Democracy versus Despotism

Watch this video from decades ago (1945) and see what you think. We have lost our principles as a Nation that was the envy of the world. I still believe that we can turn things around, but we cannot do so if the average people in this nation choose to accept this race to the bottom. People have got to quit accepting a Least Common Denominator lifestyle. I choose not to sit in the pot as the temperature continues to climb. And can you not feel the temperature climbing?



Respect, Power, Fairness, Economic Distribution, Freedom of Expression, Free Flow of Information... As the video asks, "What sort of community do we live in?"

What happens in a community is the problem of its citizens; but as communities go, so goes the nation.

-- Thank You Warren Pollock for the heads up on this video.

Lamar Hunt, the AFL, and the example for our community

I want to describe this metaphor that I was thinking about today. In relation to our local economy and what the group that I am part of represents. I believe there are many similarities between the economic culture of the Hickory area and what we saw in the evolution of American professional football over its history.

I especially look back to the days of the 1960s and the tug-of-war that took place between the National Football League and the American Football League. For 10 years during the decade of the 1960s. The American Football League operated in direct competition with the established National Football League. Over time, there have been many new leagues that have formed since the inception of the National Football League in 1920.

Many Americans who have watched the spectacle that professional football has become do not realize how we have gotten to where we are today. As far as the popularity of the sport, most younger Americans have no clue about the context of the development of the premier National Football League. I bet most assume that the way football is today is the way it has always been.

The 1960s was a turbulent decade that ran the gamut of emotions from depression to euphoria. During the decade, the country saw a President and a Presidential candidate(the former President's brother) along with an iconic spiritual and cultural leader assassinated; generations were separated by the feeling and emotions surrounding the Vietnam War; and to close out the decade, America was able to follow the vision of John F. Kennedy and place a man on the moon, eight years after the idea and goal were established and initiated.

In 1959, the National Football League (NFL) had become one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the United States. There were only 12 teams in the NFL at the time. The Chicago Cardinals were for sale during that year and many wealthy men became suitors to buy the franchise. Lamar Hunt, the progeny of the famous Hunt oil family was one of these people who wanted to buy the franchise and relocate it to Dallas, Texas -- his hometown.

Several multimillionaires wanted NFL franchises, but the Commissioner of the National Football League, Bert Bell, did not want to expand the league. When the NFL dismissed the idea of expansion, Lamar Hunt joined forces with some of the other men seeking NFL franchises and created the American Football League (AFL). The NFL initially wasn't against the formation of the AFL in public, but soon the NFL turned towards undermining the fledgling league. The NFL expanded into the Dallas and Minneapolis markets as initial salvos in the battle.

The AFL was downplayed by the NFL as an interior league, although the AFL signed half of the NFL's first round draft picks in 1960. This would soon be the established path of development for all of professional football until the two leagues officially merged in 1966. The AFL's owners were dubbed "the Foolish Club," because of the expensive venture that they had initiated in going up against the established NFL. A bitter battle ensued in the early 1960s over players and ideas of just what American professional football should be.

The AFL struggled to survive during its first few years of existence, and a couple of the franchises had to be relocated. One such team was Lamar Hunt’s franchise "the Dallas Texans," who would become the Kansas City Chiefs. Even with the struggles, the AFL's persistence paid off. No AFL teams ever went defunct. Although some of these franchises have relocated over the subsequent 52 years, each one of the franchises that came into existence in 1959 are still in existence today.

Over time, during the mid-1960s, the AFL became the cool league. The AFL signed a lucrative television contract and continued to seriously compete head-to-head with the National Football League for players. The AFL signed Joe Namath, and his flash and panache created a stir and brought the league the attention and legitimacy that it desired. The two leagues had seen a bidding war over players escalate out of control until it finally necessitated a merger, which took place in 1966.

In a period of less than seven years, a sports league was started from scratch, took on the established league, and came to par with that league. In 1959, there were only 12 top tiered American professional football franchises. By 1969, there were 26 franchises; which starting in 1970 would compete under the umbrella of one league, which would continue to carry on under the title of the National Football League. It is more than apparent that by all accounts these men were successful in their endeavor led by Lamar Hunt.

The NFL ended up adopting many of the ideas of the AFL. Many of the innovations initiated by the AFL, along with the exciting style of play , have made modern football closer to the Lamar Hunt vision of professional football, than what preceded his foray into the sport. The Super Bowl exists today because of Hunt and professional football is played in most parts of the nation and every time zone, because of Hunt’s impact on the game.

Thousands of players, including many of the all-time greats, would've never had the chance to play professional football had we not seen the visionary expansion created by Lamar Hunt and the Foolish Club. What would professional football be today without these pioneers, who decided to challenge the establishment and fight what most people presumed to be a losing battle. Mr. Hunt, and these other men, determined their own success, and all who know and love professional football have benefited from their efforts.

Why did I lay down this history for you. Well, this is more than the inane ramblings of a strange person. This provides the foreknowledge of what a group of people must do to challenge the status quo and an embedded system of the establishment. This is not the only example of significant and positive change in what is accepted. We have seen this many times throughout history, but this is not an every day occurrence. Significant positive changes take significant risks and significant efforts. These men were willing to lose a lot of money, but they weren’t looking towards possible losses. They were looking towards the possibilities of gains and they succeeded in the end.

The people who I am associated with in this community are like those pioneers of the American Football League. We don't want to change the rules. We want to enhance them. We recognize that there is much more untapped talent and ideas that are available in this community. Much of this talent is unrecognized, because it is unconventional. The ideas and the methods that we are utilizing to bring this talent to the fore are completely different from what has occurred in the past.

The establishment is comfortable and they are very resistant to change.The Powers that Be do not understand what we are doing and believe that if we are going to do anything it needs to be funneled through them. One of the reasons that I related the story of the American Football League above is because many of our local community leaders were in their teens or 20s in the 60s when transformative changes such as the American Football League took place. And many of the people in their late 50s to 70 years old were the people who helped popularize the trends that led to significant transformation of the American Society.

Naturally as people get older they become more risk averse , and that is understandable. No one wants to take wild risks. What we want to do is take educated, calculated risks. Truly Transformative changes cannot and will not come without risks and hard work. Today, one of the gentleman , who is a part of the Future Economy Council stated that he liked Hickory and he didn't want it to become like Charlotte. If we were talking about turning Hickory into Charlotte, then he was against any proposed changes. He liked the feel of Hickory and that is the reason why he is here.

I don't think any of us want to lose the charms that do make Hickory special, but Hickory is falling to pieces and is not and never will be what we remembered. I don't think in our lifetimes that Hickory will ever become Charlotte, and I don't think that is what most of the transformative leadership in our community are looking to do. But, I do believe that many of the older citizens in this community are fearful that we want to institute policies that would take us towards unfettered population growth. I can assure you that that isn't our goal. Neither are we trying to structure a managed economy. We are simply trying to find a way to enhance employment capacity and create a more resilient business culture in this community.

I am not speaking for the group, but conveying to you my thoughts about the direction that fellow Master Capacity Builders are looking to establish in our community. We want to create ingredients that allow Hickory to expand the individual success and prosperity of its citizenry. We cannot do that through overbearing control and intolerance towards those who are different than ourselves.

We need to cross pollinate our local cultures and be more accepting of those who are different than ourselves. I know that people become defensive when they are called out about intolerance, but honestly our local social structure needs to take a long hard look at itself. To me, this isn't about race or socioeconomic levels. This is about being a good neighbor and looking out for all of the interests in our community. It is my feeling that when we strengthen individuals in our community, that we strengthen the ecosystem that we live in, and thus we strengthen ourselves.

This community needs to take a long hard look at the cultural norms that have evolved and been instituted up until now. We're doing a lot of things that cause the younger generations to not want to be a part of our community. I can tell you from experience in talking to young people there is not much for them to do around here. This community forces young people into bad situations if they want to have a good time.

There is basically no public entertainment venues available to these young people, so they can go out and socialize at a public establishment. And so many of them, throw parties at their residence. And if they do this, many times their neighbors will call the police about the least little disturbance and the police will come in and then everyone becomes uncomfortable. I am not saying what is right or what is wrong and anyway my days of partying are basically over, but in all my years of life, I know that younger people like to have a good time. And if we are intolerant and overbearing towards that, then isn't it understandable why these young people don't want anything to do with this community and have a bad taste in their mouth about what they have experienced?

Then, I look to the Hispanic populace that has been brought into this community as a cheap source of labor. These people work hard and earn their money, but the "Powers That Be" in this community don't want them out socializing in public. There were two brothers of Hispanic descent that wanted to open a dance club at the entrance of downtown Hickory and our local government did everything to keep this from happening. These two brothers are not illegal immigrants. They are lawfully here and they should have just as much right as anyone to open an establishment.

What the goal should be in this community is to have a relationship with business owners. Up front, bar and restaurant establishment owners need to understand what police officers need from them to keep the community safe. No one should be allowed to serve minors. No one should be over serving someone who is intoxicated. There should be no violence and there should be no drug activity tolerated at any of these establishments. But, if you open an establishment, you should be given the liberty to operate your establishment under the assumption that you have done and are doing nothing wrong. If we look towards areas of business growth in this community, it is restaurants and bars. We cannot afford to run legitimate businesses out of business.

I look to the good works that are being done at the Hispanic and Hmong center at the old Grandview elementary school. These cultures are keeping to themselves. The larger community needs to embrace these ethnic groups and help them and trade with them. I know that the Hmong throw a festival annually at the Caldwell County Fairgrounds in November. I think this event needs to be promoted more. People from all over the country come to this event. Talk about a lost marketing opportunity. We need to understand one another's cultures more in this community, and I think a lot of positives can come from that open mindset.

The economy is not good and that is obvious to most of us in this community. The numbers show that our community is middle to lower middle class and income hasn't grown much at all over the last decade. We need to institute policies that can lift up the lower strata of our socio-economic environment. In order to strengthen our community, we need to cross pollinate and get to know one another and we can benefit from this process and these connections. We need to get out of our comfort zone and expand our horizons, because there's so much to gain from expanding ourselves, our community, and our ecosystem.

What I am getting at is that we are not shackled by the establishment. If we don't like the structure that has been established, then we can change things if we are willing to. If the Powers that Be resist change, then we must follow the path of least resistance and go around them. We only imprison ourselves by surrendering ourselves to those who are subservient to the status quo. Life is changing at a dramatic pace, and we can either sit back and observe as it shoots past us or we can participate in these historical times and create our own destiny.

The Great Reset - A World of Accelerating Change

Two Great Videos by Warren Pollock



In this present crisis government is not the solution to our problem. From time to time society becomes too complex to be managed by self-rule, in this present crisis government contributes to the problem. Our own behavior is derived from our interaction with the outside world around us. We are born into a society in solid state, with most of the things of our society already existing. The things we know become our reality and our behavior through learning fits into that solidified reality. Our behavior becomes a function of our person as it relates to our own environment. We live in a working system that can develop cracks due to false assumption, our learned perception and learning. Rather than acknowledge change we hold strongly onto our own delusions as to the solid state or solidity of our frozen state system. - Warren Pollock



In United States politics, the iron triangle is a term used by political scientists to describe the policy-making relationship among the congressional committees, the bureaucracy (executive) (sometimes called "government agencies"), and interest groups.

For example, within the federal government the three sides often consist of: various congressional committees, which are responsible for funding government programs and operations and then providing oversight of them; the federal agencies (often Independent agencies), which are responsible for the regulation of those affected industries; and last, the industries themselves, as well as their trade associations and lobbying groups, which benefit, or seek benefit, from these operations and programs. - Warren Pollock

1) Inaction is an Action.
2) In a Forward moving World, Inaction = Slow Reverse.
3) Assumptions based upon antiquated ideas, processes, paradigms, and realities lead to bad decisions.
4) Hope = Empowering others to take action to change your life. Faith = A positive proactive action approach that empowers oneself through spirituality, beliefs, and trust in the action.
5) Isn't it funny how the ignorant tend to complicate matters, while the learned tend to simplify them.

COLD! - 2nd Storm of this Winter - January 10, 2011

This has certainly been a cold winter so far. Winter officially began nearly three weeks ago, so there are 10 weeks left and we have had two significant winter storms so far. Snow began falling around 3am and has continued throughout the day, with mixed precipitation intermittently and that is what it is doing now at midnight. Video of my ride into work is below:

29th ave NE, 16th st NE (Sandy Ridge Road), 21st ave NE, 5th st NE, 14th ave NE

Spinning Unemployment Numbers in a Collapsing Economy - Dr. Paul Craig Roberts

Prisonplanet.com - January 10, 2011 - The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday that the economy gained only 103,000 new jobs in December—not enough to keep up with population growth—but the rate of unemployment (U.3) fell from 9.8% to 9.4%. If you are confused by the report, you are among the many.

Why does the media focus on the unemployment measure that does not count any discouraged workers?

In truth, what fell was not the number of unemployed people but the number of unemployed people who are actively looking for work. Those who have become discouraged and have ceased looking for work are not considered to be in the work force and are not counted as unemployed in the U.3 measure. The unemployment rate fell because discouraged workers increased, not because employment rose.

The BLS counts short-term discouraged workers (less than one year) in its U.6 measure of unemployment. That unemployment rate is 16.7%. When statistician John Williams (shadowstats.com) adds the long-term discouraged, the US unemployment rate as of December 2010 was 22.4%.

The question to ask yourself is: why does the media focus on the unemployment measure that does not count any discouraged workers? The answer is that the U.3 measurement only counts 42% of the unemployed and makes the situation appear to be a lot better than it is.

Where are the 103,000 new jobs? As I have reported for years, the jobs are in non-tradable domestic services: waitresses and bar tenders, health care and social assistance (primarily ambulatory health care services), and retail and wholesale trade.

Today the United States has only 11,670,000 manufacturing jobs, less than 9% of total jobs. Yet, despite America’s heavy dependence on foreign manufactures and foreign creditors, the idiots in Washington think that they are a superpower standing astride the world like a colossus.

John Williams reports that “the level of payroll employment still stands below where it was a decade ago, despite the U.S.population growing by more than 10% in the same period. The structural impairments to U.S. economic activity continue to constrain normal commercial activity, preventing any meaningful recovery in business activity.”

Another way of saying this is that American corporations have taken American jobs offshore and given them to the Chinese. So much for big business patriotism.

Williams also reports that, unless it is finagled, next month’s BLS benchmark revision of payroll employment data will lower the level of previously reported employment by more than 500,000.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke used his testimony before the Senate Budget Committee last Friday to warn that the U.S. government must get its budget deficit under control or “the economic and financial effects would be severe.” Here Bernanke is acknowledging that the Federal Reserve cannot indefinitely print money in order to finance wars and bailouts of the mega-rich.

But how is the government to get its budget under control? The U.S. government, regardless of political party or president, is committed to American hegemony over the world. The Congress has just passed the largest military budget in history, and there is no indication that any of America’s wars and military occupations are near an end.

The financial crisis is not over, with more foreclosures and more losses for the financial sector that will result in more taxpayer bailouts for those “too big to fail.” John Williams says that the double-dip is already happening, just disguised by faulty statistics, and that the deficit implications are horrendous and are likely to result in hyperinflation as the Federal Reserve will have to monetize the otherwise un-financeable deficits.

The dollar is also in danger, its role as reserve currency undermined by the Federal Reserve’s creation of more and more dollars. Temporarily, the dollar is buttressed by the grief that Wall Street’s sale of fraudulent derivative financial instruments to Europe has caused the euro.

The Republicans will try to destroy Social Security and Medicare in order to pay for wars and bailouts. If Americans are capable of realizing that they are threatened on a much greater level by the Republicans’ evisceration of the social safety net than they are by terrorists, the Republican assault on what they call “the welfare state” will fail.

The fallback target will be private pensions, assuming any survive plunder by the Wall Street investment banks. Pension funds could be required to invest in Treasury debt or they could face a levy. In the Clinton administration, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Alicia Munnell proposed confiscating 15% of all pension assets on the grounds that they had accumulated tax free. Certainly Washington will steal Americans’ pensions, just as Washington has stolen Americans’ civil liberties, in order to continue the empire’s wars of hegemony.

Increasingly, the rest of the world views America as the single source of its financial and political woes. While the superpower massacres Muslims in the Middle East and Central Asia, people in the rest of the world have learned from WikiLeaks that the U.S. government manipulates, bribes, threatens, and deceives other governments in order to have those governments serve the U.S. government’s interest at the expense of the interests of their own peoples.

The American Imperial Empire rests on puppet governments that are increasingly distrusted and hated by the peoples under their rule. Like the Soviet Union’s Eastern European empire, the American Empire is ruled not directly but through puppet states.

Puppet governments are caught between the empire’s power and the power of the local population. To the extent that Europeans have a moral conscience, they will find America’s foreign policy increasingly repugnant. To the extent that Muslim solidarity grows, the Muslim puppet governments that support America’s and Israel’s massacres of Muslims will find themselves threatened from within.

The American Empire is on the rocks, despite its vast arsenal of nuclear weapons and its control over the foreign and domestic policies of its subservient puppet states in Western and Eastern Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, parts of Africa, the Middle East, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, the Baltic states, Georgia, Kosovo, Mexico, Central America, Columbia, and, no doubt, others.

A country that is the font of war and oppression, whose dominance rests on the weak reed of puppet states, and whose economy is collapsing will not long remain dominant.

Paul Craig Roberts [email him] was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan’s first term. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

Hard Facts about Deindustrialization

19 Facts About The Deindustrialization Of America That Will Blow Your Mind - From the Blog "The Economic Collapse" - 9/24/2010

#1 The United States has lost approximately 42,400 factories since 2001.

#2 Dell Inc., one of America’s largest manufacturers of computers, has announced plans to dramatically expand its operations in China with an investment of over $100 billion over the next decade.

#3 Dell has announced that it will be closing its last large U.S. manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in November. Approximately 900 jobs will be lost.

#4 In 2008, 1.2 billion cellphones were sold worldwide. So how many of them were manufactured inside the United States? Zero.

#5 According to a new study conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, if the U.S. trade deficit with China continues to increase at its current rate, the U.S. economy will lose over half a million jobs this year alone.

#6 As of the end of July, the U.S. trade deficit with China had risen 18 percent compared to the same time period a year ago.

#7 The United States has lost a total of about 5.5 million manufacturing jobs since October 2000.

#8 According to Tax Notes, between 1999 and 2008 employment at the foreign affiliates of U.S. parent companies increased an astounding 30 percent to 10.1 million. During that exact same time period, U.S. employment at American multinational corporations declined 8 percent to 21.1 million.

#9 In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of U.S. economic output. In 2008, it represented 11.5 percent.

#10 Ford Motor Company recently announced the closure of a factory that produces the Ford Ranger in St. Paul, Minnesota. Approximately 750 good paying middle class jobs are going to be lost because making Ford Rangers in Minnesota does not fit in with Ford's new "global" manufacturing strategy.

#11 As of the end of 2009, less than 12 million Americans worked in manufacturing. The last time less than 12 million Americans were employed in manufacturing was in 1941.

#12 In the United States today, consumption accounts for 70 percent of GDP. Of this 70 percent, over half is spent on services.

#13 The United States has lost a whopping 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.

#14 In 2001, the United States ranked fourth in the world in per capita broadband Internet use. Today it ranks 15th.

#15 Manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer industry is actually lower in 2010 than it was in 1975.

#16 Printed circuit boards are used in tens of thousands of different products. Asia now produces 84 percent of them worldwide.

#17 The United States spends approximately $3.90 on Chinese goods for every $1 that the Chinese spend on goods from the United States.

#18 One prominent economist is projecting that the Chinese economy will be three times larger than the U.S. economy by the year 2040.

#19 The U.S. Census Bureau says that 43.6 million Americans are now living in poverty and according to them that is the highest number of poor Americans in the 51 years that records have been kept.

Outside View: Jobs drought confronts president and Republicans - UPI.com - 1/6/2011 - Peter Morici, professor at the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland School.

Since July 2009, spending by consumers, businesses and federal and state governments increased at a 3.8 percent annual pace but imports and the trade deficit have jumped 17 and 37 percent, respectively. Simply, too many stimulus dollars are being spent on goods from China and too few of those dollars return to purchase U.S. exports.

By the end of 2013, about 13 million private sector jobs must be added to move unemployment down to 6 percent and current policies aren't creating conditions for businesses to hire 350,000 workers each month.

... the undervalued yuan is responsible for about half the U.S. trade deficit and high unemployment in the United States.

Imposing a tax on the conversion of U.S. dollars into yuan in proportion to Beijing's currency market intervention -- either for the purpose of importing Chinese products or investing in China -- would offset the effects China's currency market intervention on the U.S. economy. Such a tax would significantly rebalance trade, instigate more investment and jobs creation in the United States, and reduce federal and state budget shortfalls.

Whatever the merits of free trade internationally and laissez faire domestically, trade with China is hardly free now. Chinese mercantilism and a U.S. government that hasn't answered it are victimizing too many unemployed Americans.

A message to the Kool-Aid Sippers - What Recovery?

I don't see where anyone can honestly believe that we are in a Recovery or that an Economic Recovery is on the way. I have been a student of Finance and Economics all of my life. I can separate the hyperbole from the substance. I do not profess to be perfect in my interpretations, but there is a thought process behind them.

I think there are individuals that want to predict the Economic cycle like a weatherman. If you change the forecast enough times eventually something will stick. The cool thing to do right now is the New Year's Resolution forecast, "It's the beginning of the year, so if we don't say anything bad, sing Kumbaya, cross our toes, and talk about green shoots; then maybe our dreams will come true.

I think that if you are in a leadership position of public trust and you take the above approach to economic forecasting, then you are responsible for fiduciary malpractice. There are people that depend on leaders for solid information. Two years ago people voted for hope and all they are left with now is change. We cannot afford anymore of this approach. It is time for a honest, realistic, reliable, and focused approach to get this country and this community back on its feet.

The Trends:
Retailers report surprisingly weak December - The News & Observer - 1/6/2011
Jobless claims rise more than expected - MSNBC - 1/6/2011
GALLUP: Broader underemployment worsened to 19% in December -- up sharply from 17.2% at end of Nov - Gallup - 1/6/2011
IRS tax liens jump 60% - USA Today - 1/6/2011

The Hound suggests, don't read the headline, read the story!!! Most of the time the headline is a psychological message meant to program the readership. In the end, the story speaks for itself. I am not a person whose opinion is easily swayed by the strategic wording of a headline. I look at a story and if I find it interesting, then I look elsewhere for a second opinion and dig deeper into the subject material.

The economy is not in good shape. We are in the beginning phases of an inflationary event that at the least will be similar to the 1970s. Oil is not up due to demand. Oil is up, because of the systematic devaluation of our currency by the Federal Reserve's actions. Look at the commodity prices of Gold, Silver, Wheat, Cotton, Sugar (Look at the stories related to this).

What initially kicked us into the funk we have been in was when Oil prices soared in 2008. At its current rate of increase, the price of oil will be back to $150 per barrel during some point in the upcoming year. that will mean $4 gas and all that goes with it. Have we learned from the 2008 Energy Crisis yet? NOPE!

The housing crisis kicked into gear, because people did not have a cushion. The housing market was affected by bubble demand associated with easy monetary policy associated with the Federal Reserve and easy lending practices associated with mortgage lenders. These lenders did not follow their fiduciary obligations and 100% only worried about a role as salespeople. They worried about fees and commissions. Who appraises the houses? The Banks. The salespeople, including bankers and brokers, encouraged people to buy houses that were too high of a percentage of their income and net worth. When the energy crisis hit, the people with little to no cushion were the first to tumble.

That is what has precipitated the events that have followed. This event has fed off of itself and the Federal Reserve, politicians, and bureaucrats have conspired to paper the reality over with more cheap fiat money. That is what has led us to the inflationary event that we are now in. The beginning of this event will mimic a recovery, because the increased prices of goods and services will reflect an increased percentage of sales, but what you have to look at is the underlying cost of those sales associated with wholesale prices (a direct reflection of the cost of commodities).

I know that people don't have time to look at the big picture. I can lay this out to you on a macro or a micro scale. What has to happen is that we need to realize that we have given away the farm. We have to have a productive capacity in this country. That would help us on the local level also, because we are a manufacturing center. I believe we need balance and we don't need a 50%+ manufacturing based economy like we have had in the past, but free-for-all trade has not and will not work for the viability of the United States of America. It is time to start discussing tariffs!

The discussion we need to have should be one that offers solutions and brings all of the issues to the table. Fair Trade, Tariffs, Financial Re-Regulation, and rebuilding the middle class are in my opinion necessities to getting the economy back on track. In order to make this economy work, we need to gear it back towards the American people and not the elite 1% and the corporations they represent!!!