imported ones.
Canada sells about $11-billion worth of steel to the U.S. every year, and Day worries other U.S. industries will lobby for similar protections. Although he says he’s “cautiously optimistic” the U.S. will back down.
"Their awareness of our concern, and wanting to do something, appears genuine at this point. And we'll just keep working closely with them," Day said.
"The last thing we need now is a retaliatory trade war."
It’s an issue that forces politicians to a tough place. Whatever benefits they see to their own economies from freer trade, they must be responsive to the voters who don’t necessarily appreciate the exquisite market forces that move their jobs overseas or flood their markets with cheap foreign grain.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown may champion "British jobs for British workers" at a Labour party conference, but he was in a tough position this week when thousands of British workers went on wildcat strikes, protesting the use of cheaper Italian and Portuguese workers by British contractors.
Still, the laws of the European Union seem quite clear: they allow for free movement of labour.
Source
World Uranium Supply
Canada (27.9% of world production) and Australia (22.8%)
United States (2.5%)
Originally posted by slicobacon
In essence, this will result in US taxpayer money helping to "bailout" foreign countries. Its a sad state in our nation when the EU's view on the US is more important to the President than taking care of the American worker. The EU loves to be so critical of the US in EVERY international decision that is made - BUT don't even think about taking the money away.
Long ago we came to terms with the fact that our sneakers were made in Asia, but we forget how many of our Ford and GM vehicles are made in Mexico and Canada. If the stimulus plan continues on in its current form it will include over $300 billion in tax breaks, a large portion of which will be directed at direct individual rebates.The recipients of these rebates will then be encouraged by the government to go out and spend frivolously in hopes of rebuilding our dwindling economy. Those who do go out and spend will almost certainly buy foreign-made goods.
In essence the U.S. government will borrow from overseas to fund its national stimulus, give money to the people and tell them to spend, and then watch the money go back overseas via our import addiction. We will borrow money and immediately return most of it back to the creditors via a middleman, but our debt obligation will be unchanged and will accumulate interest.