are y'all better off than you were 4 years ago ?

[chickened]

Emotional reply with no truth to it. The president has brought several cases in front of the World Trade Organization and has had nearly 100% success in complaints against China. Look at his success with imposing tariffs on Chinese tires or more recently about tariffs on U.S. steel.

The difference between our president and his challenger is that Mitt Romney has made it clear that "on day one" he is going to label China a currency manipulator. They are, sure, but doing so will no doubt be seen as outright disrespect and will hinder relations with the Chinese, especially in the area of trade. Our president, on the other hand, uses the World Trade Organization as a intermediary. This keeps things fair, almost like a court of law, and if they rule against China it won't be seen as disrespectful. chickened might call that spineless and cowardly but the majority of people call it calculated and professional.

China is a competitor and need be treated as such and that takes a backbone. China is not our friend Cupman understand that and things are different.

Being nice and fair may work in gradeschool but when the scoreboard is used nice and fair no longer works, otherwise dont keep score.

 

[rikithemonk]

He is spineless... real tough when bad mouthing a hurricane that is on its way out but he is a coward when it comes to real issues or maybe a pacifist. In one word... inexperienced.

Toanswer your question he is not going to rock the boat for a bunch of reasons but mainly I think he just does not want the drama.

I cant believe people actually believe this.

Its really very simple. The united states is the way that it is because, this is the way that they want it to be. They have zero intention of changing it. Any politician that ever finds himself challenging those who are truly in charge of things, will find himself either arrested for child porn or will have been found to have committed suicide.

Don't think this is all an accident. Entire family fortunes rest on things remaining the way that they are. They care about themselves and their money. They don't care that the status quot is hurting you.

Riki

 

[cupman]

With all due respect, chickened, you are the one who doesn't understand. Telling China to pound sand is not going to help us in any way. Read the link I posted to hemet dennis about tarriffs.

 

[rufus]

When you talk of "multinational US corporations" you are only talking about companies that have their incorporation in the US. Who owns these companies is a different thing. The stock is held by pension funds, individual investors, foreign investors including foreign government entities. Who knows who owns the controlling interest.

These companies can move their incorporations abroad and save a ton of money in taxes. What if a company like Ford moved its corporate entity and manufacturing to say India or Malaysia? Then they would only have to pay US taxes on what little they earned off a US sales subsidiary. Of course they would have to pay the local corporate income tax, but that would be a much lower rate.

We have to be careful not to run off good taxpaying corporations.

 

[hemet dennis]

The answer is simple, a trade war would hurt both sides so there is really no purpose for it. The U.S. is so dependent on international trade that something as drastic as a trade war would not help our already weak economy, it would hurt it. It might sound good hearing a one liner from some political pundit but if you look at the ramifications of a trade war with China it is not such a spectacular idea. In any case I think both candidates have similar views on trade with China.

If you want a better explanation you can read about the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act of 1930. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot-Hawley_Tariff_Act_of_1930)

Any war will hurt some one. But when were exporting about $70 billion a to China and they're exporting about $270 billion to us. Who has the most to lose ? But to bring up the 1930's when we exported more then we imported is not keeping up with the times.

 

[rufus]

Can someone tell me why the present President is afraid of a trade war with China ?

Because the Chinese are the source of a lot of our credit. If the US cannot roll over its debt, it will have to deal with the problem. That means they will monetize the debt. The treasury will sell worthless bonds to the fed, and then fed will give worthless currency to the US government. This is the road to hyper inflation. The bills will get paid, but the money will be worthless. And so will your savings.

Luckily, the Chinese hold so much of our currency that they cannot dump it all on the market at once. They have to let it out slowly so that they get some value for it. Ever wonder where all the gold being bought up is going? What about all of the scrap metal that is disappearing? Things of value are heading to the Middle East and Far East.

What happens when money loses value? Stores hold back merchandise because they know that it will cost them more to restock the shelves than what they can get off of the current stock. The same holds true for all other economic activity. Inflation and hyper inflation can kill an economy. No matter how much the government drops into those food stamp accounts, the recipients won't be able to buy any thing. Then we will be in a real pickle.

 

[Baymule]

There are a lot of opinions about Obamacare. We voted early and while we waited, my DH struck up a conversation with another man that was also waiting. He turned out to be the manager of a local nursing home and he told his staff that if Obama wins, meaning that Obamacare won't be repealed, that he would have to lay off 15 of the employees. He crunched the numbers, and he just can't afford to keep everybody.

A lot of small businesses are going to be laying off employees or going to part time employees. I guess those who get laid off/reduced hours will be real happy about everyone having affordable healthcare. They will be poor and get their healthcare free while anyone left with a decent paying job will have the dubious honor of paying for their own, plus everybody else's.

Bill Clinton got elected on his "tax the rich" platform. What everyone seems to have forgotten is that the rich turned out to be anyone with a job. There is just not enough rich people or companies to support all the rest of us. The wealthy and big companies don't HAVE to stay in the United States. They can leave and take their wealth with them if taxes and ridiculous regulations get too stupid. Then we can be like Europe.

If I was wealthy and fixing to get kicked in my hard working behind so that my money could be redistributed to massage the popular sentiment of "spread the wealth" or "pay their fair share", then you can bet the bank I would leave this country. I love my country and it hurts me to see this class warfare and division between people of different monetary levels. I don't hate wealthy people, heck, I wished I was one. I am not entitled to what somebody else has earned, no matter what a bunch of mealy mouthed politicians say.

 

[rufus]

The Hawley Smoot tariff is cited by globalist as cause of the great depression. That is debatable. However, this tariff did preserve our industrial base. It was there when we needed it for World War II.

What would have happened if all of our industry was siphoned off to Japan in the 1930's as it is being now being siphoned off to China. We couldn't even begin to fight that war without the plants and equipment that lay dormant during the great depression.

I worry about our future relations with China. Currently they are in a confrontation with Japan and the Philippines over the Spratly Islands and undersea oil deposits.

 

[hemet dennis]

Because the Chinese are the source of a lot of our credit. If the US cannot roll over its debt, it will have to deal with the problem. That means they will monetize the debt. The treasury will sell worthless bonds to the fed, and then fed will give worthless currency to the US government. This is the road to hyper inflation. The bills will get paid, but the money will be worthless. And so will your savings.

Luckily, the Chinese hold so much of our currency that they cannot dump it all on the market at once. They have to let it out slowly so that they get some value for it. Ever wonder where all the gold being bought up is going? What about all of the scrap metal that is disappearing? Things of value are heading to the Middle East and Far East.

What happens when money loses value? Stores hold back merchandise because they know that it will cost them more to restock the shelves than what they can get off of the current stock. The same holds true for all other economic activity. Inflation and hyper inflation can kill an economy. No matter how much the government drops into those food stamp accounts, the recipients won't be able to buy any thing. Then we will be in a real pickle.

Wrong China only holds about 8% of our debt and holds less then it did a year ago. They haven't been investing in our debt for years.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/04/who-do-owe-most-that-16-trillion-to-hint-it-isnt-china/

 

[MamaRoo]

There are a lot of opinions about Obamacare. We voted early and while we waited, my DH struck up a conversation with another man that was also waiting. He turned out to be the manager of a local nursing home and he told his staff that if Obama wins, meaning that Obamacare won't be repealed, that he would have to lay off 15 of the employees. He crunched the numbers, and he just can't afford to keep everybody.

soo...he has 65 employees, and doesn't provide health insurance for any of them?


and the poor get free health care now, in the form of emergency room visits. It just happens to be the most expensive form of health care - for everyone else paying for it.

A link to a description of the health care reform: http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/28/smallbusiness/supreme-court-health-reform/index.htm