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Summary of America's Current Economic Condition

Published 04/07/06 Thomas Heffner - Print Article
E-mail - editor@economyincisis.org

1. Wholesale sellout of core strategic assets to foreign acquirers: according to official figures, more than 8,000 American companies have been sold to foreign corporations in the last 10 years

2. Decline of vital industries through bankruptcy, foreign predatory competition, and foreign acquisition: examples include steel, publishing, clothing, machine tools, automobiles, electronics, and others

3. Inability to manufacture competitively: American manufacturers suffer a 22 percent structural cost disadvantage compared to overseas competitors through taxes, health and pension benefits, litigation, regulation, and rising energy prices

4. Overdependence on imports: $1 in $4 of US consumption of manufactured goods now goes immediately and directly to imports

5. Massive wealth transfer to foreign ownership: our trade deficit, at $723 Billion in 2005, is costing $1.4 Million per minute in remittances to foreigners

6. Loss of job and career opportunities for people at all educational levels: 3 Million high-paying manufacturing jobs lost over past 5 years

7. Insourcing of foreign manufacturers destroys our domestic industries, takes profits and taxes overseas, and provides only low-skill jobs for American workers: foreign manufacturers operating in the US now account for over 20 percent of our exports and manufacturing assets, and a large percentage of our employment

8. Foreign financing of vast majority of government debt: foreign countries now control 47 percent of our total federal deficit and finance nearly 100 percent of all new borrowings – our competitors are now our bankers

9. Outsourcing key manufacturing, research, and design: unchecked offshore outsourcing benefits individual companies and shareholders but destroys entire industries and communities

10. Transition to services-oriented economy: high-paying goods-producing industries have lost net employment over the past 25 years while non-tradable service-providing employment has nearly doubled

11. Lost scientific, engineering, technological prowess: in 2004, China and India graduated a combined 950,000 engineers versus 70,000 in the US. US ranks near the bottom of science/math proficiency

12. Wealth shift into less productive assets: residential real estate now represents a record 38 percent of household net worth on record over-inflated home valuations and record mortgage levels

13. Record levels of personal and government debt: household liabilities at record levels, federal government adding record levels of debt each year financed mostly by foreign countries, trade deficits transferring unprecedented accelerating amounts of wealth to foreign hands each year

14. Misleading commonly used economic statistics: misleading incomplete statistics like GDP, job creation, and productivity belie our crumbling economic infrastructure

15. Proven failed trade policies and other legislation contributing to our demise continue unchallenged: destroying our industry and allowing our assets to be sold or taken from us

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