News on Tap – Ray Tapajna

The American Dream Is Burning Away 

A Geopolitical overview of USA industrial capabilities and what we lost – based on Army Officer Manual from 1950s .

U.S. surrenders to free trade economics – and what we lost

Before World War 2, the average industrial worker in America was provided with a machine which added 6.4 horsepower to his efforts. Our closest competitor in the industrial world was Germany. They, had only 2.61 horsepower per worker in industry, followed by England with 2.56, Canada with 2.17, Italy with 2.14 and France with 1.78.

Today our industrial worker horsepower is practically zero. We  have lost our way due to free trade economics.

Back then, manufacturing in the U.S. employed more than a fourth of our population and provides more than a fourth of our national income. Its products are sufficient to supply domestic needs and account for three-quarters of our exports. Our most important industries were automobiles, steel and iron, airplanes, cotton textiles, meat packing and oil refining. The army officer manual, said the U.S. was fortunate being self-sufficient in oil since the Middle East represented a place where any wars would be would be very difficult to control if not impossible. History told us to stay out of the Middle East because it depletes and nation with one ever winning.

Great as American industry was before the war, its magnificient performance amazed even Americans. It turned out more than three times as much war material as Great Britain and the U.S.S.R combined.

The United States probably was as close to being self-sufficient as any nation can ever be. Now however, almost any material shortage is a legitimate cause for concern to military leaders.To maintain a strong position, we should  consolidate our strengths and compensate for our weaknesses. Due to free trade economics this seems to be an endless task since the most awesome industrial power the world has ever known has been shredded with the pieces spread across the globe.  In effect, we have lost World War 2  more than fifty years after the fact.

Instead of filling the voids, our U.S. government did something else. In 1956, the U.S. Federal Government sponsored the moving of factories outside of the U.S. It was supposed to be a temporary program but it  never ended. It first evolved into the maquiladora factory program in

Mexico.

The process was later was called free trade with the globalist free traders saying Great Depression was caused by protectionism. This was not true. As our recent bail out in 2008, the first depression was based on money.  The stock market crashed and the rest of the world did not have money to conduct trade. President Roosevelt had the power to raise, lower or cut out all tariffs had enough money to conduct any kind of trade. Protectionism was beside the point. President Roosevelt tried many things to trigger trade but none kicked in. Finally, he said he would not let the lack of dollars stand in his way. He created the Lend Lease program which exported products and food to the allies without worrying about payment upfront. This is triggered the most awesome industrial might and food supplier the world has ever known. The horsepower of American workers kicked in.

Lend Lease was real free trade and not chop liver as in the globalist free trade world. ( Search under this title for article .) t he U.S. not only supplied their own needs from raw products up through several added value stages to the retail or end user level but had the abundance to

support the Lend Lease program. This was the largest exporting program ever in the world. And what happen?  The U.S. opted for free trade economics and lost World War 2 more than fifty years after the fact. Those responsible for free trade would have been considered  traders.

President Clinton led the way in force fed  free trade economics.  He gave our technology away to China etc. while millions of Americans lost their jobs and businesses.

Our military in the 1950s said it was a good thing we did not have to protect any interests the Middle East . They did not know our government would in later years,  lack the common sense to fight an almost impossible war there. The U.S. forced to protect its interests went to war in an impossible region of the world with a new type of colonialism surfacing as nations find their interests are spread across the globe

The U.S. could have had a new Marshall Plan that restored economies in Europe and Asia. The Marshall Plan showed others how to duplicate success. It was not about putting workers on a global block to compete for the same jobs. With at least more than a billion people in the world who will work for practically nothing to survive to nothing, it is indeed a race to the bottom. It leads to wars and unrest everywhere.

The trade deficit has broken records for more than a generation. The value of workers and labor has been degraded and deflated for the sake of more profit for just a few. This all represents trillions of dollars in value lost forever. Just think of what all the money could have accomplished not only for the U.S. but the whole world. We could have had a new form of Lend Lease exporting economy, instead of a free market reserved for only a few. We could have had ten  Marshall Plans

like the one we  had to restore European and Asian economies art the war.  Also back then, we were able to afford the GI Bill which created a vast new middle class after the war. Now college loans debts are overwhelming generations of Americans.

Who said we had to compete like this for the same jobs  in a global economic arena?  It has become an economic gladiator existence for most everyone.