In a recent bulletin that he sent out to those on his mailing list, Dylan Ratigan explained that to create sustainable and decently paid jobs, a country must have more money coming in than going out. But we have the exact opposite, he says, with much more money leaving the country than we have coming in! And until we reverse that trillion-dollar imbalance, it is mathematically impossible to create anywhere near enough of the kind of jobs Americans need to climb back into the middle class.
There are three main components of the US economy that affect and determine the flow of money in or out of our country and thus the number of good jobs that will be generated. They are: Trade, Taxes, and Banking. Let's examine each one and ask what the government might do with each one to trigger the creation of more jobs.
1. Trade: Our Government Must Incentivize Corporations to Keep Jobs Here
If you look at the math of the so-called free trade agreements such as NAFTA, you will see that they put our country at a disadvantage and literally force American CEO's to do business that rewards them and their companies but hurts the rest of us.
All the deals our government makes with corporations are aimed at making it easier and more profitable to export jobs, sending investment money overseas and keeping the cash profits offshore rather than invest any of it here at home. Consider Caterpillar as an example.
They now make a lot of heavy equipment in China. If they made it here like they used to, it would face a 25% tax from the Chinese Government to export it into China, but if they make it in China -- NO TAX.
Why is this a problem? Because Chinese imports coming into America are taxed at only 2.5%! This means that Caterpillar gets a giant discount on all equipment it builds and sells in China -- hence the incentive to export jobs and investment money to China. It is the job of Jim Owens, the CEO of Caterpillar, to maximize profits for his company and shareholders. If you or I ran Caterpillar, we'd either export jobs and money to China, as the clear and obvious way to maximize our company's profits (under existing laws and tariff arrangements), or be fired just like Jim would be.
However, if our government had the courage to level the playing field (by increasing the tariffs on goods imported from China), the Jim Owens' of the world could say, "Let's make more of our products in America." Until then, it's bye-bye jobs and bye-bye investment cash, in favor of highly profitable, rigged trade agreements designed for no other purpose than to allow the extreme profits of all corporations big enough to build a factory in China.
Simple conclusion: We must level this playing field (i.e. balance our tariff arrangements) if we're going to trigger the creation of more jobs in America.
2. Ending the Rigged Tax Code Would Mean Many More Jobs in America
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