THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 67, March 5, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
SALVAGING THE "STIMULUS" PACKAGE
By Christopher G. Adamo
RISING OIL PRICES, THE SINKING DOLLAR, U.S. ENERGY & ECONOMIC POLICY, & THE TROUBLED STATE OF THE AMERICAN
ECONOMY: AMERICA'S BARGAINING POSITION ON THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC SCENE GROWING WEAKER &
WEAKER -- HOW U.S. PUBLIC POLICY & THE ENVIRONMENTALIST MOVEMENT HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO AMERICA'S
DEPENDENCE ON OIL FROM HOSTILE FOREIGN STATES AND THEREBY WEAKENED THE AMERICAN ECONOMY -- HOW
DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN MANUFACTURES IS UNDERMINING U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY -- THE LONGTERM HARMFUL
EFFECT OF IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL-TRADE POLICIES ADVOCATED BY OPEN-TRADE UTOPIANS -- HOW THE
RECENTLY PASSED ECONOMIC "STIMULOUS" PACKAGE WILL HARM THE AMERICAN ECONOMY, WHILE BENEFITING THE
ECONOMY OF COMMUNIST CHINA
FULL STORY:
Nobody should be surprised to see side-by-side headlines proclaiming that oil is hitting record prices while the dollar is
dropping to new lows against foreign currencies. The pieces fit. As America is forced to expend ever more of its monetary
supply in order to procure basic commodities from other countries, foreign powers gain greater and greater control of our
wealth and our destiny. Consequently, our bargaining position on the international economic scene grows weaker.
Much of the inflated price of crude oil directly results from the looming threats of Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and
Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, both of whom have hinted at the prospect of cutting supplies in the event of adverse policy
decisions by the United States of America. In other words, our dependence on their product, in this case petroleum, will
leave us at their mercy, if hostilities flare.
The situation would be entirely different, had the U.S.A. pursued a wise energy policy that recognized the importance of
strong domestic energy production, instead of kowtowing to the radical environmentalists who diligently endeavored
(with disturbingly great success) to put virtually all new American oil drilling and refining off limits.
Where America once dealt from a position of strength, and might still be doing so, it is now indefensibly vulnerable to the
likes of Ahmadinejad and Chavez. And, at some point, either this current generation or its posterity will either fix these
blunders or pay dearly for such shortsightedness.
Things are much the same on the manufacturing front. During his run for the Presidency, Congressman Duncan Hunter
(Republican - California), perhaps the only true Conservative to have entered the race, told of a critical component of
American “smart bombs” that has been purchased from Switzerland.
At some point during the Iraq war, the Swiss decided that, as a result of their opposition to U.S. actions, they would no
longer sell the part. From a military perspective, this act was no less effective or devastating than a surgical bombing of an
American munitions factory, rendering it incapable of further production.
Posing comparable risks, but on a far wider scale, American refineries and mills are no longer building, growing, and
modernizing to the degree necessary to maintain an ongoing production of day-to-day commodities, but are falling,
instead, into disrepair and eventual ruin. As such, they will eventually be in no condition to suddenly ramp up production,
in the event that a truly large scale conflict emerges on the world scene.
Americans can hardly imagine the degree of hardship and deprivation that could befall them from a full fledged trade
embargo conducted by hostile foreign powers. Many have already shown an ominous willingness to flex their economic
and political muscle against us. And the only defense against this fate is to ensure that American industry stays
sufficiently vibrant to respond to such a blow.
It is crucial to recognize that none of this should be interpreted as a pitch for “protectionism.” Wall Street types
understand all too well the ravages on an economy that is hamstrung by self-serving bureaucratic interests whose only
real goal is to enrich and empower themselves by constructing arbitrary and artificial trade barriers.
Yet, while many advocates of open trade accurately decry American protectionism on the basis of how it can harm both
U.S. interests as well as those of the countries with which America trades, the open-trade advocates seem deliberately
oblivious to the equivalent fact that such protectionist actions, when perpetrated by foreign governments, can similarly
inflict great damage on America’s industrial base.
The mere mention of a desire among Americans for reciprocity in treatment results in immediate accusations of
“protectionism.” The economic utopians of open-trade persuasion would rather look solely at the next quarter’s bottom
line, and presume from escalating numbers there that all is well on the economic front.
Such individuals, including many who claim the mantle of “Conservatism,” gauge America’s entire heritage, virtue, and
ultimate worth by evaluating it primarily, if not solely, in dollars, thus cheapening its real merits in terms they neither
cherish nor even understand.
Currently, China is involved in the artificial suppression of its currency, thus lowering the prices of its products, in order
to maintain an unfair advantage in trade deals with America. Some myopic economists view this as a good thing, since
American consumers “benefit” in the immediate sense from lower prices on Chinese imports.
Nevertheless, the longterm effect is ominous. China makes no benevolent effort to further trade at its own expense. Rather,
like a loan shark, who is inarguably “poorer” at the end of the initial transaction, China anticipates an eventual gain that is
well worth the price they currently sustain. It is thus willing to offer a few extra trinkets to the feeble natives in exchange
for the wealth and enduring properties of this nation.
So, what does all of this have to do with the recently passed “Stimulus Package,” ostensibly implemented by Congress to
improve the economy? For starters, it must be understood that this measure bears only a minuscule resemblance to the
federal tax reductions which spurred the lagging economy during the early part of the current Bush administration.
Whereas tax rate reductions allow actual earners to keep more of what they have produced, the “Stimulus package”
amounts to a governmental redistribution of monies that it confiscated from the producers. Instead of bolstering the
concept of private property, it promotes the notion of a governmental “sugar daddy” who hands out goodies as he sees
fit.
Despite its actuality as merely an extremely costly election year gimmick, many Americans will understandably be elated
to receive something from a government that has all to often only cost them money. And, as such, it portends some good
to the American people. But what they do with this windfall may determine its real worth in bolstering the economy.
Sadly, much of it is liable to quickly make its way across the Pacific, and thereby end up “stimulating” the Chinese
economy, with little or no benefit to Americans other than the ownership of some disposable trifles. Such things will
eventually wear out and be discarded, while the currency offered to purchase them continues to flourish within the
Chinese economy.
How much better it would be for this admittedly ham-fisted attempt at shoring up our sluggish domestic economy to be
turned into a surge of American dollars that continue to circulate within American shores. Admittedly, this scenario could
only result from Americans who purposefully determine to spend their “stimulus” checks on American products.
Some might ponder how an individual decision to follow this course could yield any tangible effect against the immense
tide of the world market? The best response is another question: What good results from a solitary vote, when resolutely
cast on principle?
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
U.S. Military Defense & National Security
Christopher G. Adamo is a freelance writer who lives in southeastern Wyoming and works in the field of industrial instrumentation.
He is actively involved in Wyoming's political process, serving as a delegate to successive Wyoming State Republican Conventions
and as a member of the Wyoming State Republican Central Committee. He has assisted Republican candidates for local and state
legislatures and for the United States Congress. His articles, which appear regularly in The Progressive Conservative, U.S.A.,
and on a number of other websites, reflect a major concern with the damage being done to Conservatism and Conservative causes by
the Liberal Leftist faction in the Republican Party as well as by the much larger and more powerful Liberal Leftist faction in the
Democratic Party. During the early and middle 1990s, Adamo was Editor of the Wyoming Christian Coalition's official news organ,
The Wyoming Christian.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity