Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Trade Deficits

Even on C-SPAN they talk of a trade deficit with China. There are goods being manufactured in China for consumers in the United States. Goods were once manufactured in Mexico for the United States too.

A Mexican Ambassador once said that most of the companies in Mexico are American companies. It was the first and last time something like that was ever again said on television.

The trade deficit with China is a lie. The companies in China are American companies. The one truth is, however, that the money is going to China, but then it goes into the bank accounts of those who were once American, but now can globe-trot and thumb their noses at the citizenship rules by which the rest of us live.

They are the global entrepreneurs who have shed themselves of any sense of loyalty to their childhood nation. When Leona Helmsley said “only the little people pay taxes,” her biggest mistake was living in the United States when she said it.

So let’s think about it for a moment. If they are doing it, why shouldn't the rest of us? Why should we be hindered by the rules of patriotism shirked by those who control all of our natural resources?

I worked hard, like the dutiful Kamikaze pilot who celebrated his final flight with rituals and parties, but when his engine didn’t start, he walked off the runway to his superiors who previously proclaimed they would soon follow him, and he discovered that they had no such plan to die that day, or any day.

There was no reciprocal loyalty at work when I was laid off at AT&T. They paid me a wage so they didn’t have to consider my intrinsic value as a human being.

So, what makes you so sure that all your hard work will win the hearts and minds of those who are forced by law to pay your wages, taxes, health insurance, and other benefits?

Never assume that you have job security. Always look over your shoulder. It’s a cold hard world in America.

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