America First: Why Americans Must End Free Trade, Stop Outsourcing and Close Our Open Borders
By Paul Streitz
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About this ebook
America First is a closely reasoned economic argument why Americans must end free trade, stop outsourcing and close its open borders. America First is a direct attack on current free trade economics and globalization.
The book contends that these two economic theories have damaged the American middle-class and lower income workers in particular. America First proposes that Americans must return to the policies of protecting American manufacturers and American workers. It contends that the economic policies of Alexander Hamilton led the country to economic prosperity and that these policies of high tariffs and protection of the American workers must return.
Paul Streitz
Paul Streitz is a graduate of Hamilton College and has an MBA from the University of Chicago. He is the co-author of two musicals, OH, JOHNNY and Madison Avenue, the subliminal musical. He is author of Oxford: Son of Queen Elizabeth I, The Great American College Tuition Rip-off and America First: Why Americans Must End Free Trade, Stop Outsourcing and Close Out Open Borders. He has lectured on the Shakespeare authorship issue at Harvard University, the University of Cambridge and the University of London. He the founder of the Oxford Institute dedicated to the notion that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford is the writer known as "William Shakespeare." He is a member of the Shakespeare Authorship Society and the Shakespeare Fellowship.
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Oxford: Son of Queen Elizabeth I Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Great American College Tuition Rip-off Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shakespeare In Italy, the Bard's forbidden romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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Reviews for America First
2 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Paul Streitz has written a very valuable book of under 200 pages that explains how America´s first Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton planned an economic system that would provide opportunities for all Americans and encourage American national development. He explicitly wanted to avoid the formation of a disconnected elite of the British colonial or southern slave owning type.Move on to the new millennium, and the author shows beyond doubt that America is now the unfortunate host to a new elite who enjoy wealth and power beyond the imagination of British colonials or Southern planters. They are loosely described as "special interests" (i.e. not the interests of the 95% of other Americans) and have erected a series of complex barriers to protect their power and wealth. These include direct political contributions (money for laws), political revolving door directorships, neo-conservative think tanks and university departments and the media repeating neo-liberal free trade dogma and engaging in ferocious culture war attacks on any form of patriotism while promoting all forms of identity politics.Streitz interestingly doesn´t take political sides, he doesn´t believe in big government tax and welfare or trade unions, seeming to agree with what Ayn Rand actually said about the dangers of Communism/Socialism, while at the same time he emphasises the need for GOOD government but not NO government, or minimal government of the kind advocated by Milton Friedman and supported by Reagan inspired free market activists. He sees the climax of this thinking under the Democratic Clinton administration with the repeal of Glass-Steagall Act (giving Wall St access to main street bank deposits) and the passing of NAFTA (an invitation to move whole sectors of industry to Mexico).The author provides a very complete look at the "Comparative Advantage" argument for Free Trade and shows beyond doubt that 1) the offshoring of whole industries is harmful to the U.S., 2) off shored industrial jobs are not replaced by higher paying service jobs 3) anything that can be done by a computer can also be off shored i.e. high skilled service jobs 4) offshoring generates unemployment, trade deficits and budget deficits that become debt which is just dumped onto the 95% of onshore U.S. taxpayers.Combine all this with mobile capital and technology and the quote of Gilbert Williamson, president of NCR could sum up the views of many corporate leaders, "I was asked the other day about U.S. competitiveness, and I replied that I don´t think about it at all. We at NCR think of ourselves as a globally competitive company that happens to be headquartered in the United States". Or Brian Valentine, a senior vice-president at Microsoft, nº2 in the Windows development unit, urging managers to, "pick something to move offshore today." In India you can get, "quality work at 50% to 60% of the cost. That´s two heads for the price of one."All Americans absolutely need to buy and read this book.
Book preview
America First - Paul Streitz
AMERICA FIRST
Why Americans Must End Free Trade, Stop Outsourcing and Close Our Open Borders
by Paul Streitz
Copyright © 2006 Paul Streitz
All rights reserved
Published by Paul Streitz at Smashwords
Library of Congress Control Number: 2006930334
Oxford Institute Press
8 William Street
Darien, CT 06820
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
About the Author:
Paul Streitz has an AB from Hamilton College and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He was a platoon leader with the 82nd Airborne in Vietnam. He was a candidate for the Republican nomination to U.S. Senate in Connecticut in 2004 and 2006. He is a founder of Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control and served as a Minuteman on the Arizona border in 2005.
He is co-author of the musicals Oh, Johnny and Madison Avenue, the subliminal musical. He is the author of Oxford: Son of Queen Elizabeth I, a biography of the author behind the pen name William Shakespeare.
For
Alexander Hamilton, Henry Clay,
Abraham Lincoln, Friedrich List,
John M. Culbertson and Pat Buchanan
Table of Contents
Free Trade: Ultimate-Outsourcing
AMERICA FIRST TRADE DECLARATION
AMERICA FIRST IMMIGRATION POLICY
The Myth of Free Trade
1912 Republican Party Platform
The Genius of Alexander Hamilton
The Gnomes of Chicago
The Fallacy of Comparative Advantage
Destruction of the Workers’ Paradise
Freedom Produces Capitalism
The Merchants of Venice
Great Britain Was Never A Free Trade Country
Kodak vs. Fuji Film
NAFTA
Protected, Slave, Communist & Free Trade Economies
Americans Don’t Want Free Trade
Protection Is the Government’s Business
The Nation of Immigrants Myth
Liberty Enlightening the World
The Impact of Immigration on African-Americans
Labor Unions Sell-Out the American Worker
Mexifornia & Reconquista
H-1B’s, L-1B’s and Outsourcing
Refugee Dumping
Afterword—There is Hope
Bibliography
Tables, Charts, Illustrations
Destruction of the Workers Paradise
Manufacturing Wages in 1982 Dollars
U.S.A. Mean Household Income vs. Median
Help China Build Nukes
Connecticut Manufacturing Employment
NAFTA Hall of Shame
USA Manufacturing Jobs in Millions
Displaced Workers Who Lost Full-Time Wage Jobs
Hourly Manufacturing Compensation in U.S. Dollars
Wealth Distribution—Slave, Communism, Free Trade
Donors to Federal Elections
Wealth Distribution—Protected Economy
CEO Compensation
IQ—Profession, Learning Style, Life Skills
Attitudes on U.S. Trade
Trade Deficit by Country in Billions
Annual Trade Deficit
Utopian Delusions
U.S. Population in Millions
Attitudes on Deploying Troops on the Border & Amnesty
U.S. Demographics 1965 vs. 2002
Number of Murders CA & NY vs. Six Low Immigration States
African-American Income
Aztlan Map
Cost of Sending Illegals and Children of Illegals to School
Wages for Software Professionals
Job Destruction Newsletter
US India Political Action Committee
Senator Joe Lieberman Labor Condition Applications
Labor Condition Applications
Companies Currently Outsourcing Work Abroad
Free Trade: Ultimate-Outsourcing
Americans understand that outsourcing
is disastrous for the average American worker to the point that it has become an adjective and a verb. American jobs are outsourced
and American workers have been outsourced.
In contrast, they believe that Free Trade
is a positive. It conjures up the free market, free association and the right to do freely do business without government interference. Free trade is actually something far different because it allows manufacturers in a country to engage in business regardless of the impact on the workers of their country.
Free trade is the outsourcing of American white-collar jobs such as computer programming and customer service to a foreign country via the Internet and modern communication.
Free trade is the outsourcing jobs to imported workers from foreign countries. When American workers lose their jobs to unskilled workers at the low end or high tech workers on special visas, the Americans have had their jobs outsourced.
Finally, free trade is outsourcing
when entire factories and industries are moved abroad. All of our computer manufacturing has been outsourced
to China, while about half of auto manufacturing has been outsourced Many American companies keep only a sales and financial headquarters in the United States. The manufacturing jobs that go with these companies have been outsourced.
All of the above replace American workers with foreign cheap foreign labor. This inflates the profits of the companies using such labor and destroys the American middle-class who makes its living from its labor, not from its stock investments.
Free Trade advocates in academia, the press and political circles tell the American public that the benefits of Free Trade and outsourcing of America outweigh the losses. American workers that have been laid off, or reduced to lower incomes, know this is a lie.
America must restore the protected economy developed by Alexander Hamilton that served the United States well for over two centuries. This can be done. It must be done.
AMERICA FIRST TRADE DECLARATION
THE UNITED STATES SHALL CONDUCT FOREIGN TRADE TO IMPROVE THE LIVING STANDARD OF AMERICAN CITIZENS.
THE UNITED STATES SHALL BE A SELF-SUFFICIENT, PRODUCTIVE, WEALTHY COUNTRY.
THE UNITED STATES SHALL NOT CONDUCT ITS FOREIGN TRADE TO IMPROVE LIVING STANDARDS AROUND THE WORLD BY DESTROYING THE AMERICAN ECONOMY.
I. FREE TRADE IS A RACE TO THE BOTTOM.
II. PROTECT MANUFACTURERS. WORKERS WITHOUT JOBS CANNOT BE CONSUMERS.
III. PROTECT FARMERS. FARMERS DRIVEN OFF THE LAND CANNOT GROW CROPS.
IV. DO NOT IMPORT CHEAP FOREIGN LABOR.
V. DO NOT OUTSOURCE TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES.
VI. DO NOT PERMIT AMERICAN COMPANIES TO MANUFACTURE GOODS ABROAD WITH LOW COST FOREIGN LABOR AND IMPORT SUCH GOODS INTO THE UNITED STATES.
VII. PLACE TARIFFS ON IMPORTED MANUFACTURED AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, SO THEY ARE ALWAYS MORE EXPENSIVE THAN DOMESTICALLY PRODUCED.
VIII. DO NOT BE SEDUCED BY LOW PRICED FOREIGN GOODS. AS CONSUMERS CITIZENS MAY BENEFIT TODAY, BUT AS WORKERS THEY WILL LOSE THEIR JOBS TOMORROW.
AMERICA FIRST IMMIGRATION POLICY
THE UNITED STATES SHALL ADMIT IMMIGRANTS AT ITS DISCRETION FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
1. Immigration moratorium for seven years.
2. Return to zero net immigration (no population growth due to immigration).
3. Rescind all H-1B, L-1, etc, visas.
4. Rescind all religious visas.
5. End all outsourcing via the Internet and telecommunications.
6. End anchor babies. Any child born of an illegal or transient in the United States is not a citizen of this country.
7. Deport illegal alien criminals now in State and Federal prisons to their home countries.
8. Revoke the citizenship and deport any naturalized American convicted of a felony.
9. Private citizens shall have the right to sue local, state and federal government for non-enforcement of immigration laws.
10. Establish English as the language of the United States. There shall be no federal requirements to provide documents in any other language.
11. Prevent any social security benefits for illegal aliens.
12. Expedite the removal of illegal aliens.
13. Eliminate the visa lottery.
14. End immigration through refugee status. Repatriate all refugees to their home countries.
15. Private citizens and employees shall have the right to RICO lawsuits against employers hiring illegals.
16. Illegal aliens of other countries entering the United States from Mexico shall be returned to Mexico (by force of arms if necessary).
17. Require the use of Federal Troops on the border.
The Myth of Free Trade
Much Bad News
100 Million Flags
More than 100 million foreign-made flags hit U.S. shores in the last three months of 2001, according to government trade data.
– Los Angeles Times
Where Can We Ship Your Job Today?
In a recent PowerPoint presentation, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) Senior Vice-President Brian Valentine–the No. 2 exec in the company's Windows unit–urged managers to pick something to move offshore today.
In India, said the briefing, you can get quality work at 50% to 60% of the cost. That's two heads for the price of one.
– Business Week
Who Needs An Extra $136 Billion In Wages?
Over the next 15 years, 3.3 million U.S. service industry jobs and $136 billion in wages will move offshore to countries like India, Russia, China and the Philippines,
Forrester analyst John McCarthy predicted in a report last year. The IT industry will lead the initial overseas exodus.
– CNN
45 Cents Doesn't Go Too Far
The real median hourly wage in 1973 was $12.45 – measured in 2000 dollars. In 2000, it was about $12.90.
– Duluth News Tribune
760,000 Down, Only 10 Million More To Go
In one industry after another—clothing, furniture, light electronics—domestic manufacturers unable to match Chinese prices have gone out of business or shifted production abroad. A recent study done for a Congressional panel found that at least 760,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs have migrated to China since 1992.
– Los Angeles Times
Wipe Out
A connection? The number of manufacturing jobs in Los Angeles County fell in the decade to 587,000 from 861,000, a decrease of 32%, census data show . . . Los Angeles County's median income dropped from $45,600 in 1990 to $42,200 in 2000 when adjusted for inflation.
– Los Angeles Times
A Great New Service Economy Job
Rick Payne is working full time in one of those big home improvement stores. But he’s supporting a wife and four kids on $7.50 an hour. When we sat down with Payne, his wife Alexis and 12-year-old, Brandon, they had $17 to their name.
– 60 Minutes II
An Export Platform
About half of China's exports come from foreign-invested manufacturers.
– Financial Times
Accelerating The Race To The Bottom
The majority of the jobs are going to be moved overseas in the next five years. There's just no way around it,
said Teresa Hartsaw, chief executive of ePerformax, a Memphis, Tenn., firm that operates its three call centers in the Philippines. Hartsaw said corporations can cut their costs by 70 percent by using offshore employees.
– The Denver Post
A Lose-Lose Situation
Wouldn't it be refreshing if our officials in Washington had the courage to admit what most voters have long figured out—that making goods cheaply in developing countries hasn't done much to raise the standard of living for most foreign workers, nor has it turned them into consumers of American products. Rather, in too many instances, global trade has meant soaring unemployment for low-skilled Americans who can least afford to lose their jobs.
– Charlotte Observer
Adam Smith on Trade
By trade, Smith meant precisely that. Goods produced within each country would be exported to pay for imports of goods from other countries. Smith did not cover the case that we experience today where U.S. firms relocate their capital and technology in China and India and employ labor in those countries to produce the products that U.S. firms sell in U.S. markets. This is not trade in the Smithian sense, and it is unclear what the gains are to the U.S. Shareholders and executives of global firms benefit from higher profits, and U.S. consumers pay lower prices until the dollar drops in value from the run-up in the trade deficit. Offset against lower prices is the loss of the jobs or incomes associated with the production that is moved offshore.
– Paul Craig Roberts
American Manufacturer Tells It Like It Is
We are a small job shop in Arizona. Two years ago, we had 36 employees. We now have 12. Two of our customers have moved their source of supply offshore and have told us to expand into Mexico or lose them as customers due to labor costs. Good luck USA.
– Mike Kapel, American Precision Machining Inc., Phoenix
Apparel Jobs
Textiles have lost 220,000 jobs in the last decade, a third of the workforce. In apparels, 400,000 lost jobs, a 40% reduction. 148,000 textile jobs lost in the past year, more than 100 mills closed.
– Boston Globe
Average Salary in China
The average salary for factory workers in China is the equivalent of $73 to $75 a month in U.S. dollars, says Eddie Tsai, general manager for sales at Fu Sheng's Taoyuan factory.
– Copley News Service
It Matters Where It's Made
When the United States exports 1,000 cars to Germany or Mexico, plants in this country employ U.S. workers in their production,
writes the report's author, Robert Scott, an institute economist. If, however, the U.S. imports 1,000 cars from Germany or Mexico rather than building them domestically, then a similar number of U.S. workers who would have otherwise been employed in the auto industry will have to find other work.
– Des Moines Register
Japan Says No To U.S. Cars
Chevrolet led American car sales in Japan for April 2002 with 580, Chrysler sold 558 and Ford sold 337.
– Associated Press
Can't Wait For The Asian Market
Can't wait for that Asian market! Hyundai, South Korea's largest automaker exported 600,000 autos to the United States in 2000. GM exported 285 cars to South Korea.
– Reuters News Service
Does China Really Need The Help
Geoffrey Jackson, TDA's regional director for Asia, said the agency had awarded close to $10 million in grants to China this year. The average grant is about $350,000-$500,000, he said at a news briefing. One grant of $417,000 will go to China's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation to establish an electronic learning program to educate officials and the public about the World Trade Organization.
– The Wall Street Journal
Even Knowledge Workers Aren't Safe
All kinds of knowledge work can be done almost anywhere. You will see an explosion of work going overseas,
says Forrester Research Inc. analyst John C. McCarthy. He goes so far as to predict at least 3.3 million white-collar jobs and $136 billion in wages will shift from the U.S. to low-cost countries by 2015.
– Business Week
1912 Republican Party Platform
We reaffirm our belief in a protective tariff. The Republican tariff policy has been of the greatest benefit to the country, developing our resources, diversifying our industries, and protecting our workmen against competition with cheaper labor abroad, thus establishing for our wage-earners the American standard of living. The protective tariff is so woven into the fabric of our industrial and agricultural life that to substitute for it a tariff for revenue only would destroy many industries and throw millions of our people out of employment. The products of the farm and of the mine should receive the same measure of protection as other products of American labor
[http://1912.history.ohio-state.edu/Tariff/Parties/republic.htm, September 2003. Quotes found at Trade Alert website, 2004, produced by The U.S. Business and Industry Council Educational Foundation.]
The Genius of Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was the second son of Rachel Faucett and James Hamilton a Scotsman who had immigrated to the West Indies. They had cohabited for fifteen years after she had separated from her first husband, but the terms of the divorce did not allow her to remarry. Hamilton was born on the island of Nevis on January 11, 1757. His father eventually abandoned his mother, who opened a retail store that sold food and other items to local plantations on the island of St. Croix. While the exact duties of the young Hamilton cannot be precisely determined, it is very likely that he obtained an early practical lesson in the keeping of accounts and managing a business. At the age of eleven, his mother died. The young boy was taken in by Thomas Stevens the father of one of his friends. Hamilton worked for Becker & Cruger an import-export firm, and when Cruger took a trip to New York, he left the young Hamilton in charge of the business for several months. Hamilton was fourteen.
Most telling comments about Hamilton are in a biography by Forrest McDonald, where he described Hamilton as looking at economic problems from the bottom up. That is, Hamilton looked at economic problems through the lens of how it would affect the common man, the laborer and the farmer. While well read, Hamilton did not seem to have any overriding political or economic ideology. Rather, he seemed to have a series of astute observations about the workings of economies and the motivations of people. Perhaps this was because Hamilton was thrown into managing a business at an early age and saw how economic decisions affected livelihoods. He had the unusual combination of academic brilliance grounded in practical reality.
In the spring of 1772, a Reverend Hugh Knox arrived on St. Croix and organized plans for the young man’s education. Knox, a Princeton man himself, decided that Hamilton should depart for the Colonies and Princeton. Hamilton arrived in New York and began his preparation for college. In his application, he wrote that he wanted to advance from class to class as rapidly as his talents permitted, and not be bound to a formal schedule. His application was rejected. Hamilton was accepted at King’s College in New York (Columbia University) on his own terms.
When the Revolution broke out, he became an officer in the army. He was a captain of an artillery company and distinguished himself as fearless in battle. He came to the attention of General Washington and Hamilton joined his staff. His position would be described as a modern chief of staff with the rank of lieutenant colonel. As well as his intellectual powers, Hamilton was a soldier brave, to the point of recklessness. In the last battle of the war, Hamilton was one of the first officers over the parapet at Yorktown.
During the period between the end of the Revolutionary War and the establishment of the United States, Hamilton trained himself as a lawyer and become a self-taught financier. In preparation for his law exam in New York, he made a 177-page notebook from the many texts used to teach law at the time. His notes were made into a manuscript, which was later copied and used by other law students. This evolved into a published manual for New York lawyers. It should also be noted that Hamilton was one of the first lawyers who maintained that the judiciary had a right to review laws to determine if they were constitutional, one of the bedrock principles of American democracy. Among other things, he founded the Bank of New York, participated in the agreements that led to the New York Stock Exchange and was a founder of the New York Post, all still in existence.
Hamilton’s participation in the founding of the New York Stock Exchange was more than a way of financing companies; it was a radically different perspective compared to Thomas Jefferson and the Southern slave-owners. For them, business was done between trusted friends of limited number. It was a close circle of