American Third Position |
| Posted: 04 Nov 2010 01:46 PM PDT
The show, which was otherwise excellent and perfectly captured the frontline problem facing all of America, and indeed the West, detailed a litany of woes which has struck Newton, starting with the closure of the Maytag washing machine plant. Maytag's famous washing machine, invented in the town over 100 years ago, provided the impetus for much of the town's success, employing 5,000 people and a host of peripheral smaller businesses which supplied services to that corporation. The CBS program mentioned, but glossed over the facts behind the closure of the Maytag plant, mentioning only in one line during the entire program the reason why it had closed. "Maytag was bought out, and by 2007 the factory closed; many of the jobs went to Mexico. No one knew it then, but these were the opening days of the Great Recession," said the program, before quickly moving on to interview several people, including the mayor, who had lost either their jobs or a large part of their livelihoods as a result. Most of the people interviewed had heartbreaking stories to tell. They explained how shops had to close, staff had to be laid off, and in one case, a weeping mother explaining how they never thought they would be in the position where they did not know how they would be able to afford to send their daughter to college. As tragic — and true — as all these stories are, no one dared mention the real cause of this economic collapse: globalization. Maytag Corporation was a $4.7 billion home and commercial appliance company, headquartered in Newton from 1893 to 2006, when it was bought out by the Whirlpool Corporation. That corporation then closed down the Newton operation and moved production to its Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, manufacturing facility because "it [was] cheaper" in terms of labor costs. Whirlpool used this same rationale to fire 700 employees from its Fort Smith, Arkansas, plant in 2008, and from its Evansville, Indiana, plant in 2008. At that last location, some 1,100 people were left unemployed as production moved to Mexico. "These initiatives strengthen Whirlpool's industry leading position while also improving productivity and efficiency across our North American manufacturing platform," David L. Swift, president, Whirlpool North America, claimed at the time. "It is a with a heavy heart that we announced the decision to close our Evansville plant," a handout given to employees at Evansville read. "This business decision is the result of a global study and is not a reflection of our employees or their work performance." A news report quoted one employee, 46-year-old Robert Gross of Mount Carmel, Illinois, as saying that employees were still stunned and upset that the company was moving the jobs to Mexico. "You guys are making a lot of money, but you guys are sending our jobs to Mexico. It's just not right," Mr. Gross said he told a company official. The reasoning behind the globalization concept is as follows: big business believes that if it can lower its manufacturing costs, it will sell more items on the retail market and thus make bigger profits. This rationale would be valid except for one very obvious flaw, which was highlighted in the CBS 60 Minutes show, namely, that when the jobs go, so does the disposable income of the retail market. At one stage in the CBS program, the reporter said that he attended a local foreclosure sale, and no one bid on anything. "That's because no one has any money," came the retort from his audience. And that sums it up. Globalization would work if an economy could keep going without manufacturing anything. But for any economy to be viable, it has to manufacture something to sell. Once an economy loses its manufacturing base, its unemployed consumers will eventually run out of money to keep buying cheap Third World-manufactured goods, and then the whole system collapses. This is the lesson, ignored of course, which is self-evident in the CBS program. Watch it here and weep, not only for the poor victims portrayed therein, but also for the deliberate suppression of the dangers of globalization. |
| Latino Invasion "Saved" Democrats: How Demographic Change Is Changing Political Power in America Posted: 04 Nov 2010 01:21 PM PDT
According to Latino Decisions' Gary Segura, "Latinos may have saved the Senate for Democrats. They certainly saved Harry Reid — about 10 percent of the overall vote in Nevada were Latinos voting Democrat." Mr. Segura added that "Overwhelmingly, Latino voters were there to support Latino community instead of either party and felt that the immigration debate and accompanying anti-Latino sentiment drove them to the polls on Election Day." In other words, Latinos voted racially, something which the media and their liberal allies accept as perfectly normal but which would be the subject of much condemnation had whites voted racially — and then boasted about it in an organization called "the race." The Latino Decisions' polling, which was sponsored by National Council of La Raza (NCLR), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and pro-immigration lobby America's Voice, found that immigration issues were critical in driving Latino voters to the polls this election. The America's Voice website, for example, boasted that the "Latino firewall" prevented Republicans from winning seats in the West. "Democrats have seen a pattern of losing majorities in both the House and the Senate. However, not this year; thanks to the Latino firewall in the West — motivated perhaps by some candidate's views on immigration and some smart voter mobilization efforts — the Democrats were able to keep control of the Senate, not to mention the Governors' races in California and Colorado," that website said. According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America's Voice, "Latino voters delivered in the 2010 elections. Were it not for the Latino firewall in the West, these midterms would have conformed to past 'change' elections, which have seen both houses of Congress swept from power. "Instead, this time, Latinos kept the Senate in Democratic hands and played a key factor in helping Democrats win the governors' races in California and Colorado." Similarly, Clarissa Martinez De Castro, director of Immigration and National Campaigns at National Council of La Raza (NCLR), said, "Latinos in 2010 reaffirmed their influential role in American politics both as voters and candidates," and pointed to the choice confronting the Republican Party in recapturing lost ground among Latino voters for the 2012 elections and beyond. She added, by way of what some might suggest to be bordering on blackmail, that "Republicans have an option — continue to let extremist leaders define their stance on immigration or come to the table and present a clear solution to the immigration issue." Mike Garcia, president of SEIU United Service Workers West (USWW), boasted how Latino voters provided the winning margin in California for Governor-elect Jerry Brown (D-CA) and Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA). "The politics we see now in California give a glimpse to the political future in other western states. In California, where more than one in five voters are Latino, there's no doubt that Meg Whitman's anti-immigrant stance cost her the election," Mr. Garcia said. This, then, is the future facing America unless the immigration invasion is brought under control. America will become an extension of Mexico, or it will retain its European core. The American Third Position intends for it to be the latter. |
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Being happy–is it good for the Jews? "Before Professor Dershowitz accused me of being an anti-Semite (news to me), I was a happy person. Since then, I'm still a happy person". –Michael Santomauro
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