– A friend of mine sent me a copy of Obama’s most recent speech on the economy which was given on October 13th in Toledo, Ohio.   It’s an excellent speech with a lot of good ideas and moving rhetoric in it. I like Obama and I think he’s going to make a good president – maybe even a great one since, if there was ever an opportunity to be a great president, this is the time.  The problems requiring new thinking and new approaches are everywhere he’s going to be going.
– But, I scoured his speech looking for some recognition, some acknowledgment of the role multinational corporations have had in America’s decline – and I found none.
– I find it plausible that ideologues cannot see the role corporations are playing in the world today, but I do expect more from real intellectuals and thinkers.  And, I have to believe Obama *is* one of these.   He’s jut too good at what he does for it to be reasonable that he’s running on ideological auto-pilot.
– But, he doesn’t acknowledge, that I’ve seen, that he understands the place corporations occupy in the mess that America’s in.  And this, to me, is the best indication of just how very powerful and intractable the power of multinational corporations are – even in the highest levels of political power in the world.
– I believe he knows and I believe that he cannot say. Â Â It would be political suicide for him.
– So, when he talks about creating American jobs and about how hard-working American workers are, he’s ignoring the huge back-drop that colors and underlies all of this.  And that is the fact that corporations, for the benefit of their shareholders, have utterly no compunctions about sending American jobs overseas.
– America’s manufacturing has largely gone to foreign shores.  America’s intellectual work has largely gone to foreign shores.  As Globalism has become a major thread in the economies of the world and in the strategies employed by multinationals, America has gone from being a wealthy nation of hard working producers generating profit for the country to a nation of consumers who sate themselves on cheap throw-away goods from China and other countries while borrowing ever more and sending our wealth overseas at ever increasing rates.
– What I want to know is just what America is going to use to rebuild itself?
– All the politicians talk about us ‘buckling down to work‘ and recreating America the strong, the prosperous, the productive.  Just what are we going to use to do this?  We are becoming a cardboard store-front nation.  We look good, we talk some bad jive but behind the scenes, there isn’t a whole hell of a lot left.  And what’s left, our growing negative balance of trade and deep consumerist obsessions are combining to spew into the coffers of other countries and multinationals.
– And Obama and the other politicians tell us that we can overcome all of this – if we all just pull together and work hard.  Yeah, right.  That’s like tell the band on the Titanic that they can prevent the sinking if they just play louder.
– Take a look through his speech here: and see if you can see any acknowledgment in his remarks of the place corporations and globalism are playing in the downfall of America.
– Folks, there is a very large elephant in the room that all of the politicians are afraid to mention. Â But, until we take a square look at it, our economies, our global environments and our futures are going to be evermore in doubt.
And while you’re thinking about that, watch this:
The Corporation : Complete Movie
Corporations have immense power, and they still think they can win: and they will win if we accept their place in society.
I think I have an idea on how to regain our economy. First, we need to promote our in-house businesses and to encourage Americans to support our in-house products by placing higher tax on imported merchandise. We then use that tax monies to reward in-house businesses and our people. By placing higher import tax, we also adjust the prices and value between U.S and import products to our cost of living. I believe it is fair for both local and foreign businesses, and Americans will enjoy both U.S and import products.
This is, of course, called “Protectionism”. I used to think it was a bad thing. But now that I understand “Globalism” better, I wonder if this isn’t, at least partially, a better idea.
With Globalism, all of our economies are interdependent and money tends to flow from the richer economies to the poorer (nice to see the wealth more equitably distributed but hard to take if you are in one of the richer countries).
And, with Globalism, we are no longer using the food and products we depend upon from local sources. Now our food and various products come from half way around the world in many cases and, if there’s a hiccup in the world’s transportation systems because of war, pandemic, economic depression or whatever, suddenly, we are without what we need to just live. That’s not a smart dependency to be entangled with.
I’m in favor or international trade to a point. That point is reached when we find that having access to the products and food we need is out of our hands are we are vulnerable to events in other parts of the world.