Of course, the point being that Americans can find a way to make money out of the worst of situations.  And, nothing works better than a t-shirt, bumper sticker, or a lapel pin.

Too bad the pins are no doubt manufactured in China.  So, that is still a problem, but the American spirit lives.  Now, we must convince the neocons that American manufacturing is still important as well and there is no such thing as free world trade without and equal playing field.

Jensen3:

Of course, the point being that Americans can find a way to make money out of the worst of situations.  And, nothing works better than a t-shirt, bumper sticker, or a lapel pin.

 

Too bad the pins are no doubt manufactured in China.  So, that is still a problem, but the American spirit lives.  Now, we must convince the neocons that American manufacturing is still important as well and there is no such thing as free world trade without and equal playing field.

 

America produced more goods last year than any time in our history. I'm convinced it's important. Don't get the "without an equal playing field" statement, exactly what are you getting at. 

ET, re unequal playing field:

We don't get to pollute like the Chinese.

We don't get to abuse our employees like the Chinese.

We don't get to pay our employees a meaningless wage like the Chinese.

We have so many needless regulations that protect the environment and our citizens while our productivity suffers.

That is what I mean by it isn't an equal playing field.

 .............

I am constantly fascinated by those who love China and believe in the so-called new world economy, but forget that China is Communist.  The USA has enjoyed a few short years of cheap goods, purchased on loans from China and manufactured by China.

It looks like we will all now pay the price.

OTOH, the French could claim the US isn't engaged in "fair" trade because our employees work more than 30 hour weeks and don't get "free" health care and don't get 2 months paid vacation each year.

ET--France and Germany were correct about Iraq, and it looks like the USA is starting to become more French in its approach to the economy.  Maybe it is time to work less and get less expensive healthcare while we are at it.

We could learn a few things from the French.  Let's start with our national drink of choice.  Budweiser is no longer an American company.  Maybe we should adopt a nice California winery as the new icon of the American way of life.   And, after that we could all stop eating crappy fast food and getting grossly overweight.

ET--France and Germany were correct about Iraq, and it looks like the USA is starting to become more French in its approach to the economy.  Maybe it is time to work less and get less expensive healthcare while we are at it.

We could learn a few things from the French.  Let's start with our national drink of choice.  Budweiser is no longer an American company.  Maybe we should adopt a nice California winery as the new icon of the American way of life.   And, after that we could all stop eating bad fast food and getting grossly overweight.

We probably could learn a few lessons from the French, such as electing a conservative government which saw their unemployment rate drop from over 10% when the rest of the world was booming in '05 to less than 8% today.

And hey, Samuel Adams Beer is about as American as steroids in baseball, so who needs wine?