Is America’s Fate Sealed?

For decades America served as a benevolent superpower, propping up our allies with trade agreements and fighting off communism. The U.S. was admirably looked at as the solution for a world reeling in the aftermath of World War II, now we are being loathed as the world’s problem.

In 1945 half of the manufactured goods originated in the U.S., as money flooded in, the U.S. succumbed to decreasing productivity. Americans began stewing in their newfound wealth and idly watched as other countries increased productivity. As Americans produced less and less a deficit in the balance of trade began to open in the 1970s. Gradually the U.S. morphed into the consumer, and the rest of the world became the producers. The U.S. went from having a deficit of $100 billion in the 1990s to a $731 billion deficit at present, catapulting us into our current full blown treacherous cycle.

Propped up by the wealth that amassed after World War II, the U.S. became lethargic and unproductive. Americans consumed and squandered, and lived beyond their means as other countries began advancing economically and technologically.

Specifically Japan and Germany became more capital and knowledge intensive in manufacturing and began outstripping the U.S. Japan has a record $181 billion current account surplus, an amazing feat considering this tiny island nation is consumed with terrain that is 90 percent mountainous and infertile. Japan lacks natural resources and has to rely almost entirely on imports to manufacture a product.

Despite Japan’s massive environmental pitfalls the highly efficient nation still manages to amass an $80 billion balance of trade surplus a year with America, a stark contrast to America’s $731 billion balance of trade deficit. That massively devastating number equals out to $1.4 million lost by the U.S. every minute. Foreign entities accumulate our funds and use them to buy out vital American assets. America no longer has the monopoly in trade it possessed in the 1940s, instead we are rapidly losing the ability to even manufacture. As foreign interests use our own money to scoop up our companies, we are forgoing our future protection, profit, technology and taxes.

Our manufacturing capabilities were debased in a “free-trade” world economy, and our capacity to make goods was shipped overseas. The U.S. cannot compete when pitted against countries with minimal labor laws and contemptible manufacturing practices.

However, hope is not completely lost. Our “free-trade” treaties are not permanent. Currently the World Trade Organization gives the United States the same voice as all of the other 153 nations. America’s vote is on par with that of Antigua’s, a country with 70,000 citizens. According to economist Pat Choate, the United States makes up 22 percent of the world economy and should have 22 percent of the vote.

“The WTO ruled against the United States in 40 of 47 cases in which it was a defendant, which is highly significant because most of these losses have forced the United States to change its laws and administrative rules,” Choate said.

No appeal exists outside the WTO. Its verdicts are final.

The WTO does not have to be voted on to be removed. The president simply must submit an analysis to Congress detailing the effects of the WTO and its costs to the U.S., Congress then has the ability to withdraw from the WTO.

“The last global trade round collapsed last summer. What that means is that the next president actually has the opportunity to start with a blank slate on global trade rounds,” Choate said. “NAFTA has to be redone, and the WTO has to redone.”

To remove the U.S. from the WTO, American citizens simply must write to Sen. Barack Obama and demand America’s withdrawal.

Currently the U.S. finds itself watching on the sidelines as other more productive and economically sound countries fill the void, meanwhile the possibility of narrowing the gap slips further from our grasps. If America does not change its “free-trade” policies, escalating trade deficits or apathetic attitude, our fate as a mere role-player may be sealed.

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