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What's New Lately?
4/12/07
Jobs & 'Trade' Data Update Jun08, 6/21/08, National, Colorado, & Colorado Springs Mfg & IT job losses have been a disaster, especially for Colorado Springs. National Job "Growth" is negative with 601,000 fewer jobs than in Nov 07. Official unemployment rose from 4.8% in Feb to 5.5% in May, but real unemployment is 13.8%. The Advanced Technology Products "Trade" Deficit went from a $38.4B surplus in 1991 to a $53.5B deficit in 2007 with a continuing downward trend (month-to-month chart added).
Trade Truth #3: 'Trade' Talking Points, 6/12/08, Here are concise responses for those who wish to oppose "free trade" rhetoric.
Jobs & 'Trade' Data Update May08, 5/24/08, National, Colorado, & Colorado Springs Mfg & IT job losses have been a disaster. National Job "Growth" has leveled off. Official unemployment rose from 4.8% to 5.1% in March and 5.0% in Apr, but real unemployment is over 13%. The Advanced Technology Products "Trade" Deficit went from a $38.4B surplus in 1991 to a $53.5B deficit in 2007.
Ignore Externalities, 5/24/08, Some libertarians admit there are positive and negative externalities, but complain that taking them into account would create more harm. That's wrong. They don't believe that in a democracy we can decide what, if anything, to do about them.
Objection to 'Explaining Liberal Principles', 5/20/08, A great example of "conservative" denial of reality that proffers the "simple" as truth and points out the "depth of depravity of liberal 'logical thinking' when it comes to principles."
Petroleum Prevarication, 5/10/08, U.S. petroleum exports are about 10% of imports. Want to increase U.S. oil supply by 10%? Stop exporting it. Drill in ANWR? No; that oil would likely be exported.
Trade Truth #2: The Dollar & The Deficit, 4/27/08, The falling dollar did not increase the rate of goods export growth as pro "free trade" advocates maintain it should. The trade balance was less negative by $50B in 2007 because of increased growth of services exports and decreased growth of goods imports. Oil is a problem, but it's less than 20% of the trade deficit. The petroleum deficit fell in real dollars by $4.6B in 2006 and $3.9B in 2007 despite rising oil prices. There's a major structural problem driving the U.S. toward economic collapse.
Trade Truth #1: The NAFTA Nemesis, 4/18/08, After NAFTA, exports have suffered relative to imports no matter how one looks at the data. "Free trade" fundamentalists totally ignore that imports have slammed exports on all counts: absolute level, growth, and acceleration. The result? Destructive debt that's sinking the dollar and the U.S. economy.
Jobs & 'Trade' Data Update Apr08, 04/06/08, National, Colorado, & Colorado Springs Mfg & IT job losses have been a disaster. National Job "Growth" is negative. Unemployment is up. The Advanced Technology Products "Trade" Deficit continues to dive.
Collectives, 4/2/08, Libertarians say that any idea of a collective dimension of reality is the ridiculous creation of a "socialist mind" and that anyone who thinks otherwise is a common fool. Hardly.
Libertarians: Unbalanced & Deranged, 3/31/08, The commentary, "The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness," presents a laughable caricature of what it is to be liberal. Its dream: a grand, idealized libertarian, nightmarish, dystopia that creates hardships and inflicts wounds. This is dangerous, tragic, and sick.
Fascist "FreedomWorks", 3/20/08, "FreedomWorks" promotes the Alice-in-Wonderland idea that liberals and the "left" are fascists. Organizations like "FreedomWorks" are irrational to an extent that makes them, quite literally, insane. The root of that insanity is that they don't believe this: The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. This means that, at times, taking individually-logical actions can be collectively (for the whole) irrational. Tragic and dangerous.
The Invisible Hand, 3/25/08, This "invisible hand" is the core of what's known as "Economics 101."
Invisible Hand Drops Ball & Economics 101, 3/24/08, "Conservative" economic policies deliver dysfunctional results. They should have the courage to admit that's what they want.
Employment & Unemployment, 3/19/08, Unemployment is much greater than officially reported. Job growth has not kept up with population growth. US job growth has stopped.
Denver Post 'Trade' Deception, 3/3/08, The media doesn't allow the unbiased facts to be presented about what "free trade" is doing to our economy. It isn't in their corporate interest. "Free traders" talk about the glory of export growth, but not about the overwhelming growth of imports, the high-paying jobs lost, and the impact of those losses.
'Free Trade' and the Environment, 2/28/08, What's called "free trade" has enormous negative effects on the environment.
The Plunge Protection Team, 2/04/08, It manipulates U.S. markets. The economy & the dollar may possibly "hang on" through 2008 due to this market manipulation, but they will surely be allowed to collapse once a Democrat is elected.
Albert Einstein on Socialism, 1/24/08, Einstein reflects on capitalism, on socialism, on what he calls the "economic anarchy of capitalist society," and on what to do about it. I add comments.
Heresy, 1/24/08, The origin of the word, heresy, is "choice." That's not allowed.
'Cliff Oil', 7/10/06, They call it "peak oil," but the decline will feel more like "cliff oil."
John Edwards on 'Trade' - Why We Need Edwards for President, 1/18/08, Of the top three Democratic candidates John Edwards is the only one who understands the "trade" problem and has appropriate policies.
Are Poverty Wages for Ag Workers Necessary? No. 12/13/07, Corporations maintain agricultural workers must be paid poverty wages and therefore we "need" illegal immigrants to do this work. It's false.
Beyond Six Sigma: Systems Thinking and Six Sigma Shortcomings, 11/30/07, Is it possible to go beyond Six Sigma? Well, yes. Use systems thinking.
Principles of Economic and Workforce Development, 11/29/07, A systems thinking perspective is necessary for understanding the dynamically complex challenges that face our organizations, our community, and our society.
The Death of the Middle Class, 11/3/07, Response to DLC Democrat Stephen J. Rose's WSJ commentary on "The Myth of Middle-Class Job Loss."
"The Problem is Bigger than the Loss of Manufacturing", 8/28/07, Contains updated charts on the U.S. "trade" deficit and Colorado jobs through July 2007 plus a summary of the main points on what to do about 'trade', taxes, and health insurance.
The 'Fair Tax', 8/21/07, The "Fair Tax" isn't. It would require a 56% sales tax to be revenue neutral promoting a hyperactive black market. It's class warfare with the primary goal of eliminating taxes on dividends and capital gains.
Market Failures: Health Insurance & TABOR
Website Traffic Increasing at a surprising rate.
Response to a Conservative on economics, 'trade' & jobs.
Populism, 'Trade' and Jobs recent data on 'trade' & jobs and the need for populism ... updated 8/28/07.
What's New?
Employment & Trade Papers
5/05/05
Presentation on "Offshoring and Trade" at the Magellan Center on 11/9/06 posted at The Trade Deficit and the Fallacy of Composition
Manufacturing Task Force material on "trade" and jobs: Manufacturing Task Force on Loss of Manufacturing 6/3/06, KZNT 1460: Business Initiative Show
Material covered in Labor Market 4/1/06, KZNT 1460: Business Initiative Show.
A report on The State of Colorado Employment. The job backlog as of Jun 05 is between 140,000 and 228,000 jobs. New data added showing Dec 05 U.S. job backlog and realistic measures of unemployment ... the "official" U-3 is a vast understatement.
The 5/5/05 Manufacturing Task Force presentation on The Trade Deficit and the Fallacy of Composition and the Magellan Center's Magellan Explorer magazine article: "Is Our Trade Deficit Sustainable: A Systems Thinking Perspective on Trade." Page updated on 5/4/06 showing the Advanced Technology Products trade balance trend and deficit associated with petroleum. Also added a link to a pdf of Warren Buffett's Fortune article on what to do about this.
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