Free versus fair trade; productivity and outsourcing; good or bad jobs; minimum wage vs. unemployment are opposing concepts indicative of American political principles.
With some strange alliances, American interests and ideology are becoming difficult to separate. The USA’s economy is probably in a recession; however, these interests have come to the forefront in nearly all American affairs. Political opponents agree while party faithful argue over the impact of these ideologies on the nation.
- Economy – Credit and housing crises, trade and national deficits along with rising fuel and food costs have pushed the American economy into a recession unlike any seen for 25 years according to The Economist’s April 10th 2008 issue. “Feeling poorer and with fewer people prepared to lend them money, consumers are cutting back….[since] consumer spending accounts for 70% of American demand - that hurts….”
- Employment – All the crises mentioned above have had a ripple effect on employment. Dr. Peter Morici of the US Department of Labor said the US lost 80,000 jobs in March 2008, 232,000 in the 1st quarter. The unemployment rate rose to 5.1% and the number of unemployed persons increased by 434,000 to 7.8 million. Manufacturing lost 48,000 jobs in March and 310,000 over the past 12 months. Professional, business and technical services lost 35,000 jobs in March and 210,000 over 18 months. Construction (51,000) and retail service (12,000) jobs rounded out the large loss areas for March 2008.
- Wages – this recession has the nation’s laborers distressed. In many instances it pits business against workers and workers against each other. Truman F. Bewley (a.k.a. Dr. Alfred Cowles Professor of Economics at Yale University) argues in his book, Why Wages Don't Fall During a Recession “…in recessions most jobless people have difficulty locating any opening at the level of their qualifications, even one that pays little for their kind of work, and gladly accept any position they find.” Bewley continues: “Each theory of wage rigidity depends critically on specific assumptions about the motives and behavior of workers or employers. Some…stem from the natural human tendency to blame the less fortunate for their suffering.”
- Trade – treaties and international agreements create some of the most contentious arguments in the nation. Former Nixon, Ford and Reagan conservative senior advisor Patrick J. Buchanan, wrote in CAFTA: Ideology vs. national interests: “Today's trade agreements are about reshaping the world to conform to the demands of transnational corporations that have shed their national identities and loyalties and want to shed their U.S. workers….They get to fire their American workers – and keep their American consumers. What a deal….NAFTA and CAFTA are the shield laws of corporate absconders….the country be damned."
The ideological differences in these areas have serious implications for America’s future. Keynesians or neoclassic economists disagree on exactly how the inexact sciences of economics and sociology interact but opinions abound. Left-winged socialists align with right-wing neocons. Professor Ellen Dannin from Wayne State University says in her article The Minimum Wage, Part Two: Challenging Right-Wing Think Tanks' Economics-Lite “The argument against the minimum wage is really an argument against decent wages for workers….” At the same time Buchanan says: “transnational corporations [are] tired of…having to deal with Americans who need health-care and pension benefits, they want to dump them all and hire Asians who will work for $2 an hour.”
Republican Senator George Voinovich stated in congressional hearings: "We're kind of bankrupting this country….We're in a recession, and God only knows how long we're going to be in it." At the same time left-wing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said “The president has…taken us deeply into debt, and that debt is taking us into recession."
