Crashk
Unite or Die
I know it's a lot to ask. But the book is free, 1 chapter a week.
http://www.truth-out.org/thom-hartmann-rebooting-the-american-dream-07112010
http://www.truth-out.org/rebooting-american-dream-chapter-one-bring-my-job-home65127
"...it was another Founding Father, Alexander Hamilton, who knew best how to spawn American industry to make the country independent and competitive. As the nation’s first Treasury secretary, Hamilton submitted his Report on the Subject of Manufactures in 1791 to the U.S. Congress, outlining the need for our government to foster new industries through “bounties” (subsidies) and subsequently protect them from foreign imports until they become globally competitive. Additionally, he proposed a road map for American industrial development. These steps included protective tariffs on imports, import bans, subsidies, export bans on selected materials, and the development of product standards. (See “Alexander Hamilton’s 11-point Plan for ‘American Manufactures’” in the introduction.)
It was this approach of putting America first that our government followed for most of our history, with average tariffs of 30 to 40 percent through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There is no denying that it helped turn America into an industrial and economic juggernaut in the midtwentieth century and beyond. The three periods when we radically dropped tariffs—for three years in 1857, for nine years in 1913, and by Reagan in 1987— all were followed by economic disasters, particularly for small American manufacturers.
The post-Reagan era has been particularly destructive to our economy because we not only mostly eliminated the tariffs but we also became “free trade” proponents on the international stage. After Reagan blew out our tariffs in the 1980s and Clinton kicked the door off the hinges with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and World Trade Organization (WTO), our average tariffs are now around 2 percent. The predictable result has been the hemorrhaging of American manufacturing capacity to those countries that do protect their industries through high import tariffs but allow exports on the cheap—particularly China and South Korea.
The irony is that we have abandoned Hamilton’s advice—and our own history—while China, South Korea, Japan, and other nations are following his prescriptions and turning into muscular and prosperous economic entities.
It’s high time we relearned Alexander Hamilton’s lessons for our nation..."
http://www.truth-out.org/thom-hartmann-rebooting-the-american-dream-07112010
http://www.truth-out.org/rebooting-american-dream-chapter-one-bring-my-job-home65127
"...it was another Founding Father, Alexander Hamilton, who knew best how to spawn American industry to make the country independent and competitive. As the nation’s first Treasury secretary, Hamilton submitted his Report on the Subject of Manufactures in 1791 to the U.S. Congress, outlining the need for our government to foster new industries through “bounties” (subsidies) and subsequently protect them from foreign imports until they become globally competitive. Additionally, he proposed a road map for American industrial development. These steps included protective tariffs on imports, import bans, subsidies, export bans on selected materials, and the development of product standards. (See “Alexander Hamilton’s 11-point Plan for ‘American Manufactures’” in the introduction.)
It was this approach of putting America first that our government followed for most of our history, with average tariffs of 30 to 40 percent through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There is no denying that it helped turn America into an industrial and economic juggernaut in the midtwentieth century and beyond. The three periods when we radically dropped tariffs—for three years in 1857, for nine years in 1913, and by Reagan in 1987— all were followed by economic disasters, particularly for small American manufacturers.
The post-Reagan era has been particularly destructive to our economy because we not only mostly eliminated the tariffs but we also became “free trade” proponents on the international stage. After Reagan blew out our tariffs in the 1980s and Clinton kicked the door off the hinges with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and World Trade Organization (WTO), our average tariffs are now around 2 percent. The predictable result has been the hemorrhaging of American manufacturing capacity to those countries that do protect their industries through high import tariffs but allow exports on the cheap—particularly China and South Korea.
The irony is that we have abandoned Hamilton’s advice—and our own history—while China, South Korea, Japan, and other nations are following his prescriptions and turning into muscular and prosperous economic entities.
It’s high time we relearned Alexander Hamilton’s lessons for our nation..."
