Are We Blind? Can't We See What Is Happening To Us?

Losing Ownership and Control Of Our Country

We are losing ownership and control of our country through unsustainable balance-of-trade deficits. In the last 10 years, we have lost $3.0 Trillion through these trade deficits. $1.3 Trillion has been returned and used by foreign companies to buy our best companies like Chrysler, Amoco, Atlantic Richfield Oil, and 8,600 other great companies. For example, key chokepoint industries like cement is 81% foreign owned and movies now 70% foreign owned.

GDP Far Overstates Our True Economic Health We say our GDP is growing over 4% per year over the last 10 years. However, this statistic does not adequately measure the impact of the deterioration of our domestically owned production and manufacturing capabilities. 70% of GDP is consumer spending - dollars that now go largely to imports or products made domestically by foreign-owned companies (e.g., Hyundai's produced in Alabama). Figures from the IRS show that imports account for at least 25% of manufactured goods consumption in the U.S. and that many U.S. so-called domestic industries are actually 25% to 80% owned by foreign interests.

Rising GDP Only Increases US Trade Deficits Therefore, as our domestically owned manufacturing continues to decline, rising GDP actually increases the balance-of-trade deficits. In other words, the more our economy grows, the deeper in debt we become. On average, our balance-of-trade deficit has grown 24% compounded annually over the last 10 years. GDP simply does not account for the loss of wealth producing assets or the future cost of repaying the debts and rebuilding our lost industries. In 2004 alone, the balance-of-trade deficit was a record $723 Billion. That is approximately $1.2 Million per minute leaving our country, coming back not to buy merchandise but to buy us out.

Repaying Our Debts With What? How will we ever repay our debts ($400+ Billion per year internal Government budget deficit plus $600+ Billion per year external trade deficit) when we no longer have any significant tradable, domestically owned wealth-producing industries left? How can we fund new growth and repay debts to foreign countries if our industries and their profits are owned by those very countries?

Our Priorities Are Distorted While we focus on changing Social Security and other programs, we don't realize that no system will work if we are not able to create wealth within our own country to fund it. The most important priority is planning for our economic health, from which many other issues will be resolved. If this country is not fundamentally capable of sustaining itself without huge imports and massive borrowings, no amount of legislation will satisfy our obligations and sustain our standard of living.

How Well and How Long Can We Live Like This? How secure can we be if we must live on imports and sell off or dismantle our factories? And how safe will we be if we are forced to outsource our manufacturing to foreign companies in order to compete? How can we justify subsidized foreign owned manufacturing insourcing in America (e.g., the auto industry) that is operating for their profit and their benefit while they destroy our unsubsidized and disadvantaged American-owned auto and other factories that are saddled with excessive health and pension costs? Chrysler is now a German company. General Motors is in quick decline and has lost $1.1 Billion in the last quarter alone. Ford is quickly losing market share. If some outside enemy wanted to destroy America, they couldn't do it better than we are doing it to ourselves.

We are taking the invulnerability and permanence of our industries and our country for granted while other countries are actively engaged in our undoing. Why are we allowing this to happen? Who is responsible for this?

You have lived in a great country. At this rate, your children will not have it as good or as safe as you have had. Write the President and your Congressperson your thoughts and suggestions.