- The problem with many in Washington and the media is
that their only definition of a "good economy" is statistical.
The gross domestic product, however, does not tell us if we have a good
economy. We can increase the GDP by going into ruinous debt or by crashing
our cars or by buying a truckload of whiskey.
-
- Nor does the Dow Jones industrial average or any of the
other stock-market indexes tell us if we have a good economy. The stock
markets are akin to gambling casinos, where paper is bought and sold. It
is akin to usury, since it's an attempt to make money with money.
-
- You define a good economy by asking the right questions.
Are there jobs for everyone who wants one? Can working people afford decent
housing and adequate medical care on their salaries? Is the currency maintaining
its value so that people can save for their retirement? Are taxes both
low and equitable? Are usurious interest rates forbidden? Is the gap between
the rich and the poor shrinking instead of expanding?
-
- Right now, regardless of what the government statistics
look like, our economy is unhealthy. There are too many unemployed, too
many trying to live on unlivable wages, too many regressive taxes and too
many loopholes for the very rich. Housing and medical costs are skyrocketing,
while wages are actually dropping. Yet the government tells us that the
cost of living isn't increasing. That's actually because the government
changed the definitions some years ago.
-
- American jobs are being exported, and cheap labor in
the form of illegal immigrants is being imported. If you want to create
social conflict, then create a situation in which surplus people have to
fight each other over the crumbs at the bottom of the economic ladder.
-
- People are encouraged to go into debt, and indeed debt
- personal, corporate and government - is at staggering levels. Remembering
that debt is a claim on future income for past consumption, I don't think
there is much room for genuine economic growth in the future.
-
- If you were inclined at all toward conspiracy theories,
it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine some evil oligarchy deliberately wrecking
America. After all, the policies that are causing the problems - the export
of jobs under the guise of free trade, a deliberately devalued currency,
open borders, huge government deficits, all-time record trade deficits,
and encouragement of usury and consolidation of wealth in fewer hands -
are deliberate. Moreover, even debate about these policies is discouraged.
Recently, when Howard Dean questioned these pseudo-free-trade policies,
Joe Lieberman immediately accused him of wanting to cause a depression.
-
- The high price of gold (on this day about $400 an ounce)
tells you that some rich people are worried about the future of the American
economy. Gold is traditionally the survivor's investment. Unfortunately,
central banks have so much of it, they can dump it on the market and crash
the price if they choose to do so. But even so, when everything else crashes
and fails, those with gold will have buying power.
-
- I strongly believe George Bush's administration should
be ousted in 2004 for domestic blundering, let alone foreign blundering.
It wouldn't hurt to also clean out the House and the Senate.
-
- We have to stop the export of jobs and devise a policy
to bring them back. You can do that with tariffs by telling corporations
that if they make their products in Mexico or China, to sell them in Mexico
or China, because the products aren't coming into the United States.
-
- We must replace "free" trade with fair trade.
At present, we are allowing lousy rich corporations to pay sweatshop wages
in Asia and sell their products at high American prices in the United States.
The heads of these corporations are swine. They dump Americans into the
unemployment lines, exploit foreign labor like a 19th-century slave owner,
and then gouge American consumers, relying on advertising and celebrity
endorsements to peddle their junk.
-
- This has to stop. Any politician who claims he or she
is going to do something about the loss of American jobs but defends free
trade is a liar. There are two things all countries must have if they are
to prosper: strong agriculture and a strong manufacturing base. Both of
these pillars of prosperity are eroding to the point of collapse. When
we get to the point where we are all consumption and no production, we're
dead as a nation.
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- © 2003 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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