Day 29 – February 17: Obama signs the “Stimulus” bill and violates his transparency pledge to the American people that he will allow legislation to be posted online for five full days before signing it. 

The “stimulus” still includes “Buy American” protectionist language. U.S. cities and some states aren’t obligated to follow the rules of the World Trade Organization and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

 

"I agree that we can't send a protectionist message," Obama said in an interview earlier in the month.

Day 65 – March 25: Mexico retaliates in response to the U.S. violation of NAFTA in the “Omnibus Spending Bill” by increasing tariffs on 90 U.S products. President Obama had inserted a provision in the bill that denied funding for a two-year-old pilot program which allowed some Mexican trucks to operate in the U.S.

 

"We consider that the United States is mistaken, protectionist and clearly violating the treaty," stated Mexico's Economy Secretary, Gerardo Ruiz Mateos.

 

Such protectionism favored by the Obama Administration only leads the US into an economic sinkhole from which it is very difficult to recover.

Day 165 – July 3: World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick warns that protectionism could threaten recovery from a global recession. “It seems appealing in countries to buy their own national products…Buy America. Buy Canada. Buy Chile. Buy China. But that's the road to the problem that exacerbated the downturn in the 1930s and led to the Great Depression.”

 

Day 235 – September 11: President Obama yet againbroke his campaign promise to not raise taxes when he announced the new tariff on Chinese tire imports. ATR President Grover Norquist stresses to the American people that “A tariff is nothing more than a tax on consumers.” This tariff in particular is a knife in the back for families making under $250,000 a year, since the tax applies primarily to lower-end tires.

 

Day 254 – September 30: Obama jumps in bed with labor unions when he humors their desire for more protectionism against free trade imports. 

Day 277 – November 23: The Obama Administration still struggles to pass the Colombia, Korea, and Panama Free Trade Agreements which would open trade between the US and these respective countries. The AFL-CIO and other big labor organizations in the pocket of the government play a key role in halting progress on free trade.

 

Day 345 – December 30: In what we’re sure was a happy end-of-the-year surprise to ailing US industries, another tariff was announced against Chinese steel. President Obama, now one of the first presidents in history to anger both the American people AND the Chinese government simultaneously, makes his protectionist policy blatantly and painfully obvious to the American consumer. It hardly sounds like the same man who told the G20 Summit “History shows us that when nations fail to cooperate, when they turn away from one another, when they turn inward, the price for our people only grows.”

Day 354 – January 8: An article appearing in Reuters urges the Obama Administration to hurry up and pass the Free Trade Agreements for the sake of the US economy. But conservatives are still fearful that given the 2010 election year, Democrats won’t want to pass legislation that will divide the party. Especially since they’re already in pretty big trouble…

Day 357 – January 11: The WTO is investigating President Obama’s tariff on imported Chinese tires. “The panel will be asked to evaluate whether the U.S. tariffs violate rules governing trade among the WTO's 153 members.” Meanwhile, Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe reminds us why protectionism only harms the home economy.

With the exception of trust fund babies and a few others consumers and workers are the same group of people. Thus it is disingenuous to talk about tariffs causing higher prices without noting the beneficial effects on workers and the country as a whole. Tariffs will increase employment here. When workers here get the wages that would have gone to foreigner they spend those wages here. When they spend the wages here a multiplier effect results in an impact greater than the wages. We call this the Keynesian multiplier although it was first spelled out by French economist Francois Quesnay in 1959. The end result is that any harm tariffs do to people as consumers is more than made up by the benefits to workers and the nation as a whole.
>> n6532l Thursday, January 21, 2010 1:00 AM

1, Wal-Mart has unemployed thousands 2, import export lose jobs. 3, USA entrepreneurs of the "low end' tires retired; Result: spiral downward of commerce and economy. 4, higher price toys(dolls for $100 dollars instead of $10) just stay on the shelf? the fast food stores closed, employees lost jobs ? Morning Coffee, any? one? 5, Where did the money go ? 1989, the District Attorney would not interfere. Witness testified in the Congressional hearing hid behind the screens. Any complaint!? 1993,Car accidents two weeks apart, had cardiac arrest (revived by CPR). 6, Not exception. 1962, an elder physician was treated in a ward. President Carter had attempted to correct the problem. Respectfully yours
>> hjc Thursday, January 28, 2010 12:45 AM

How would protectionist measures save America in the long run? It would ruinously raise the cost of living in America (try 300% inflation), and destroy the long term competitiveness of the nation. If America goes whole hog into full blown protectionism, the rest of the world would have no choice but to follow suit. Theoretically it IS possible for America to go 100% autarkic, even with respect to energy - IF we set aside the pesky environmental laws. Question is whether we want to. Closing the borders also mean losing a lot of influence. The old economy jobs are not going to come back. If China is blocked, the work would simply go to India, or Brazil, or Vietnam, etc., in this globalized world.
>> Zhu, Bajie Thursday, January 28, 2010 7:09 PM

The real shame is that it is not as if America has run out of bright ideas. You open Popular Science, and they have pages upon pages of new technology (and tens of millions of new high paying jobs for decades to come) for RENOVATING (not just fixing) America’s infrastructure. Ring trains, rebuilding roads with concrete that heals itself, sewage liners without the need to trench, low cost 3G and 4G infrastructure using stratospheric blimps, U.S. designed low cost LFTR thorium nuclear reactors that yield no radioactive waste - and the list goes on, enough to put entire generations to work productively, in jobs that cannot be exported - jobs that will lead to the development of technologies that will earn export dollars.
>> Zhu, Bajie Thursday, January 28, 2010 7:37 PM

Where is the money going to come from? Well, the moneychangers gave themselves close to $200 Billion in bonuses in 2009. Putting a 99% surtax on that would be a good start. ALL of those bonuses came from the stimulus money ($14 Trillion including guarantees), and rightfully belong to the people. The Brits have taken the lead on this, with a 50% surtax on their bankers. America’s moneychangers INITIATED the fraud (CDOs and other fraudulent derivatives), and deserve much more - they should count their blessings that the surtax is not 300%.
>> Zhu, Bajie Thursday, January 28, 2010 7:41 PM

Or if we want even more immediate job creation, put the overly restrictive environmental laws in abeyance for a decade, and start doing what the Aussies did so well - dig dirt out of the ground and export them. I’ll bet America can do much better. That would create a quick million new jobs a year.
>> Zhu, Bajie Thursday, January 28, 2010 7:48 PM