The Folly Of Free Trade And Uncontrolled Globalization & Their Devastating Effects On The American Economy

THE FOLLY OF FREE TRADE AND UNCONTROLLED GLOBALIZATION & THEIR DEVASTATING EFFECTS ON THE AMERICAN ECONOMY

There is an ingrained belief by those who hold firm to the illusive and harsh doctrine of Lassie faire Global capitalism, that the invisible hand of the market will correct the economic ails that is now afflicting the world community due to the economic meltdown. They point with absolute certainty that the current economic crisis and malaise can be attributed to overbearing government interference, the out of control welfare states of Japan, Europe and the United States, and a choking regulatory environment that penalizes entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and Chief executives of fortune 500 companies. They condemn the poor, working class, emerging nations, and those struggling to get by as ignorant, lazy, and not having the drive to improve their situation. What we have seen so far is not innovation but rather the three heads of Greed, selfishness, and arrogance. Like a three-headed hydra it consumes instead of building and wrecking havoc and destruction in its past. To silence the voices of those who still cling to the notion of outsourcing of jobs and capitals to destinations unknown, it is now predicted the economic recovery that is taking place now is a jobless recovery. One where profits takes precedence over rebuilding the manufacturing and technology sectors which provides jobs that have traditionally sustained the Middle Class in this country which translates into the purchase of consumer goods which drives the economy.

This article is for the intended use of educational purposes only. Permission is granted for citation in academic documents as long as credit is given to the author as the original source. By Richard L. Dixon. Email address: [email protected]

“Alongside other economic indications of a stabilizing housing market and rising consumer confidence, the unemployment figures offered a glimmer of hope that we may be on the cusp of an economic turnaround and the end of job destruction. But it’s highly unlikely this economy will produce meaningful job creation anytime soon. The financial fallout from the biggest recession in 60 years is likely to be so costly and so pervasive that new-job creation is likely to be virtually nonexistent for years to come, particularly in the manufacturing and construction industries It’s going to take five or six years for homebuilders and automakers to fully recover from this recession, and it may take longer,” says Martin Hutchinson, a Money Morning contributing editor who has written extensively about the current downturn. “You’re not going to see aggressive hiring in those industries for a good while.” Hutchinson says the automobile business is in particular difficulty from outsourcing. “A great deal of the cutting-edge technology associated with the U.S, automobile business is currently being outsourced to other countries, which will further hinder product development and sales for that sector and constrain future hiring,” Hutchinson said.” (Don Miller, June 10, 2009). I extracted this information from the well-respected investment newsletter Money Morning because the editors have an uncanny knack for accuracy in pinpointing the shortcomings of the Global Order. They are capitalists (in most respects I am as well) but intelligent ones who are realistic in their assessment that the only way to rein in this uncontrolled monster is through

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prudent government regulation and oversight. It was the eventual stripping away of these regulations which caused the economic paralysis that we and the rest of world find ourselves in today. In actuality the rise of unregulated free trade and capitalism is contrary to what Adam Smith wrote in the Wealth of Nations. His treatise focused on the small entrepreneur and was against the concentration of power in huge Mega-Business Empires that now exist. “It is ironic that corporate libertarians regularly pay homage to Adam Smith as their intellectual patron saint, since it is obvious to even the most casual reader of his epic work The Wealth of Nations that Smith would have vigorously opposed most of their claims and policy positions. For example, corporate libertarians fervently oppose any restraint on corporate size or power. Smith, on the other hand, opposed any form of economic concentration on the ground that it distorts the market's natural ability to establish a price that provides a fair return on land, labor, and capital; to produce a satisfactory outcome for both buyers and sellers; and to optimally allocate society's resources. Smith strongly disliked both governments and corporations. He viewed government primarily as an instrument for extracting taxes to subsidize elites and intervening in the market to protect corporate monopolies” (David C. Korten). This little bit of revelation in connection with the true meaning of Adam Smith and his treatise entitled The Wealth of Nations does not sit well with those who would espouse the virtues of Global National Corporations in the World economy.

This article is for the intended use of educational purposes only. Permission is granted for citation in academic documents as long as credit is given to the author as the original source. By Richard L. Dixon. Email address: [email protected]

It is an untrue that the economy in the present shape that it is now in will produce the type of skill level jobs that will enhance the standard of living in this country. The Middle Class as we know is an endangered species. The types of jobs that you will say will be created are mainly low-skilled and uninsured in such industries as the hospitality sector (which I am currently a member of). In Barbara Enhrenreich’s book entitled “Nickel & Dime,” On (Not) Getting Buy in America,” she attempted to live the life of the low-wage poor to see if they could get by on the income that they earned. Her prognosis was not very encouraging and represents the state of economic anarchy that our economy is now experiencing. “I was going to "experience poverty" or find out how it "really feels" to be a long-term low wage worker. My aim here was much more straightforward and objective-just to see whether I could match income to expenses, as the truly poor attempt to do every day. Besides, I've had enough unchosen encounters with poverty in my lifetime to know it's not a place you would want to visit for touristic purposes; it just smells too much like fear.” (Barbara Enrenreich, 2001) The problem that exists is our manufacturing and technology has been decimated by the outsourcing of jobs to India, China, and Malaysia. Not only have jobs gone overseas but so too has the capital that is needed in order to invest in new technologies to keep us as a competitive nation. Budgets are being slashed at our state institutions of higher learning due to the short windfall in state treasuries around the nation. The Middle Class has taken the brunt of it with the housing crisis, high food and fuel prices, and layoffs in the hundreds of thousands. These jobs can never be recouped. In addition, their earning power has decreased in terms of real purchasing power for the past decade. “Rising middle-class financial insecurity after 2000 is the result of

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several factors. Incomes have fallen as a result of the weakest job growth since the Great Depression, flat wages, and declining benefits. At the same time, prices for necessary items, such as food, energy, housing, and transportation, have all risen sharply. Finally, personal wealth has been decimated, first by the mortgage boom, which allowed more families to build wealth by purchasing homes but also required them to take on higher debt levels, and then by the bursting housing bubble, which of course depleted the value of those home investments, and then by much weaker financial markets.” (Christian E. Weller, and Amanda Logan, 2008). The outsourcing of jobs from the U.S. by multinational corporations in both the manufacturing and service sectors to countries in the emerging south such as China, India, Malaysia, and Vietnam has had a negative effect in terms of lost jobs as well lower wages. During the Golden age of economic prosperity United States, Europe, and Japan during the 1950’s and 60’s, wages and economic disparity was lessened due to the height of unionization, manufacturing jobs, and global dominance by TNE’’s based in these countries. With the emergence of Thatcherism and Reaganomics in the 1980’s, the deregulation of key industries, the pursuit of Free Trade Agreements, and the advent of technology lessened the need for both unionized and unskilled jobs. Hence, TNE’s found it cheaper to outsource low or non-skilled jobs to the Global South. “The most debated issue is the impact of trade with the low-wage economies of the South in hastening the replacement of low-skilled jobs in the North by work requiring higher educational levels. At first sight it seems implausible that import of manufactures from low-wage countries could have played a very important role. After all they took a bit under 10% of the domestic market for manufacturers in the USA and Europe in 1999.” (Andrew Glyn, 2006).

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The outsourcing of low-skilled jobs initially started in the manufactured sector and eventually migrated to the service sector particularly among white collar clerical, data entry, and customerservice intense positions. “Its globalization’s next wave-and one of the biggest trends reshaping the global economy. The first wave started two decades ago with the exodus of jobs making shoes, cheap electronics, and toys to developing countries. After that, simple service work, like processing credit-card receipts, and mind-numbing digital toil, like writing software code, begin fleeing high-cost countries.” (Pete Engardio et al, February 2, 2003). The outsourcing of jobs has also happened in the White Collars ranks as well. No longer were white collar jobs guaranteed indicators of long-term job security in this country and in Western Europe. “Fear of losing one’s job-job insecurity-is widely regarded as having risen in the rich countries. A comprehensive analysis of survey evidence for the UK, Germany and the USA concluded that feelings of insecurity do fluctuate with unemployment. Not surprisingly, this would suggest insecurity recently than during the 1960s and 1970s. Insecurity, which has long been a feature of blue-collar occupations, became more prevalent amongst white-collar workers in the US in the 1990s and for finance workers in the US.” (Andrew Glyn). The flight of middle income blue and white collar jobs to such Global South nations as China and India from the United States has seen demise in the middle class as well as wages. Even though wages for top level executives have exploded over 300% since 1970, the wages of the middle class has either declined or become stagnant. “This family’s income grew by 97 percent from 1947 to 1973, but by only 11 percent from 1973 to 2005. A family at the eightieth

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percentile also has seen a decline in its income growth, but that decline has been much less severe: from 101 percent growth from 1947 to 1973 to 41 percent growth from 1973 to 2005. So, while the upper-middle class continues to see solid income growth, the lower middle class is stuck where it was three decades ago. The majority in the middle, therefore, has experienced the full range between these two extremes—some families doing well, while others experience very little improvement.” (Monica Lesmerises, 2007). Contrary to what has been preached by the adherents of FTA agreements, the American Middle Class has not prospered and actually has declined. What we find is that not only has jobs been outsourced by Global Nationals but capital that is essential for seed the start of new business has gone as well. Companies such as Lucent Technologies, IBM, and Boeing have cut seed money for R & D significantly and have instead invested in overseas ventures. There is no better illustration then the planned bankruptcy of General Motors and closing all its North American Plans with the exception of one and cutting its dealership network by almost 50%. The result will be the lost of unrecoverable 100,000 jobs. On the other hand, GM is ramping production of its plants in its lucrative business in China by over 50% in hopes to become the biggest automotive manufacturer in the country. In essence, they have taken the tax payer money and gone. Adding to this dilemma is the fallacy of allowing huge numbers of H1BI visas for skilled level from Asian and European countries that was initiated by the Clinton Administration to off-set the supposed imbalance of the technology gap that existed between the United States and China in order to preserve our lead, and to stop the genius drain which has been the Foundation of American Ingenuity. Thomas Freedman of the New York Times paints a different picture by

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stating that we have a shortage of intellectual talent coming to this country. “Other executives complained bitterly that the Department of Homeland Security is making it so hard for legitimate foreigners to get visas to study or work in America that many have given up the age-old dream of coming here. Instead, they are studying in England and other Western European nations, and even China. This is leading to a twofold disaster. First, one of America's greatest assets — its ability to skim the cream off the first-round intellectual draft choices from around the world and bring them to our shores to innovate — will be diminished, and that in turn will shrink our talent pool. And second, we could lose a whole generation of foreigners who would normally come here to study, and then would take American ideas and American relationships back home. In a decade we will feel that loss in America's standing around the world.” (Thomas L. Freedman, April 22, 2004). In this context Thomas L. Friedman was incorrect. In actuality, companies have such IBM forced American software engineers to train their replacement so that they could export the technology back to India or China or while at the same time eliminating their jobs in the United States. “IBM isn’t alone as these practices have become widespread in the American technology sector. An American software engineer (Engineer 2007) working at a major semiconductor company put it this way, “The basic plan where I worked was to hire H-1Bs [foreign workers in the United States on temporary work permits], train them, and use them as a way to outsource and transfer technology to China and India. I trained my replacement who was here on an H-1B visa from India.” One reason this practice hasn’t received

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more attention is that workers are afraid to discuss their cases. When I asked the software engineer if he would tell his story publicly, he demurred saying, “The company I worked for required [that] I sign a several page agreement stating I would not discuss company information.” (Ron Hira, March 11, 2009). This is not to say that foreign students and workers have not played a pivotal role in the shaping of the U.S. Technology sector as the undisputed Global leader. As a nation founded by immigrants, their drive, dedication, and innovation has added to the vibrancy of American society as well as our competitive nature. However, I am against technology that had designed be allowed to leave the country and used as a deliberate front to displace American workers. .The flight of capital by Multinational corporate is a complex web of shell games, dummy corporations, and tax havens such as the Cayman Islands. What is needed is legislation to curtail the flight of money by Multinational Corporations especially involves U.S. tax money in cases like GM and AIG. The Obama Administration is attempting to correct this oversight through legislation. “U.S. President Barack Obama today (Monday) announced a proposal for new legislation to pursue American tax evaders by closing loopholes and clamping down on overseas tax breaks for American businesses and individuals. Under provisions of the plan, companies would no longer be able to write off domestic expenses for generating profits abroad, a loophole that Obama says encourages U.S. companies to move jobs overseas. The plan would drastically reduce incentives for U.S. companies to base all or part of their operations in other countries.” (Don Miller, May 5, 2009).

This article is for the intended use of educational purposes only. Permission is granted for citation in academic documents as long as credit is given to the author as the original source. By Richard L. Dixon. Email address: [email protected]

Yet trying to capture this flow of money to other countries will be much more difficult them it seems. Multi-nationals have sought to protect themselves by internationalizing their operations through mergers, partnerships, and trade agreements through such institutions as the WTO. It is harder to point a gun at a target that is elusive, cunning, and complicated as the Multi-national Pyramid schemes. “Worldwide, companies operating outside their home country more than tripled in number between the late 1960s and the 1990s. By the 1990s, trans-nationals accounted for about a third of all private-sector capital worldwide. American companies were the most aggressive in buying overseas manufacturing assets and moving domestic manufacturing offshore. By the late 1990s, American corporations were producing twice as much abroad as European and Japanese multinationals combined. But the internationalization ownership also affected the United States domestically; as the foreign-owned share of U.S. manufacturing assets grew from 3 percent in 1970 to 19 percent in 1990…The regional agreements provided powerful new global rights for corporations. Legal mechanisms that allowed a corporation based in one country to overturn the laws or judicial decisions of a different country. (Ted Nace May 2003).

In order to put to put this maneuvering in its proper perspective, it is necessary to provide a definition of outsourcing that readily applies to Multi-national corporations and the outsourcing of jobs, capital, and technology to emerging nations in the throes of Globalization. I would call this type of outsourcing BPO (Business Process Outsourcing). “What is business process outsourcing? Business process outsourcing otherwise know as BPO is the process of leveraging

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technology vendors in various third world or developing nations for doing a job which was once the responsibility of the enterprise. Or simply put, it is the process of shifting an internal job process to an outside/external company which might have a completely different geographical location.

Generally the processes being outsourcing as part of BPO are backend jobs like call/help centers, medical transcription, billing, payroll processing, data entry and the like. Most of these jobs are outsourcing by first world nations like USA and UK to third world nations like India, Philippines, China, Malaysia and some eastern European countries.” (Bizbrim.com).

The definition is quite accurate because it describes the state of affairs that the U.S. Economy is in and getting because of jobs going overseas. There is the distinct possibly that unless things economically within the next 20 years the United States will slide into a second-tier nation status coupled with huge income disparities, a broken infrastructure, high unemployment, an extinct manufacturing sector, huge budget deficits, non-existent healthcare, and a failed educational system. The Middle Class as we know it will cease to exist. In case there are those in this discussion who does not think a strong Middle Class is not important to the development of a country, one has to look no further than China, Malaysia, and India where jobs have been outsourced to see a rise in a vibrant and affluent Middle Class who form the basic foundation of the catalyst that drives those societies with both technical and entrepreneurial skills. “China and

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India share at least two characteristics: their populations are huge and their economies have been growing very fast for at least 10 years. Already they account for nearly 5 percent and 2 percent of world gross domestic product (GDP), respectively, at current exchange rates. Arguably, China’s expansion since 1978 already has been the largest growth “surprise” ever experienced by the world economy; and if we extrapolated their recent growth rates for half a century, we would find that China and India—the Giants—were among the world’s very largest economies. Their vast labor forces and expanding skills bases imply massive productive potential, especially if they continue (China) or start (India) to invest heavily in and welcome technology inflows.” (L. Alan Winters and Shahid Yusuf ed. 2007).

Uncontrolled outsourcing in the context of Globalization under the pretense of Free Enterprise has done more harm then good to the U.S. Economy. We have huge trade deficits with China and the government holds trillions of dollars in U.S. treasury bills to help leverage our already bloated federal bureaucracy. In essence, not only has private industry been outsourced but so has our monetary policies as well. There have been cases made that companies from overseas have invested in the United States particularly in the South and this has provided competitive wages and opportunities. That is far from true. Companies from Europe usually invest in Southern where the rules for employee safety, unfair firing, workman’s compensation, and discrimination have been relaxed. In addition, such companies pay lower wages and benefits to their workers. “Cons call this “insourcing” and tell us it’s a good thing. Toyota is giving Americans jobs by building factories here!” they shout with a smile as they give Toyota another huge tax break

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(paid for by its workers) to site a factory. “Your company has been bought by the Saudis and the ports are owned by the British, but your paycheck is still just as good!” they reassure us.” (Thom Hartman, 2006). Another notion that needs to be dispelled is that the money that Foreign Companies make from profits from the plants that they have built in the United States stays within the communities in the form of taxes, continuous investments in the plant, community philanthropy, and residual income to support neighboring businesses in order to stabilize the community. This myth is the furthest from the truth because foreign capital doesn’t stay in this country but takes flight back to its home nation of origin. “When foreign-owned companies do business in America, howeverthey do so with the express purpose of taking their profits home. Paine Webber’s profits now go to Switzerland; Amoco’s go to the United Kingdom, and Transamerica’s go to the Netherlands. Chrysler’s profit go to Germany; ditto for Random House’s and Westinghouse.” (Thom Hartmann, 2006)

What is sad is that European and Asian companies that invest and built plants here continue the status quo of low wages, lack of health insurance, and disregard for workers safety. The outsourcing of jobs, talent, capital, and technology to China and India also represents a disconnection and separates the CEO’s concern about the plight of his workers and the community around him in pursuit of profits. It was the same communities that made it possible for tax credits and abatements with the ideal that the presence of the business would become an

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icon or foundation for stability which translates to better schools, safe neighborhoods, homes, and the emergence of other business to satisfy the consumption needs of the citizens.

Another issued that has failed to be properly addressed by both proponents and opponents concerning outsourcing of technology, jobs, and capital by American is the issue of security. "Over the last two decades, security has been breached for proprietary software, hardware computer imaging, graphics, financial systems, patents, and intellectual property rights. Corporate espionage is rampant and transcends to National Security especially when it comes to the militaries of both China and India. America’s nationwide economic espionage crisis is unique in several respects. It represents the first time a crisis of such mammoth proportions has been acknowledged to affect every company in every industry group without exception and at the same time. Without question, economic espionage is a gargantuan growth industry and one of the biggest crises to hit U.S. businesses en masse in history. And in an age of globalization economic espionage gets bigger and easier to commit every day.” (Steven Fink, 2002). In order to counteract the espionage to American business especially in the technology sector, President Bill Clinton on October 11, 1996 signed into law the Economic Espionage Act. As I had mentioned earlier, companies have been able maneuver around laws by consolidating their operations overseas with other third-party organizations subjecting themselves to that country’s less restrictive rules under the guise of Free Trade Agreements as mandated by the WTO and

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GATT round of Ministerial talks. Hence bypassing the Espionage Act was just another routine for Multi-national corporations in the outsourcing of technology to emerging nations. “As they straddled countries, corporations found themselves facing multiple regulatory systems. What to do? Within the United States itself, a similar problem had been solved a century earlier by creative interpretation of the commerce clause and by development of new doctrines of corporate rights. Why not try the same thing on a global scale-develop a new trump card for nixing unwanted regulation?” (Ted Nace).

In terms of allegiance to country, some Global Nationals have demonstrated over and over again that the only loyalty they have is in the ruthless profits at the expense of national security. That is why legislation should be fully enforced in terms in terms of how both technology and intellectual property rights is transferred without existing trade agreements to emerging nations such as China. That is not to say that the outsourcing of technology has not been beneficial in the commercial sector and in helping developing nations to become fully integrated into the Global economy. Nor am I saying that the U.S. cannot export and sell its technology to other vested commercial interest which translates to jobs and opportunities for Americans. However, it cannot be one-sided in that we can never assume that we will continue to be the dominant technological power in the world without continuous investment, training of workforces, and the investing of capital in our manufacturing and technological sectors.

This article is for the intended use of educational purposes only. Permission is granted for citation in academic documents as long as credit is given to the author as the original source. By Richard L. Dixon. Email address: [email protected]

What is needed for this country to stay competitive with the governments of India and China (and not being surpassed in 2025 according to some expects) is the rebuilding and reinvestment of our manufacturing and technology sector by the government in partnership with private industry. Such an initiative was done through the Roosevelt Administration to reinvigorate the machine tool industry through the creation of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. The agency lent low-cost loans and expertise to troubled and distressed companies. It was the rebuilding of this important sector which won the war and made the United State the great industrial, military, and economic power that it is today. “A. Under the impact of "globalization," there is a massive and ongoing loss in the machine-tool capabilities of the U.S. economy. This danger is centered in the accelerating "outsourcing" and shut-downs of plants in America's most important and versatile machine-tool industry, the auto industry. 80 million square feet of auto capacity being is closed and machinery auctioned off over 2006-08, more capacity lost than in the last 30 years combined. 60 million square feet of aerospace/defense capacity are closed and machinery auctioned off since 1990. U.S. consumption of machine tools is only 60% of the 1980 level; of that consumption, 60-70% are imported machine tools; much of this stock, in turn, is being destroyed or sold off overseas as plants are closed; machining vital to national security, including defense and aerospace production, has been and is being outsourced. B. The machine-tool sector is the core of an industrial economy where scientific and technological ideas are turned into new economic reality. If the U.S. auto-manufacturing industry

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is destroyed, the U.S.A. becomes a virtual "Third World" nation overnight. The nation's machinetool-design capability, most of which is tied up in the U.S. auto-manufacturing and supply firms, is lost. The loss of the tool-making and closely related capabilities of that sector of industry would be a strategic disaster of incalculable, chain-reaction consequences, within our nation, and also the world at large. The loss of auto plants means an economic disaster, approaching ghost-town proportions, for what are already highly vulnerable entire towns, counties, and cities, even states of the union. The loss of employment of that machine-tool design segment of that part of the labor-force, means many times that number of skilled and unskilled employees out of jobs.” (LaRouche Political Action Committee, August 6, 2007). America is quickly losing its capital edge because our institutions of higher learning have been forced to cut back because of budgetary constraints due to the dismal shape of the economy. Money in the form of Research Grants to some of the leading universities in the country coming from both the public and private sectors has dried up. Meanwhile overseas, the very same Multinational has invested an incredible amount of money in both Chinese and Indian educational institutions. What is also needed is a technology driver such as the reintroduction of the Space Program and more R&D grants funneled to our universities. It is interesting to note that the Chinese are rapidly ramping up their Space Program in their quest putting a man on the Moon and eventually

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Mars. They also graduate more students per capital in the fields of science, engineering, and math then we do in this country. Therefore it was this responsibility to provide for the General Welfare of its citizens which transformed the United States from a backward agrarian nation to one of the leading industrial powers at the turn of 20th century. .What is meant by the General is what we call essential services which means infrastructure improvement such as water, sanitation, bridges, hospitals, and schools. In improving the livelihood of its citizens increases the productive capacity in each citizen. Take for example before the completion of the interstate highway system by President Eisenhower; it took longer to get commerce to the essential markets on to the East and West Coast. The completion of the interstate highway system cut that time in half. Another feature of the American System was the establishment of a national bank for the purpose of building and enhancing core industries. During the presidency of Lincoln it was the agricultural revolution as well as the railroad that led the United to Prosperity. This was done through the creation of the homesteading act which was land grants to small farmers. In addition, the government provided money, technology, and technical assistance to the small farmer. “Americans created a system to render farming so successful, so powerful and productive, that the lie of inevitable poverty was forever dispelled. Since the triumph of Lincoln's agricultural program, only outright tyranny can enforce hunger and poverty anywhere in today's world. Millions of new private farms were created, by government direction. Farm families were educated at government expense. Government scientists supplied them with the latest

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intelligence on fertilizers, soil chemistry, and crop management. New farmlands opened up by government-organized railroads allowed for production economies of scale. Increasingly sophisticated farm machinery, produced by patent-protected inventors using tariff-protected American steel, was bought by farmers with cheap government-supplied credit. Diseases of livestock were conquered and eliminated by the vigorous prosecution of government science and federal law.” (Anton Chaitkin, April 11, 1986). It is important that I put this information out because these were the basic economic principles driving out country all the way up to Roosevelt until his death in 1945. Now is the time for us to return to the roots that made us an economic powerhouse and discard the false notion that America was built on the premise of the Free Market.

Endnotes 1. Don Miller “Is the U.S. Economy Headed for a “Jobless Recovery?” Money Morning,

June 10, 2009 http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/06/10/jobless-recovery/ (accessed August 23, 2009).

This article is for the intended use of educational purposes only. Permission is granted for citation in academic documents as long as credit is given to the author as the original source. By Richard L. Dixon. Email address: [email protected]

2. David C. Korten, “THE BETRAYAL OF ADAM SMITH Excerpt from When Corporations Rule the World,” 2nd ed., The People-Centered Forum, http://www.pcdf.org/corprule/betrayal.htm (accessed August 23, 2009). 3. Barbara Enhrenreich, Nickel & Dime on (Not) Getting By In America. (New York: A

Metropolitan/Owl Book, 2001), 11. 4. Christian E. Weller, and Amanda Logan, “America’s Middle Class Still Losing Ground,” Center for American Progress, (July 2008), 2. 5. Andrew Glyn, Capitalism Unleashed: Finance, Globalization, & Welfare, (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2006), 110. 6. Pete Engardio et al, “The New Global Job Shift,” Business Week, February 3, 2003, 1. 7. Andrew Glyn, 115. 8. Monica Lesmerises, “The Basics: The Middle Class at Risk,” A Century Foundation Guide to the Issues, (New York: The Century Foundation Press, 2007). 7. 9. Thomas L. Friedman Op-ed Columnist, “Losing Our Edge,” New York Times, April 22, 2004. 10. Ron Hira, “A Policy Agenda for Offshoring,” EPI Working Paper (March 11, 2009), 1. 11. Don Miller, “Obama Wants New Law to Tax Overseas Profits and Nail Tax Dodgers,” Money Morning, http://www.moneymorning.com/2009/05/05/obama-tax-law/ (accessed August 23, 2009). 12. Ted Nace, Gangs of New York: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of America, (Berkeley, CA: Ted Nace, May 2003), 225-226.

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13. LaRouche Political Action Committee, “RE-RELEASE: LaRouche's Proposed

Legislation for Retooling the U.S. Auto Industry for EMERGENCY Infrastructure Development,” August 6, 2007, http://www.larouchepac.com/node/3260 (accessed August 23, 2009). 14. Anton, Chaitkin, “Abraham Lincoln Imposes Science on American Agriculture,” Readings from the American Almanac, originally reprinted in the Executive Intelligence Review, (April 11, 1986) http://members.tripod.com/american_almanac/lincoln2.htm (accessed August 23, 2009).

This article is for the intended use of educational purposes only. Permission is granted for citation in academic documents as long as credit is given to the author as the original source. By Richard L. Dixon. Email address: [email protected]