Letter to the Editor of Hobart Democrat-Chief - 10-24-2017
Jerry Elix
328 S. Jefferson St.
Suite 2
Hobart, Oklahoma 73651
Hobart Democrat-Chief
407 S. Main St.
Hobart, Oklahoma 73651
Dear Editor,
I wanted to address something that I’ve been hearing lately and how it currently affects us. As all of us know, we have a new President in office. Since that time, we have had a very busy and continuous news cycle about him and his tweets. But what is not truly being addressed by the press, but is an essential part of the President’s overall game plan is Economic Nationalism.
The basic definition of Economic Nationalism is the domestic control of the United States labor, goods, and services. Or that no other country can control what happens to our labor force, goods that we make, and services we provide. This type of Nationalism is demonstrated daily on the world stage by other countries including us. Our President feels that we have not demonstrated this well in the last 72 years since World War 2 ended. In many ways, I agree with him. We allowed many countries easy access to our markets for their goods and services so that they can recover after World War 2. We also allowed developing countries the same access so that their economies can grow. The President feels that treaties made during the past 72 years are out of date, and harming our own economic growth.
With this said, everyone has pointed to the well know NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement). This agreement alone has been accused of taking jobs away from not only other parts of our country, but here in Hobart as well. Even former President Clinton has stated that this was one of the biggest errors he made as President, and that he wished he had the opportunity to change it. I agree with him in many aspects that NAFTA has and is hurting us, and should be replaced. Recently the President has taken us out of TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement) After reading the agreement, I believe TPP would have hurt us as well. The Presidents call to renegotiate this, and other agreements are on the right path for our country. I believe that Economic Nationalism by true sense of having better controls over what comes in and out of our markets is a good step. What I don’t see is the part that has to do with Labor.
Yes, we will benefit from fair and equal competition for our markets, but what will normal people like us in Hobart and throughout the United States give up for this? Remember, what made NAFTA and TPP so bad is that and American companies could move to signatory countries of those agreements, and produce goods and services at a lower price. The only way this is done is that people signatory countries make less than 1/3 of what the average American worker makes. So, will we have to give up the higher wages we make today, to have us make the goods and services for the returning American companies? Because for our products to be able to compete internationally, we will have to make products at a lower price. Next, will we prevent goods and services from entering our country for us to sale more domestically? Will we increase tariffs on goods and services entering United States? If we do that, other countries will prevent or raise tariffs on our products and services entering their countries. That would cause more job losses here. So, I ask you all to please write, email, or tweet President Trump, our U.S. Senators, and Representative to answer these questions. Look, I will openly state, I did not vote for our President. To be more honest, I didn’t like any of the three candidates for President. However, HE’S MY PRESIDENT. He was elected by the people for the people of the United States. But because he’s our President, it does not mean we should not question our Presidents policies. It’s Like Nixon stated, it’s time for the silent majority to speak. So, speak up, ask questions, find out what the plan is. How is this all to look within the next 10 years?
Thank you
Jerry D. Elix