FEMALE AUDIO NARRATOR
Leila@
portfolio_audio.pptxPORTFOLIO AUDIO POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
AMERICA’S ECONOMY IN CRISIS
Currently, the United States is experiencing a massive economic meltdown that only a few countries have ever witnessed
What is even more intriguing is that many people are oblivious of the straightforwardly observable signs of a country in economic crisis. They are neither aware of where the crisis came from nor how to end it. While we carry on with our superpower mentality, quietly we have become a second class nation in more than a few respects.
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America no longer produces what we need in order to sustain ourselves
Our imports now exceed our exports by a large margin. We are now selling our assets and we have accumulated massive debts while trying to sustain a level of living we no longer afford.
This is surely not how we became superpower, but it will certainly cost us this status. Our international competitors are succeeding in their game plan to render us totally dependent on foreign innovation, financing and production. In losing internal self sufficiency, leverage and national security, our foreign policy is suffering immensely, and our superpower status is now being questioned by friends and foes.
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We have failed even to recognize predatory foreign trade policies undercutting U.S.
Currency manipulation by China for example, meant that our country lost millions of jobs. What we doing instead is to encourage manufacturers in the U.S. to design, engineer as well as produce in emerging markets such as China and Mexico.
While the economy of our land struggles to get better all the while, China’s rapid economic progress continues to end poverty for the majority of its people. Here in the U.S. however, China’s abuse of global trade laws continues to hamper the lives of many millions of our people. While China has realized mind boggling economic growth in recent years, much of this is attributed to manipulation of its currency and low tariffs as a result of their most favored state status with the United States. This manipulation, as well as lack of tariffs, guarantees Chinese firms super profits and at the same time costs American workers their jobs.
Sherrod Brown, the Ohio senator, has observed that “Our country’s record trade deficit is more than just a statistic; it affects real jobs in important industries. When industry and the government get tough on cheaters and enforce our trade laws, America wins. That is why we need to act now and stand up for Ohio’s workers and businesses.”
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We should firstly take direct action in order to reverse America’s out-of-control trade deficits
Even as the tax systems and the regulatory unnecessarily raises domestic trade costs, the main cause of our economic crisis is 3 decades of tremendously detrimental globalization and trade practices.
American manufacturers can hardly compete with workers in developing nations who usually make $4 per hour or less. Our failed trade policies have brought us a negative trade balance of more than 10 trillion dollars for the past two decades.
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Secondly, we must prudently manage entrance to our markets
America should not be too naïve to depend on the trust that other nations will act in our standards in competition, environment and labor policies.
These standards heavily influence the cost of business and when other nations fail to hold themselves to set standards, they unfairly gain a cost advantage.
Entry to our markets should therefore be conditioned on systematic analysis of America’s national needs and interests first.
Currently, we have handed our domestic markets to global bodies such as the WTO (World Trade Organization) and we are committed to dangerous “free trade” agreements like the KORUS, CAFTA and NAFTA.
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A dramatic new economic direction is needed
The promotion of economic growth and open markets abroad will not alone be able to revive domestic industrial collapse and rebalance America’s negative trade accounts.
Our industries are so dismantled and disarmed that America now lacks the capacity, investment and knowledge to enable self sustaining production.
We must take a new direction where we invest in new technologies and infrastructure that will make the American manufacturing industry competitive with other global manufacturers.
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References
Tylecote, A. (2013). The Long Wave in the World Economy: the current crisis in historical perspective. Routledge.
Kee, H. L., Neagu, C., & Nicita, A. (2013). Is protectionism on the rise? Assessing national trade policies during the crisis of 2008. Review of Economics and Statistics, 95(1), 342-346.
Fitzgerald, E. V. K. (2013). The Fiscal Crisis of the Latin American State'. Taxation and Economic Development (Routledge Revivals): Twelve Critical Studies, 125.
