{"id":92,"date":"2010-10-05T17:42:49","date_gmt":"2010-10-06T00:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/?p=92"},"modified":"2010-10-05T17:42:49","modified_gmt":"2010-10-06T00:42:49","slug":"will-the-republican%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cpledge-to-america%e2%80%9d-save-american-manufacturing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/general\/will-the-republican%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cpledge-to-america%e2%80%9d-save-american-manufacturing\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the Republican\u2019s \u201cPledge to America\u201d Save American Manufacturing?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since saving American manufacturing has become my main mission in life and the focus of this blog, I have reviewed the Republican\u2019s &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/pledge.gop.gov\/resources\/library\/documents\/pledge\/a-pledge-to-america.pdf\">A Pledge to America<\/a>&#8221; with that viewpoint in mind.<\/p>\n<p>The Republican pledge includes five major plans that they will work to achieve if they take over control of Congress and the U. S. Senate as a result of the upcoming elections in November.<\/p>\n<p>These plans are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> A plan      to create jobs, end economic uncertainty, and make America more      competitive &#8211; includes a pledge to permanently stop all tax increases,      give small businesses a 20% tax deduction, repeal the mandate to report      purchases that run more than $600 to the IRS included in the health care      reform, and require congressional approval of any new federal regulation      that has an annual cost to our economy of $100 million or more.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>A plan      to stop out-of-control spending and reduce the size of government &#8211;      includes canceling unspent \u201cstimulus\u201d funds, blocking attempts to extend      the timeline for spending \u201cstimulus\u201d funds, rolling back government      spending to pre-stimulus levels, setting strict budget caps to limit federal      spending annually, cutting Congress\u2019 budget, holding weekly votes on      spending cuts (YouCut initiative), ending TARP (Troubled Asset Relief      Program, ending government control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and      imposing a net federal hiring freeze on non-security employees.<\/li>\n<li>A plan      to repeal and replace the government takeover of health care &#8211; includes      repeal of the Health Care Act of 2010 and replacing it with medical      liability reform, allowing consumers to purchase health insurance across      state lines, expand Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and make it illegal      for insurers to deny coverage to someone with prior coverage on the basis      of a pre-existing condition, eliminate annual and lifetime spending caps,      and prevent insurers from dropping coverage when a person gets sick.<\/li>\n<li>A plan      to reform Congress and restore trust \u2013 includes pledge to publish the text      of a bill online for at least three days before it comes to a vote in the      House, require each bill moving through Congress to include a clause      citing the specific constitutional authority upon which the bill is      justified, allow any lawmaker, Democrat or Republican, to offer amendments      to reduce spending, and end the practice of packaging unpopular bills with      \u201cmust-pass\u201d legislation by advancing major legislation one issue at a      time.<\/li>\n<li>A plan      to keep our nation secure at home and abroad &#8211; includes passing \u201cclean      troop funding bills (not attached to other policy issues or pork-barrel      projects), prevent the government from importing terrorists onto American      soil, ensure that foreign terrorists are tried in military, not civilian      court, fully fund missile defense, require tough enforcement of sanctions      against Iran, establish operational control of the border, work with state      and local officials to enforce immigration laws, and strengthen Visa      security.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The merits of the specific plans in the Republicans \u201cPledge\u201d will be hotly debated in the future, but the urgent need to <strong>prevent tax hikes<\/strong> <strong>from going in effect on January 1, 2011 <\/strong>will be decided by the \u201clame duck\u201d Congress after the election.\u00a0 Who\u2019s to say they will do what\u2019s right?\u00a0 These tax hikes will not only hurt businesses, especially small businesses, but millions of average Americans.\u00a0 An analysis by Deloitte Tax LLP shows that a family of four with a household income of $50,000 a year will pay $2,900 more in taxes in 2011, and the same family making $100,000 a year will see its taxes rise by $4,500.\u00a0 Even more crucial is to eliminate the restoration of the exorbitant 55% Death Tax, which would be the death knell to family-owned small businesses when the principal owner dies and the survivors have to sell the business to pay the taxes.<\/p>\n<p>There is no need to \u201creinvent the wheel\u201d to determine what is needed to create jobs.\u00a0 Manufacturing jobs are the foundation of our economy, and we need to restore our manufacturing base to create jobs.\u00a0 Not all of the recommendations of the Manufacturing Initiative reported in the 2004 \u201cManufacturing in America:\u00a0 A Comprehensive Strategy to Address the Challenges to U S. Manufacturers\u201d have been implemented.\u00a0 The Interagency Working group set up by this Initiative released a report on topics for the federal government\u2019s manufacturing research programs in March 2008, \u201cManufacturing the Future \u2013 Federal Priorities for Manufacturing R &amp; D.\u201d\u00a0 Many more recommendations of how to restore America\u2019s manufacturing base are summarized in chapter 10 of my book, <em>Can American Manufacturing be Saved?\u00a0 Why we should and how we can. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p>The U. S. tax system needs to be improved to make U. S. businesses more competitive in the global economy.\u00a0 On July 26, 2007, the Treasury Department hosted a conference on Global Competitiveness and Business Tax Reform that brought together distinguished leaders to discuss the topic.\u00a0 As follow-up to this conference, on December 20, 2007, the U. S. Department of the Treasury released a 124-page report titled \u201cApproaches t Improve the Competitiveness of the U. S. Business Tax System for the 21<sup>st<\/sup> century.\u00a0 None of the recommendations have been passed by Congress since the report was released so this report should be dusted off and used as a starting point for revamping our tax system.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the first plan speaks about \u201c\u2026repealing job-killing policies\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Does this include repealing ruinous one-sided free trade agreements where American workers are expected to compete with foreign workers making a tiny fraction of what an American worker makes in order to survive in America?\u00a0 As long as China, India, and other cheap labor countries are permitted to wage unrestricted economic warfare against the America worker in the form of predatory mercantilism, we will continue to witness ever-increasing unemployment in our country.\u00a0 There is nothing in the \u201cPledge\u201d that addresses this problem.<\/p>\n<p>While Democrats drive jobs overseas from excessive regulation and taxation, Republicans have enticed jobs overseas by promoting free trade agreements.\u00a0 It is a policy that benefits consumers in the short run, until they lose their jobs.\u00a0 But, it greatly benefits international business interests in the long run, which profit handsomely at the expense of American workers.\u00a0 Will Republicans remain in lock step with the pied pipers of free trade by insisting on negotiating more free trade agreements?\u00a0 Will Republicans continue to ignore the damage to the competitiveness of American companies from Chinese currency manipulation?\u00a0 Will Republicans continue to allow China to impose tariffs and other restrictions on U. S. imports to their country without imposing tariffs on Chinese goods?<\/p>\n<p>Just last week, on September 26<sup>th<\/sup>, Chinese government officials said that it would slap a hefty tariff on U. S. chicken imports to combat what it says are unfairly low prices.\u00a0 New import duties ranging from 50.3% to as much as 105.4% took effect the next day and will last for five years. The tariffs apply to chicken parts and whole birds, but not to live chickens or cooked products such as chicken sausage.\u00a0 China was the largest importer of U. S. chicken in 2009 at $752.5 million.<\/p>\n<p>The Republican \u201cPledge\u201d is a good start to getting our country back on track, but it\u2019s not enough to save American manufacturing.\u00a0 It would undo much of the damage done by the Obama administration and Democratic controlled Congress and Senate in the last 20 months, especially if they succeed in repealing the Health Care Act of 2010.<\/p>\n<p>We need to stop the downhill slide of our economy that has been occurring since the year 2000 when China became part of the World Trade Organization after being granted Most Favored Nation status by the United States.\u00a0 While we\u2019ve lost 5.5 million manufacturing jobs in the U. S. since the year 2000, 3.5 million occurred before the Obama administration came into power.\u00a0 The end result has been an unsustainable escalation of the U. S. trade deficit with China and an equally unsustainable national debt to China from our staggering budget deficits.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans need to go beyond the proposed actions in the \u201cPledge\u201d to make real changes in our national policies with regard to trade so that American manufacturers have a more level playing field in which to compete in the global economy.\u00a0 We can\u2019t continue to export our wealth and be able to remain a first-world country.\u00a0 We must restore our manufacturing base and help small businesses succeed and grow to create the jobs we need to remain a sovereign nation.\u00a0 How you vote this fall will determine the course of our nation.\u00a0\u00a0 I urge you to make the right choice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since saving American manufacturing has become my main mission in life and the focus of this blog, I have reviewed the Republican\u2019s &#8220;A Pledge to America&#8221; with that viewpoint in mind. The Republican pledge includes five major plans that they will work to achieve if they take over control of Congress and the U. S. 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