 Chuck Norris’ “Invasion U.S.A.” |
The USA is being infiltrated by illegals, sold to foreign powers and abandoned by its government. But are Americans enabling the dissolution of our economy and country as well by continuing to buy foreign goods?
America is literally being sold out from underneath Americans. According to the 2008 Economic Report of the President, “The United States is both the single leading recipient and leading source of foreign direct investment in the world. In 2006, total cumulative (foreign direct investment) in the United States was almost $1.8 trillion, 15 percent of the world total.” In 2006, foreign-owned assets in the U.S. totaled roughly $16 trillion dollars.
And where does all that foreign investment go?
As Paul Craig Roberts, once assistant secretary of the Treasury under President Reagan and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, wrote a few years ago, “Very little of the foreign money flowing into the U.S. is for the purpose of building Toyota and BMW plants. Eighty to 85 percent of direct investment by foreigners in the U.S. economy goes into mergers and acquisitions. In 2000, 97 percent of direct investment by foreigners went for the purchase of existing U.S. assets.” And those assets include U.S. government securities and liabilities, including ours and our children’s civic debt now mounting into the tens of trillions.
We all know China serves as an example of this vicious cycle. American companies from agribusinesses to Wal-Mart have proliferated markets with so many “Made in China” labels that our nation has one big tag dangling from the toe of Florida – “Sold to China.” And does China mind its material and monetary dominance over America? Of course not. In turn, it takes our money that we pay them for their goods and invests (loans) it back to us via our government as one of the “foreign investors” in our national debt. And why? Lately the reason has been so Congress can bail out more American industries and deepen our bondage (and ownership) to countries like China.
Some years ago Paul Roberts eerily predicted, “The U.S. is on its way to becoming a country whose corporations are foreign-owned and foreign-based. The U.S. will decline as a consumer market as there will be no high productivity jobs to support consumer demand. … The U.S. is importing a new population that will help it on its way to third worldism. Every year millions of poor and uneducated immigrants, both legal and illegal, pour into the U.S. from alien lands. Today 20 percent of the U.S. population is foreign born or children of foreign born. This massive influx drives up the demand for income support programs while driving down the taxable wages in retail and service sector jobs where Americans are forced to seek employment as higher paying automotive, electronic, textile and manufacturing jobs leave the country. The U.S. is still a superpower, but it is a country with very little, if any, control over its future and its destiny, a country whose time is running out.”
It’s time to realize we’re all together in this boat called America, and she is sinking. Government is not our salvation. Our hope is not in Congress or even a political-messianic deliverance through the presidency. The only economic stimulus plan they should be preparing is the one that rewards manufacturers and consumers who promote and purchase American-made products and services. Our government doesn’t need to dole out more bailouts, and drown us deeper in debt. We don’t need more bad trade agreements like NAFTA or to provide tax relief incentives for corporations that are outsourcing. We need fair trade, not free trade. And we need a Fair Tax, not a flowering system of taxes.
In order to stimulate the economy, we need to return to a taxation system similar to that established by our founders. They did not penalize productivity through taxes the way we do today. They had no Internal Revenue Service. They believed in minimal taxation. They did not pay income taxes, which were prohibited by the Constitution. They did not pay export taxes, which were also prohibited by the Constitution. But they did tax imports. The founders believed in free trade within our own borders and a system of tariffs on imported goods. That’s a system that makes sense to me. It is a system designed to preserve individual liberty and encourage productivity (through no income taxes and no discouragement of domestic production through export taxes), while choosing to keep taxes as painless as possible (as taxes on foreign imports).
Let’s be honest. Justifications abound for purchasing foreign goods – and many of them make perfect sense. Reasons range from price to quality, but, like gas prices, maybe we will continue to enable foreign dominance in commerce and beyond as long as we pay the prices and don’t come up with other alternatives. We say we can’t afford to buy American – but maybe it’s time to say we can’t afford not to. By supporting our homeland, we’re not only investing in America and boosting the economy, we are helping to reverse staggering unemployment rates and keep companies from going under. We all can do our part to bail the water out of our sinking ship by buying American goods and services.
But be careful with labels, as there’s an obvious difference between “Made in the USA” and labels like “Assembled in the USA.” The Federal Trade Commission defines “Made in the USA” as “all or virtually all” of the parts, processing and labor that go into the product must be of U.S. origin. We must also be careful, because some foreign cars are now being “Made in the USA.” Some companies do in fact “insource.” Foreign companies, such as Nissan, Honda and Nokia have set up domestic plants and often pay American workers higher than the national average.
“We make them here and they’re built by American citizens and increasingly we’re designing them here,” said Kim Custer, spokesman for the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, which represents Toyota, Mitsubishi, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, Kia, Isuzu and Subaru. “In fact, 55 percent of the vehicles our companies sell here are built here,” he said. “More than half of our sales are products made here, and we consider ourselves part of the American auto industry. We have about 95,000 employees around the country.”
But let’s face it – some labels lie too. So do your homework. Take some time to understand what it means for a business to comply with the “Made in the USA standards.” And check reputable consumer websites to search for domestic manufactured goods and services, like Still Made In USA or Made In USA Forever
The good news is that, according to a Gallup poll, 72 percent of Americans today are more concerned with the geographical origin of products they purchase, and 50 percent are even willing to pay more for American made products. For many, “Made in the USA” labels represent an increased concern for work and environmental conditions, as well as consumer safety and premium quality. Buying American is also a way to rekindle patriotism.
If you’re old enough, you’ll remember when “Made in USA” was a badge of honor. Well, I’m proposing a buyers’ revolution, in which we all economically win that medal of valor. If the government isn’t going to help us by securing our borders, reducing the outsourcing, ceasing debt through bogus bailouts and out-of-control spending, then we the people have got to take back the financial future of our country. The buck stops here – in America. That is one resolution we all should make in 2009 – Buy “Made in U.S.A.” Don’t just go green, spend green – in homemade products and services. If just half of the country followed suit, our downturned economy would turn around in half the time.
In my movie, “Invasion U.S.A.,” a terrorist by the name of Rostov plans to unleash a reign of terror on the U.S. Before he does, however, he decides to go after a former CIA agent played by me. My character, Matt Hunter, once had Rostov’s life in his hands, but on orders he captured him alive. Now, Rostov is haunted by nightmares of Hunter killing him. So Rostov goes after him but does so in vain, because Hunter leaves his passive resistance for an active hunt. The one big problem is that Hunter is only one man, and Rostov has hundreds of men working to tear the country apart.
Sometimes life feels that way. You feel like it’s you against the world. I’m sure that’s the way America’s founders felt. And I know it’s the way true patriots feel today. There are hundreds of reasons why people don’t believe we can turn America around, but we have to try – to keep fighting. Our country has been invaded and is being overtaken. It’s time we take it back.
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