Guest Post: Currency Wars - Misguided US Economic Policy from zero hedge by Tyler Durden

A PUBLIC POLICY SCORE CARD - WHAT HAVE OUR POLITICAL LEADERS ACHIEVEDLet’s recap where we are because the happy face media doesn’t want to tell you. They are reluctant to inform you because it hurts consumer consumption and therefore advertising revenues. It simply isn’t smart business to publically state the reality of the situation, and by the way, they get sued for any possibly unsubstantiated negative comments that might stop a stock(s) from rising.
Six corporations now collectively control US media and absolutely dominate news and entertainment.

 “When you control what Americans watch, hear and read you gain a great deal of control over what they think. They don’t call it ‘programming’ for nothing” (1).

Americans now watch on average 153 hours of television a month. You would think with this level of information consumption we would be informed – somewhat?

I’m sure you are all familiar with the facts in the chart above?  No?  Is it because no one tells you? Still skeptical? How many of the following major facts are you familiar 
With and you hear your political candidate discussing? Tick them off as you read them.
THE FACTS – JUST THE FACTS! – Of the 3 dozen below how many will you hear during the campaign?

1- The United States has lost approximately 42,400 factories since 2001.  About 75 percent of those factories employed over 500 people when they were still in operation. Source: The American Prospect
2- The United States has lost a total of about 5.5 million manufacturing jobs since October 2000. Source: The American Prospect
3- The United States has lost a whopping 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.
4- As of the end of 2009, less than 12 million Americans worked in manufacturing. The last time less than 12 million Americans were employed in manufacturing was in 1941.
5- In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of U.S. economic output. In 2008, it represented 11.5 percent. Source: The American Prospect
6- Ten years ago, the United States was ranked number one in average wealth per adult. In 2010, the United States has fallen to seventh. Source: Zero Hedge 7- The United States once had the highest proportion of young adults with post-secondary degrees in the world. Today, the U.S. has fallen to 12th.
8- American 15-year-olds do not even rank in the top half of all advanced nations when it comes to math or science literacy.
9- In America today, consumption accounts for 70 percent of GDP. Of this 70 percent, over half is spent on services. Source: Economy In Crisis
10- In 2001, the United States ranked fourth in the world in per capita broadband Internet use. Today it ranks 15th. Source: MACLEANS.CA
11- In 2008, 1.2 billion cell phones were sold worldwide. So how many of them were manufactured inside the United States? Zero. Source: The American Prospect
12- The television manufacturing industry began in the United States. So how many televisions are manufactured in the United States today? According to Princeton University economist Alan S. Blinder, the grand total is zero.
13- Printed circuit boards are used in tens of thousands of different products. Asia now produces 84 percent of them worldwide.
14- Manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer industry is actually lower in 2010 than it was in 1975. Source: Businessweek
15- One prominent economist now says that the Chinese economy will be three times larger than the U.S. economy by the year 2040.
16- According to a new study conducted by Thompson Reuters, China could become the global leader in patent filings by next year.
17- Back in 1980, the United States imported approximately 37 percent of the oil that we use. Now we import nearly 60 percent of the oil that we use.
18- The U.S. trade deficit is running about 40 or 50 billion dollars a month in 2010. That means that by the end of the year approximately half a trillion dollars (or more) will have left the United States for good.
19- Between 2000 and 2009, America's trade deficit with China increased nearly 300 percent.
20- Today, the United States spends approximately $3.90 on Chinese goods for every $1 that China spends on goods from the United States.
21- According to a new study conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, if the U.S. trade deficit with China continues to increase at its current rate, the U.S. economy will lose over half a million jobs this year alone.
22- If our trade deficit with China increases at its current rate, the U.S. economy will lose over half a million
jobs this year alone. Source: Economic Policy Institute [PDF]
23- As of the end of July, the trade deficit with China had risen 18 percent compared to the same time period a year ago. Source: Economic Policy Institute [PDF]
24- The United States spends approximately $3.90 on Chinese goods for every $1 that the Chinese spend on goods from the United States. Source: The Economic Collapse
25- One prominent economist is projecting that the Chinese economy will be three times larger than the U.S. economy by the year 2040. Source: MarketWatch
26- In the 2009 "prosperity index" published by the Legatum Institute, the United States was ranked as just the ninth most prosperous country in the world. That was down five places from 2008.
27- The economy of India is projected to become larger than the U.S. economy by the year 2050.
28- From 1999 to 2008, employment at the foreign affiliates of US parent companies increased an astounding thirty percent to 10.1 million. During that exact same time period, U.S. employment at American multinational corporations declined 8 percent to 21.1 million.  Source: Tax Analysts [PDF]

International Job Growth = 30% to  10.1 = 233K Jobs
Domestic Job Cuts =  8% decline from 21.1M = 184K Cuts
Net Growth =  233K – 184K = 49K
Net Percentage Growth = 49 / (10.1M + 21.1M) = 0.16% Employment Growth.

Multinationals show paltry hiring growth and are moving the existing work force steadily offshore.

29- The Census Bureau says 43.6 million Americans are now living in poverty, which is the highest number of poor Americans in the 51 years that records have been kept. Source: Washington Post
30- Approximately 750 good paying middle class jobs are going to be lost because making Ford Rangers in Minnesota does not fit in with Ford's new "global" manufacturing strategy. Source: Economy In Crisis
31- Dell Inc. has announced plans to dramatically expand its operations in China with an investment of over $100 billion over the next decade.  Dell has announced that it will be closing its last large U.S. manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Approximately 900 jobs will be lost.
Median household income in the U.S. declined from $51,726 in 2008 to $50,221 in 2009. That was the second yearly decline in a row.
32-The United States has the third worst poverty rate among the advanced nations tracked by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
33- Since the Federal Reserve was created in 1913, the U.S. dollar has lost over 95 percent of its purchasing power.
34- U.S. government spending as a percentage of GDP is now up to approximately 36 percent.
35- The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that U.S. government public debt will hit 716 percent of GDP by the year 2080.
36- Do you know what our biggest export is today? Waste paper.  Yes, trash is the number one thing that we ship out to the rest of the world as we voraciously blow our money on whatever the rest of the world wants to sell to us.

Has anyone been telling you this and have any of your politicians raised this in the current election campaigning?

Forgetting for the moment that failed US public policy is at the root of the financial crisis, the above chart shows that even the US’s recovery has been noticeably and significantly worse than other developed nations.  The US policy approach to the solution to the financial crisis has been the least effective according to these figures just released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

THE GUILTY PARTIES ARE FLEEING LIKE RATS FROM A SINKING SHIP
We have witnessed defections in the last month of three of the top four architects of Obama’s economic policy team. Plus the hidden fifth, Rahm Emanuel announced his departure October 1st. Rumors are now swirling that Tim Geithner will leave after the election and rumors grow that Michael Bloomberg is going to be the next Treasury Secretary (for a presidential run in 2012 or 2016, (another recent rumor)). They all know their policies failed, the public knows it, the media does but is afraid to say it and President Obama knows his administration is facing being a lame duck Presidency for the last two years of his term because of it.

Recovery Is Stuck in Neutral  WSJ   - “The economic recovery is largely stuck in neutral, reports on manufacturing, construction and spending show, and the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York gave the clearest signal yet that the Fed was preparing new actions aimed at boosting growth. In a speech Friday (Oct 1st) before the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, New York Fed President William Dudley indicated that the Fed, confronted with "unacceptable" conditions of high unemployment and low inflation, is likely to take new action to support the economy.  Mr. Dudley said $500 billion in additional asset purchases would provide stimulus equivalent to a reduction of 0.5 to 0.75 percentage point in the federal funds rate, the Fed's typical lever for stimulating the economy - The current situation is wholly unsatisfactory” and “both the current levels of unemployment and inflation and the timeframe over which they are likely to return to levels consistent with our mandate are unacceptable,” Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley said in a prepared text.
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