Michigan Workers May Want to Consider Buddy Roemer's Free/Fair Trade Talk

Louisiana Banker Shuns Big Bucks, Gains Traction with China Trade Pitch

September 5, 2011
By: Dave Rogers

Can a virtually unknown 67-year-old politician rouse America to fight the job-killing Chinese "bear?"

Standing in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., last Thursday, Charles "Buddy" Roemer promised just that: he will lead the nation back to prosperity.

In our view, Roemer's ideas may be the key to economic rebirth. His refusal to accept corporate donations is not only refreshing, but also spotlights the flaws of other, greedier, candidates.

If struggling or jobless Michigan workers don't hear what they want from President Obama's jobs plan, they might urge him to give Roemer's ideas a look.

"China is the bear in the room eating jobs and no one pays attention," Roemer asserted before a sparse crowd.

"I will get the bear out of the room," he claimed.

"Why am I the only presidential candidate to see the bear,?" Roemer concluded after reciting a sad history of the nation's so-called "free trade."

The speech was aired on C-Span on Friday and repeated Saturday as Roemer, former Louisiana governor turned banker, apparently got some attention.

Sounding more like a progressive Republican of 100 years ago than the radical right wing candidates today, Roemer urged concern for the poor and jobless and stated his campaign donation limit of $100 and ban on corporate or political action committee (PAC) contributions.

"Global free trade without tariffs was our idea, not the Chinese," he said. "Global free trade became the sacred cow of American economists, its largest corporations and its own government. Global free trade did not work because other countries did not accept it. They put up barriers to our products while the U.S. allowed foreign unfair competition to kill our industries. We got out of balance."

Roemer cited four protectionist ideas to combat the hungry Chinese bear and return America to economic strength:

1-Rescind all federal regulations and taxes adopted since Jan. 1, 2008;

2-Open all federal land to oil drilling and put tariffs on foreign oil and use savings to reduce the debt;

3-Make all trade deals fair by increasing tariffs to compensate for unfair foreign competition; and

4-Eliminate tax benefits now going to corporations that ship jobs overseas.

Roemer's economic plan would restrict tax deductions to businesses only when they employ Americans and buy American products. The foreign tax credit would be phased out.

Roemer said that protective tariffs were "the most successful economic policy in the history of America." Free trade after World War II decimated American manufacturing, he said.

"We've become the biggest fools in the world, adopting global free trade while other countries imposed trade barriers against our products. We've abandoned the simple common sense of our founding fathers," Roemer said.

Opening of trade to the world's largest nation after President Richard Nixon's visit in 1972 failed to create new markets for American goods but instead has led to the flooding of the American market with cheap Chinese goods made under inhumane conditions.

Roemer said restoring American manufacturing jobs would start with protective tariffs -- a "fair trade adjustment" -- requiring China and other countries to pay the difference between what it costs to manufacture goods in their country and costs to manufacture them in the United States.

Foreign goods on which the tariff was not paid would be impounded by U.S. Customs, under Roemer's plan.

Whether Roemer can become a viable GOP contender will depend on how many $100 donations he gets from ordinary Americans. But the U.S. sense of fairness will have an opportunity to propel this maverick candidate.

Even if he just opens the discussion about his proposals to both Republican candidates and President Obama, Roemer will have made a valuable contribution to our job problem. ###