Neal Asbury has been invited to speak at the 2010 Ex-Im Bank Annual Conference, which will feature a wide variety of prominent public figures including the President of the United States, Barack Obama. The theme of this year’s conference, which is being held March 11th and 12th, is “EXPORTS LIVE! Powering Jobs, Sales and Profits Through Exports.” In addition to guest speaker President Obama and Neal Asbury, the conference will feature Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner, The Honorable Fred P. Hochberg, Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman and CEO of GE, and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu as well as several other influential individuals. The title of Neal’s presentation is appropriately named “Greater Profits Through Exports: Small Business Success Stories” and the focus will be drawing upon Neal’s years of successful entrepreneurial experience to provide insight for future export initiatives.

        

When loyal Americans gathered in 1776 to demand a government that was responsive to the citizenry, they were called Patriots.  Today, when loyal Americans gather to demand that their government be responsive to their wishes, they are called “crazies” or worse.  The Tea Party movement has galvanized millions of Americans but it has also galvanized a small but powerful group of government and media representatives that demonize average citizens who just want their government to listen to their desires and stop interfering in their lives.

On The Neal Asbury Show, I recently had as a guest Andrew Langer, President of the Institute for Liberty, an advocacy organization dedicated to “fighting the petty tyrannies of government and protecting America's right to be free.” Langer’s group was one of the original supporters of the Tea Party movement.   

Langer pointed out the reason that the Tea Party movement has drawn such ire is “The mainstream press likes to put things in boxes.  But the Tea Party movement does not fit in any of their boxes.  They cannot define it so they dismiss it.”

He really put his finger on the root cause of much of the anti-Tea Party demagoguery coming out of the Washington and New York elitist circles.  This administration has a troubling tendency to dismiss anything and anyone that does not  support its policies.  But this repudiates the tenets of the Constitution that provides for the rights of Americans to speak out freely when they do not like the direction their country is headed.

And just what “crazy” things does the Tea Party movement want?  They want to stop out-of-control spending that will push the burden of today’s sky rocketing deficits onto future generations. Is that the legacy we want to leave our children and grandchildren?  If that’s crazy, then we are all crazy.

The other big impetus for the Tea Party movement is to reduce the size of the government and stop its intrusive interference in our lives.  Is it crazy to ask that the government not get between our physicians and our healthcare needs so that bureaucrats are not making decisions about the medical procedures we may need?  Is it crazy to ask that the government not take over the energy industry through its proposed Cap and Trade legislation that will result in a significant financial burden to every American household and business?  Is it crazy to expect the government to stop creating “vapor paper”- printing trillions of dollars of worthless money to fund our deficits?   Is it crazy to stop the government from eliminating the secret ballot when it comes to unionization?   What is crazy is that this administration does not take the demands of the Tea Party movement seriously or listen to their voices.

But while the administration is attempting to sandbag the Tea Baggers, guess what is really happening.  The Democrats are sandbagging their electability in the mid-term elections.  The result? The “crazies” will be running the asylum.  And that will be good for all of us!

        

A recurring theme on The Neal Asbury Show is that my guests point to the obvious lack of business prowess among our leaders in Washington.  Can we really expect leaders who have never had to make payroll or pay for healthcare benefits to pass laws about these very policies?  Should we expect leaders who have never been involved in the manufacturing or export of products and services to appreciate the value of Free Trade Agreements?  Most importantly, if you have never been accountable for managing the P&L of a company operating within a responsible budget that allows an organization to remain economically viable, how can one understand the dangers of the suffocating deficits that are now so commonplace in our government?

A recent guest on my show posed this: “Is there a Board of Directors at any company that would allow a president to project deficits for the next 10 years? Of course not.  They would show him the door.”
               
Yet, we have put our faith in leaders who are out of touch with the realities of our economy.  Millions of Americans are out of work, and yet we are trusting leaders who have never run a company to create a jobs bill.   With no insight into the requirement of sound Human Resources policies, they are calling for entrepreneurs and business owners to hire job candidates currently unemployed instead of trying to match the candidate to the skills required for the job. These are just the latest examples of the social welfare state we are evolving into instead of the robust, sustainable wealth generating free enterprise marketplace that has served us so well for so long.
               
It is time to run this country like a business.   Decisions must be made based on sound financial principles instead of the rapid accumulation of debt that can never be paid back.  If the “company” wants to spend money and there is no money in the coffers, the purchase is deferred or cuts are made elsewhere to free up capital.    
               
When companies seek growth, they find new markets.  When America is run like a business, it will invest in our most innovative entrepreneurs to create jobs and generate revenue in those areas where wealth and opportunities are most abundant.
               
Is this merely a pipe dream?  Not if you are following the new crop of political candidates poised to run for office.
               
In California, Meg Whitman, the former CEO of Ebay, is running for office as a Republican gubernatorial candidate.   Also in California, former Hewlett-Packard chief Carly Fiorina, is vying for Barbara Boxer’s Senate seat as a Republican.

While there is no guarantee that CEO success translates into political success (i.e.  Democratic Governor Jon Corzine, a former Goldman-Sachs executive, was recently tossed out of office in New Jersey), we need to elect more leaders in the Senate and House who have a business background.
               
On The Neal Asbury Show we have had many business-oriented political guests such as: Congressman Kevin Brady, a Deputy Whip for the GOP representing the 8th District of Texas and a successful entrepreneur; Congressman John C. Fleming M.D. (R-LA), a family physician from Minden, LA, who runs a healthcare company with 500 employees;   Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) who ran the largest independent residential real estate brokerage company in the Southeast; and Dr. Eric Wargotz, Republican U.S. Senatorial Candidate for Maryland, who is both a physician and businessman.
               
As an entrepreneur and an American, I think it is time this country ran like it was intended by our founding fathers.  A place where anyone can pursue the American dream without government interference.  And that means, having people in our government who have a sense of business and fair play.  When leaders in Washington start to act and think like us, this “company” will start renewing its legacy as the greatest country on Earth.

        

Invisible Jobs and Shadow Unemployment

By Neal Asbury

Following the Obama Administration’s proclamation that jobs are being created is like being a Ghost Buster – we are chasing invisible jobs!  If there are 640,000 new jobs created under the stimulus package, as the Obama Administration contends, then they must be in the witness protection program. The latest labor figures from The Wall Street Journal suggest that if we factor in December’s loss of 85,000 jobs, then between December 2007 (when the recession began) and December 2009, there were 7.2 million fewer jobs.

The paper further reports “A broader measure of unemployment, including those who have quit job hunting as well as those working part time because they cannot find full-time work, remained about the same at 17.3 percent in December from 17.2 percent in November.” In addition there are those that have taken jobs well beneath their education and skill level just to have some sort of income while awaiting better times. It is simply beyond comprehension that the U.S. would have shadow unemployment figures that rivals that of developing nations.

 

How can the Administration make their job claims?  Some call it ObaMath.  In a recent column, Newsweek’s George Will described the phony math behind the job creation claims. “Having used stimulus money to give raises to its 317 employees, Head Start in Augusta, Ga. reported 317 jobs created.  A Georgia nonprofit multiplied the percentage of raises (1.84) it gave to employees receiving them (508) and reported the stimulus had saved 935 jobs.”   That’s ObaMath.

If you follow ObaMath to its ultimate conclusion and believe that the Administration has saved 640,000 jobs through the billions it has already spent on the stimulus package, U.S. taxpayers paid $260,000.00 per job, paying a salary of $59,000 per job.

 

In fact, ObaMath is so suspect, that the White House no longer uses the word “stimulus”-- Obama has not used the word since October, 2009.  The lingo being communicated by White House staffers is: “targeted actions”, designed to try and distance its job claims from the jobs creation program.

 

Now, according to press reports, the White House has abandoned its controversial method of counting jobs under President Obama's economic “stimulus”, making it impossible to track the number of jobs saved or created with the $787 billion in recovery money. The report notes: “Despite mounting a vigorous defense of its earlier count of more than 640,000 jobs credited to the stimulus, even after numerous errors were identified, the Obama Administration now is making it easier to give the stimulus credit for hiring. It is no longer about counting a job as saved or created; now it's a matter of counting jobs funded by the stimulus. That means that any stimulus money used to cover payroll will be included in the jobs credited to the program, including pay raises and pay for people who never were in jeopardy of losing their positions.”

 

So how can the Administration make good on their claims of generating new jobs?  The answer is readily apparent: give small business the resources they need to succeed.  Since small businesses create more than seventy percent of all new jobs, it is hard to understand why the stimulus package provides almost nothing for small businesses and entrepreneurs – the part of the economy that has historically lead the nation out of our economic downturns.

 

The recovery starts by taking off the yoke of high taxes that discourages small business owners from hiring.   The fewer resources they have, the less they have to spend on new jobs.

 

Conduct a reality check on the new healthcare plan.  Do you actually know what’s in the plan?  Well, nobody else does either, and that includes small business owners.  Without knowing what kind of new burden they face on healthcare costs, they cannot determine if they can retain current employees, let alone consider adding new jobs.

 

The bottom line is that uncertainty is bad for business. Someone has to take a stance on job creation.  If it is not the government, then it’s all of us.  Visit www.theneasburyshow.com style="mso-spacerun: yes">  and learn how you can contact your local, state and federal representatives.  Demand to know why they are not doing more for job creation.  “Ghost Busters” was a funny movie but there’s nothing funny about looking for invisible jobs that don’t exist.        

        

With sales sluggish early this year, Ariel Ozick took a gamble.

The CEO of a Newark, Del., search marketing firm, Ozick began looking for new clients in Ireland, England, Scotland and Australia. Though he recognized the challenges of working abroad, which include everything from complying with international tax laws to the vagaries of currency exchanges, Ozick needed the new business.

 

There have already been some bumps. While the 16-nation euro-zone, which includes Ireland, began pulling itself out of the recession in the third quarter, the U.K.'s economy shrunk 0.4%. Still, there has been enough new business for Ozick's firm, Wired Rhino, that the CEO feels he's achieved his goal. "We wanted to diversify our revenue streams and be less dependent on one country's economy," he says.

With the U.S. economy sputtering forward in fits and starts, some small-business owners are looking abroad for growth opportunities. Entrepreneurs like Ozick are not only working with longtime exporting hubs, but also with countries with growing economies likes India and China. What' s more, they are getting a helping hand from agencies like the Export-Import Bank of the United States, which since the downturn has increased trade assistance.

Under the bank's enhanced programs, U.S. small businesses with annual export credit sales of $7.5 million or less are now eligible for coverage under a program that protects small-business owners in the event of buyer default. Generally, this insurance covers 95% of an invoice, at a cost of roughly 55 cents per $100 of shipment for 60-day repayment terms. (The previous ceiling for this benefit was $5 million.)

The bank also recently opened its working capital guarantee program to indirect U.S. exporters. These are U.S. companies that produce goods or services that are sold to other U.S. companies, and are subsequently exported. Previously the program was open only to companies that export U.S. goods directly. Under the working capital guarantee program, Ex-Im Bank guarantees 90% of a bank loan, including principal and interest. "As the economy changes and world trade changes, we're always adjusting the products to make exporting more conducive to the U.S. marketplace," says Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg.

One stumbling block for business owners has been awareness. Even though programs are available to help raise funds, "the American government has been slow to publicize supports," says Neal Asbury, the founder of the Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based food-service equipment supplier Greenfield World Trade. "Even China's equivalent to U.S. agencies that oversee exports does a better job at promoting greater trade," he says.

He should know. Asbury has been shipping commercial refrigerators, ice makers and dishwashers to countries within Asia since the late 1980s. However, it still took him more than a decade to learn that the 75-year-old Ex-Im Bank and its working capital program existed. In fact, of the 6,911 U.S. commercial banks insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, only about 47 banks have an active relationship with Ex-Im Bank, says Hochberg. Further, just 10 insurers participate in Ex-Im Bank's specialized programs, he says. To raise the Bank's profile, "I'm going coast to coast and hit eight cities and try to reach as many outlets as we can; we're revamping the web site and we're trying to sign up more banks," Hochberg says.

In the meantime, owners have to negotiate credit terms with reluctant foreign manufacturers. It can be very challenging, says Asbury. "Here you are promising your customers that they'll receive their orders saying 'don't worry' and there you are promising the factory that you'll pay, again, saying 'don't worry.'"

Asbury's company now exports to more than 100 countries including Japan, Mexico, China and India. "If I knew then what I know now, my life would have been much more pleasant," Asbury says. "I would have achieved greater success earlier on."

        

Are you tough enough? As an American Entrepreneur and small business owner I have asked this question of myself countless times over the past twenty-five years. I still do. I equate this toughness with the concept of “conscientious equity”. “Conscientious” because it is right. “Equity” because we all have ownership in doing the right thing.

Yet, through some selfless mentoring by people who practiced conscientious equity by tapping into their mental toughness the hard way – in the trenches of trade -- they imparted to me the humility and humanity that has kept me plowing ahead at life’s most difficult crossroads. When it would have been easier to give up rather than face the challenges that beset all entrepreneurs, I recalled the life lessons that still guide me today. Never compromise on your standards, and never lose the toughness that guides you, and has guided this nation’s visionaries and successful businesses.

I founded my first entrepreneurial adventure in 1988 in a dilapidated, leaky roof building in Manila, Philippines. It was here that I began manufacturing commercial foodservice equipment. Before long I was able to secure the exclusive contract to fabricate the kitchens for McDonalds throughout the booming Asia/Pacific region. We began building more than three hundred stores a year and had over four hundred employees. Every waking moment I was completely consumed.

My job was made much more complex by my collision with history. The Philippines was going through one of its darkest moments; reeling from the upheaval of the People Power Revolution. There was massive civil unrest exacerbated by frequent right -wing coups at tempts and the omnipresent threat of communist insurgents.

However this was just the beginning. The labor unions were infiltrated by the communists who were openly hostile towards management and practiced extortion for their personal gain. There was corruption everywhere, at every level of society. It wasn’t long before this destabilization eroded the fabric of the country and the quality of life. Opportunity was replaced by oppressive poverty, and the infrastructure eroded to the point where there was daily random power outages t hat lasted several hours. My job was to manage chaos which was never in short supply.

As I learned to navigate through these challenges I got a call that would shake my world. I was summoned to an important briefing at the American Embassy. It became apparent that negotiations were going poor ly between the U.S. and Philippine governments on the future status of the American military bases at Clark Airfield and Subic Bay. Recognizing a weakened American presence, communist insurgents sequestered safely deep in the jungles of Luzon began sending “Sparrow Units” to Manila to assassinate Americans. “Sparrow Units” were small cells that were heavily armed and trained in hit-and-run tactics. As I was a high profile businessman and married to a well known Filipina actress, I was believed to be a target. The Communist Party wanted Tough Enough to intimidate Americans so that America would vacate the despised bases.

The CIA officer in charge of security at the Embassy spoke in a somber voice as he warned me to prepare myself for whatever eventuality may come. I was to change my route and times I traveled each day. I must avoid crowds and traffic jams. I had to always be alert and watch for anything out of the ordinary. I was forced to post security personnel at my factory with 12- gauge sawed-off shotguns and live in a heavily guarded compound. I lived like a prisoner. Yet, my only “crime” was being an entrepreneur and creating desperately needed jobs.

One evening as I sat in the backseat of my SUV, with my driver zigzagging through the streets of Manila on my way home, I came to the realization that I had tried to suppress the one emotion that should have been natural during this entire ordeal: I was scared. Eventually every entrepreneur has a rendezvous with fear. But this wasn’t the fear of failure. It was a real fear for the safety and security of my family, me and my company. This wasn’t a situation I had ever imagined as I planned my business career. I had learned a lot about business, and I thought I knew how to handle any challenge. This wasn’t one of them. Yet, in the back of my mind, I thought back to a mentor whose lessons resonated with me throughout my life. Perhaps I could draw on these lessons and to take strength in the most important words that were ever spoken to me.

I thought back to the time when as a young dreamer I landed my dream-job at a young twenty-three years of age. The lure of working in exotic Asia compelled me to accept the position as an Asian sales manager of an obscure division of Inchcape PLC, a large, fabled British trading company whose roots go back to 1847 and the beginning of the British Raj in India. There was no better place for me to immerse myself in the most fundamental elements of international trade. Immediately upon coming on board I was on my way to my new home in Singapore.

I hit the ground running. I traveled incessantly to the capitol cities of Bangkok, Colombo, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Manila. I also knew like the back of my hand the backwaters of Kota Kinabalu, Medan, Surabaya, Bandar Seri Begawan and Cebu. I was fortunate enough to have achieved some early successes for my company. I was feeling invincible.

My boss and mentor, Hugo Garin, was an incredible man. He and his wife Monica escaped communism under the most difficult of circumstances. Fluent in seven languages, Hugo was also an engineer, designer and a natural salesman. He was a true citizen of the world who had a never-ending repertoire of spellbinding stories. Each night at dinner he held court. I wanted more than anything to be one day like him.

My boss’s boss, John, was a dour British executive that wore cockamamie bowties and thick blue pinstriped suits who spoke the Queens English in a slow, deliberate enunciation that made me anxious for him to finish his long, drawn out sentences. He seemed to me to have a way of making things much more complicated than they actually were. In my naïve estimation John was a nice man but I did not think his intellectual skills reached the level of Hugo, nor did he merit his position as Hugo’s boss.

After one of my meetings with John and Hugo to update them on my travels I found myself alone with Hugo for a few moments. Full of piss-and-vinegar and perpetually in a hurry to hit the byways of Southeast Asia digging up sales opportunities, I remarked to Hugo with distain and mischief that he should be John’s boss. In a low voice, I leaned over Hugo’s shoulder and added: “After all John is a glorified wimp that does not deserve to be leading us”.

I was knocked off my feet with Hugo’s reaction to my obvious impertinence, suggesting that my mind “is nothing but meaningless mush”. I left his office with my tail between my legs, and dreaded a follow up meeting a few days later, where I expected one of his patented thrashings. Instead he imparted on me the most profound wisdom I have ever heard. Without this conversation I would not be here today. It lasted a few moments only but it was advice that I have replayed in my mind over and over. It was the advice that I needed more than anything in the backseat of my SUV.

He chastised me for my ill-conceived comments concerning John, admonishing me to keep in mind that youth and hard work were not enough to ensure success. In his thick Eastern European accent he lectured me “you have no idea the decisions that John needs to make every day and the burdens that are solely his. He stands alone dealing with pressures that would break most men. Any escape he has lasts only a fleeting moment. He has his moments of triumph but they quickly pass. His problems are endless and his frustrations deep, dark and omnipresent”.

Leaning across his desk with his gray eyes exploding behind his signature thick, black rimmed glasses he said “Do not think for one second that you are tough enough to be in John’s shoes. What you need to figure out from this day forward is will you ever be tough enough?”

I did not understand how these words would come to both inspire and to haunt me.

Over the years “to be tough enough” came to mean many things. It meant the mental strength to deal with the pressure relentlessly weighing on your mind. It resembles the kind of pres sure you encounter being 180 feet beneath the ocean’s surface, when many before you have succumbed to the seeping blackness of this pressure and never resurfaced. It requires you to conjure up all the mental strength and stamina that you possess, before you feel numb and are powerless to do anything about it. You wonder if you have enough air in your tank to make it to the surface. Do you have the will to fight? It is at this point you find out if you have the kind of toughness Hugo was discussing with me.

But toughness means much more than this. It means having the wherewithal to go toe-to-toe against your European, Japanese and Chinese competitors to win business that is so essential for our American factories and workers. You take the fight to them knowing that there are barriers to your success. You fight knowing that while U.S. government support for American exports is waning, most foreign governments aggressively support their exporters. It doesn’t take long to realize that as an American exporter you wake up each day recreating the film “High Noon” – it’s just you with the personal resolve to take on al l comer s , even though you are outnumbered and lack the resources. You need the mental toughness to strap on those guns each day and battle it out anew.

It’s toughness buoyed by passion. Your entrepreneurial dream will always consume more capital and take longer than you anticipate. There will be countless lonely days and nights; the only resource you can count on is your passion. It is the lonely vigil of this nation’s 27 million small business owners.

Each day we go to work to sustain our piece of the American Dream. We don’t get parades. There’s no “Small Business Appreciation Day.” Heck, the President barely even acknowledges small business. But we’re out there. We’ve always been out there. We’re doing the heavy lifting for our economy and we hold the key to our current economic malaise. Each day we face daunting challenges. Yet we prevail without public complaint. We have long ago stopped looking for government support or expecting the government to remove the barriers that often makes our lives difficult and unbearable. Of the recent stimulus package approximately one percent, that’s right, just one measly percent went to support the people that have been responsible for more than seventy percent of our job growth over the last decade. That’s what makes the American entrepreneur so tough…and resilient. They do more with less.

My old boss Hugo had a strong sense of conscientious equity. And I’d like to think I do, too. I can only hope that if Hugo was still with us and he would size me up, consider what I’ve accomplished as an entrepreneur, look at me and say: “Neal, I think you have indeed learned how to be tough enough”.

        

A Call to Action
A Chance for You To Speak Out!

One of the overriding principles of a Democracy is the power of its citizenry to change the course of their country when they believe that it is heading in the wrong direction. That time has come for America. Amer icans can no longer s i t idly by as a few individual s take the country down a road that is diminishing its global and domestic leadership even as the average American is increasingly feeling powerless to change course. It is time for all Americans to become engaged in America’s future!

Now there is a power ful outlet for you to let your voice heard. The Neal Asbury Show empowers every citizen by giving them an outlet to share their ideas and shape the course of a nation! It’s called: TAKE ACTION!

TAKE ACTION! is a groundbreaking concept. It allows you to get involved by tapping into an up-to the-minute resource outlining the most pressing issues of our time. These are issues that affect all of us: including heal th care reform, fai r t rade, energy pol icy, and more! Learn more about policies that affect you today…and will affect you tomorrow. Let your voice be heard --all at your fingertips! Take Action! empowers you to directly influence our elected representatives by letting them know how you feel about their legislative decisions. Stop thinking about what needs to be done, and DO IT. Send letters directly to legislators and help them understand what Americans want for themselves and future generations. Send one letter…send ten letters…send a hundred! Through our database, we will guarantee that every letter reaches your intended recipient. Your opinion will matter!

Our nation was founded by ordinary citizens like you who saw troubles and joined together to address them. It starts with letting your elected representatives know that they are accountable for their decisions. If you want to ensure a secure a bright future for our nation, this future is worth fighting for. So get involved. Join with Americans across the country and like a true patriot, answer A Call to Action!

        

Flagler recently hosted the Commercial Industrial Association of South Florida’s July luncheon at its Flagler Station business park. The event featured radio personality Neal Asbury, who spoke about “America’s Anti-American Trade Policies and How They are Hurting Your Business.”

        

Physicians leaving the medical practice en masse, higher taxes to support a $1 trillion bill, and taking away the freedom of choice to seek care for you and your family. This nightmare scenario is on a path to becoming reality and unless Americans like us stand up for our country, this is the harsh certainty we will face. In the words of Representative Tom Price, the current health care legislation will “destroy health care in this nation.” Don’t believe it? Representative Price makes a pretty good argument, so watch for yourself….

        

Not long ago, President Obama was a proponent of a single payer health care system. Today, he says he supports both a public and private option. On such an important issue we can not afford to have ambiguity. Is Obama setting himself up for an eventual single payer health care system? Is his goal to ultimately eliminate private health insurance? You be the judge…

        

Many Americans mistakenly believe the trillions of dollars to pay for the Obama administration's unprecedented and historic government intervention, entitlements and social welfare is securely stashed away in a big safe somewhere in Washington. There is no vault and there is no cash; there is only "vapor paper" being created out of thin air.

The Obama deficits are already projected to be more than $11 trillion or roughly equal to our entire national debt over our 233 year history; and he has barely gotten started. Since the sheer amount of this debt is so monumental, there will not be enough buyers at the Treasury auctions to absorb it. The Fed will be forced to buy its own paper.

The U.S. Government seems to think they can solve our debt problem by creating more debt. Monetizing government debt is what third world countries do. Today in Zimbabwe, for example, the government has printed so much money that the smallest denomination bill you can own is $1 billion - enough to buy a single loaf of bread!

        

I am encouraged that the younger people in our country are becoming painfully aware of the suffocating debt burden that our government is shackling them to; that can never be repaid despite inevitable tax increases.

 

They have been betrayed.

        

Organizational Chart of the House Democrats Health Plan. Courtesy of The Neal Asbury Show frequent guest U.S Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX) from Houston.

        

<http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_LS5v0pP1n-8/SlgJO4x_FHI/AAAAAAAAALI/qd4he_vSYWo/s1600-h/ciasf+miami.JPG>
CIASF Luncheon Event
Topic: “America’s Anti-Trade Policies”
Sponsor: The ComReal Companies in Miami
Date: July 10th , 2009
Location: Flagler Station Business Park in Medley, FL

Good afternoon everyone! My name is Edward Redlich and I’m with The ComReal Companies of Miami. This year, The ComReal Companies celebrate its 30th year in South Florida’s commercial real estate <http://www.edwardredlich.com/>  market. ComReal continues to be a proud sponsor of this organization. Although we have invested in a few minutes to speak today about our company, I’d much rather allot my time to introduce a gentleman who is going to educate us on a much more important topic. The topic is “America’s anti-trade policies”. Mr. Neal Asbury is both an excellent communicator on the subject and a true visionary. Personally, I believe that he just might be the “Missing Link” between those of us in the commercial real estate profession and the customers that we serve.

Before I give you the background on Mr. Asbury, allow me just a moment to tell you why ComReal and I support the Miami CIASF organization. We do it to promote the commercial real estate industry and for the knowledge. Today, our South Florida industrial real estate <http://www.edwardredlich.com/>  market has experienced three quarters of extremely low deal volume. Rental rates and sales prices have fallen between 20% and 40%; or even more. Vacancy is over 10%. We fear the negative trend may continue. However, our industry can flourish once again with the right stimulus. In my opinion, one solution is for America to aggressively promote the liberalization of international free trade. As international trade increases, so does the activity for industrial real estate properties. Perhaps there is no other area of the country where international trade is more important to the CRE industry than right here in South Florida.

Now, let me tell you how I came across Mr. Asbury. Not only am I a deal junkie, but I’m also a news junkie. I discovered Mr. Asbury over a year ago while surfing the internet I came across his blog at www.asburysworld.com <http://www.asburysworld.com/> .

I was instantly impressed by the over 100 articles that he has published on global trade issues. He has also been quoted in newspapers such New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Asbury has addressed the United Nations, various universities and numerous trade associations; such as ours today. In addition, he hosts The Neal Asbury Show from Coral Gables which airs live on Fridays from 5 to 6 PM on the radio at 880 AM. The station is affiliated with Bloomberg Radio and CNBC. In just a few hours from now, he will be interviewing US Ambassador John Negroponte. So be sure to tune in this afternoon and you may also grab his flyers on the front desk to learn more.

Not only is Mr. Asbury an expert commentator on the subjects of international trade and manufacturing, but he actually operates his own companies: Legacy Brands and Greenfield World Trade (www.greenfieldworld.com <http://www.greenfieldworld.com> ) which manufacturers, sells and services American-made products to over 130 countries worldwide. So, when you hear him speak in a moment, please understand that he is not a politician, but a true American entrepreneur.

Before Greenfield World Trade he had founded Asbury WorldWide in 1987 which became the largest American export management company in its segment with twelve distribution centers around the globe. In 1989, he began FAB Asia in the Philippines which was the Asian exclusive fabricator of commercial kitchens for McDonalds and other restaurant chains. For all of his efforts, he has earned several industry awards. He is chairman of the South Florida District Export Council, appointed to serve by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. He is a member of the International Advisory Committee to the Governor of Florida and a member of the prestigious International Policy Committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington.

Now, when my father got me into this business 15 years ago, he always told me, “Ed, when you want to get something done, give it to someone who is busy”. Neal, I do not where you find the time to get all of these things done, but we sure do appreciate your taking the time from your busy schedule to address our group. Thank you very much. Please welcome Neal Asbury….

        

Politics Puts Limits on International Trade
By Carl Cronan

 

MIAMI-International trade continues to have an impact on the local industrial market, but landlords and developers can only grow that business as much as politics allow, and speakers at a local event last weak. The discussion was hosted by the Commercial Industrial Association of South Florida and featured local radio host Neal Asbury.

Asbury advocates depoliticizing US trade policy and leveling the playing field for imports from all countries, similar to the North American Free Trade Agreement. He views the issue as a national one, even though Miami-Dade County is considered a global gateway to Florida and the rest of the country.

“South Florida still has a very viable and active trade market,” Eric Swanson, executive vice president with Coral Gables-based Flagler Development Group and one of the CIASF discussion participants, told GlobeSt.com after Friday’s event. He points out that other transportation modes will need to be considered as oil prices rise again, including making Miami International Airport more efficient at handling freight.

Changes to international trade policy will affect the location of distribution and warehouse buildings, Swanson says. He notes that Flagler Station, at US 27 and Florida’s Turnpike, has been particularly successful because of its easy highway access as well as its proximity to both Port Everglades and the Port of Miami.

A discrease in international trade is causing a likewise drop in industrial space needs for importers and exporters in Miami, according to Marcus & Millichap. The local overall vacancy rate is just under 10% and could rise to 12% by the end of this year, partially because of recession-related business closures in which tenants lease less than 20,000 square feet each.

Land constraints end the market’s stature as a Latin American trade hub will sustain investor interest in industrial properties over the long term, though lingering uncertainty over property values will suppress investment activity. Although few deals have been completed so far this year, Mercus & Millichap states that their value has remained above $100 per square foot because of the higher quality of properties being traded.

“With the current downturn in fundamentals, it is doubtful that prices are still rising,” says Kirk Felicl, regional manager with Marcus & Millichap in Miami. He adds that dicergent expectations between buyers and sellers are continuing to hinder deal flow, but the gap may narrow as vacancy increases and rents decline from their current levels, above $6 per squar foot.

        

The Vietnam War was painful. American soldiers who followed orders and pulled their triggers may have escaped Charlie's bullets and booby traps, but they couldn't avoid the psychological ambush their countrymen inflicted on their scared souls stateside. When they returned home, there were no parades, no hero's welcomes, not even a thank-you. To some, home no longer felt like home.

This is the story of one courageous Vietnam veteran. Ed Turner, known to his friends as E.T., was a heavyweight club fighter who became a gunner on a gunship called Spooky. Gunship duty was extremely dangerous. The planes were slow and low-flying, with little armor. The left cargo-bay door remained open as three Gatling guns fired 300 rounds per second into every square meter of a football field-size target before the enemy had any hope of escaping.

The gunship earned its nickname, "Puff the Magic Dragon," because of its red tracers and thunderous roar that resembled fire spewing out of a dragon's mouth. Ed manned the deafening guns, which often jammed. It was sweltering hot, and he was constantly exposed to Charlie's shooters below.

He was also exposed to the horrible effects of Agent Orange. The US instituted a massive herbicidal program that ran from 1961 through 1971. The aim was two-fold, one to destroy the cover provided by the jungle-like forest, and another to deny food to the enemy.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has listed prostate cancer, respiratory cancer, multiple myeloma, type II diabetes, Hodgkin's disease, lymphoma, soft-tissue sarcoma, chloracne (a skin disorder) and peripheral neuropathy (a nerve disorder) as side effects of Agent Orange. Agent Orange crippled Ed years later.

Upon his honorable discharge, he earned an engineering degree from the University of Maryland, utilizing his G.I. Bill benefits. He returned to Asia in a self-imposed exile, never again to live in the United States.

I have had the privilege of knowing a number of American soldiers like Ed whom, after completing their tours in Vietnam, felt disillusioned and settled in the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. They deeply love the land of their birth, and many still serve our nation representing American manufacturers in their adopted countries. They have been indispensable in generating billions of dollars of American exports.

I hired Ed to run the engineering department of my company in Manila. We traveled together to Vietnam in 1991, just 16 years after the fall of Saigon. It was his first time back and my first trip there.

Before the US embargo was lifted, Vietnam was anticipated to be the next "Asian Tiger." It was believed that there would be massive foreign investment, especially from the United States, with thousands of Americans rushing to visit this storied land once the embargo ended.

The forthcoming planeloads of tourists and businessmen needed hotels and resorts. With this in mind, the senior management of Saigon Tourist, a Vietnamese state-owned company, made a trip to the Philippines to study its tourist infrastructure. Saigon Tourist had exclusive rights over many sectors of Vietnam's tourist and transportation industry.

At the top of thei r shopping l i s t whi le in the Philippines was finding a company to set up manufacturing in Saigon to produce products for their hospitality industry. The Philippine government arranged for them to tour our factory in Manila.

At the invitation of the Managing Director of Saigon Tourist, Ed and I found ourselves on a plane about to land in Saigon. As the wheels touched down, I could see that Ed was uncomfortable. He was dreadfully worried that they would somehow know his role in the war and he would be whisked away, never to be seen again. He trembled as he handed the immigration officer his passport. It was an incredible relief when we cleared customs and found our driver awaiting us. This was going to be an emotional few days.

The person sitting across the negotiating table had been a colonel in the North Vietnamese army during the war. With the embargo still in effect, we were the first Americans he had ever received, though he had killed Americans not many years before. On our side of the table, there was no way of knowing the number of Vietnamese who had lost their lives to Spooky as Ed feverishly worked her guns.

It was a remarkable situation.

During a break in our negotiations, Ed and I had our driver take us to the US Embassy compound. It was eerily overgrown. The windows were smashed out, and lush tropical foliage grew into the building like some long-ago abandoned castle.

We stood at the gate where throngs of humanity had pressed against the Embassy walls while children wailed and mothers screamed. We gazed across the courtyard where the Tet Offensive had raged in 1968. We looked up to the roof where the lucky few had boarded the last helicopter out on April 30, 1975, in operation "Frequent Wind."

We were in a trance. The next thing I remember was being shoved into the car by our frightened driver, who was now shouting hysterically. I don't know if he was scared for us or scared for himself. As we sped away, I looked over at the man of steel. The tough guy lost his composure and tears came streaming down his face. Seeing him cry made me cry also.

The terms offered by the colonel to set up a factory in Saigon would have created one of the most lopsided, ridiculous deals I have ever come across. Their thinking at the time was that foreign investors would pay anything to ante up for the impending Vietnam gold rush, which never occurred.

Chairman Mao and the Long Marchers had to die of f before China could boom. The Nor th Vietnamese military elite, who still run Vietnam today, will likewise need to pass on before this beautiful country breaks its shackles and fulfills its dream. The good news is that they are well into their eighties and won't be around much longer.

There are many stories to tell about Ed, such as working the "curry trail" in South Asia. In Mumbai and New Delhi, Indians would gather to gawk at the big man. We laughed hyster ical ly as we signed a document in a Pakistan hotel stating "I am a derelict for drinking alcohol" before being served a beer.

In Sri Lanka we had a meeting at the Colombo World Trade Center on October 14, 1997, one day before the Tamil Tigers exploded a truck bomb at its entrance. The desk and chairs we'd occupied were blown to smithereens. There is no way we would have survived

Last week I spoke to E.T. for the last time. He was lying in bed at his home in Santa Rosa, Laguna, about 40 miles south of Manila. His wife had frantically called me to convince him to go to the hospital. E.T. took the phone and in his distinctive growl intoned, "Don't listen to her; I am doing just fine."

E.T. took his final breath an hour later. I cannot say if it was 30 years of hard living, Agent Orange, or his self-imposed exile that finally got him.

I do know this: Ed fought for America until the day he died. Ed's design and engineering work over the past 30 years produced overseas contracts worth tens of millions of dollars for American exporters, creating thousands of good-paying jobs for American workers.

So please spare a final thought for a giant man with an ego as big as Texas, the toughness of a cornered grizzly bear and a heart of pure gold. When we last spoke, he had one last request: to die peacefully at home in his adopted country.

        

So I said to him, "Barack, I know Abe Lincoln, and you ain't Abe Lincoln." 
 You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
 You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
 You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
 You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
 You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
 You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.
 You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.
 

.....Abraham Lincoln  

 

        

AMERICA's ANTI-AMERICAN TRADE POLICIES
And how they are hurting your business.

CIASF proudly presents

on Friday, July 10th at 11:15 am

graciously hosted by


More trade = more commercial properties! South Florida’s commercial real estate market is truly connected to both the economic and political decisions made around the globe. The trade policies of the United States of America likely have a greater impact on South Florida than anywhere else in the country. If you or your customers are involved in international trade such as importing and exporting then you do not want to miss this event. Learn of the threats and opportunities that we must all be aware of concerning the “Gateway to the Americas” and beyond.

        

The Obama Administration came to DC town promising to spend everything and the kitchen sink. In this regard, they have not been a disappointment. Many Americans mistakenly believe the trillions of dollars to pay for Obama's unprecedented and hi s tor ic government intervent ion, en t i t lements and social welfare is securely stashed away in a big safe somewhere in Washington. There is no vault and there is no cash; there is only "vapor paper" being created out of thin air. Quantitative easing is a phrase that has come into the lexicon lately. When interest rates are at or near zero and the commercial banks are still not lending money, the Fed injects massive amounts of money into the economy through accounts held by the banks at the Federal Reserve.

The Fed buys bank securities, whether they are loan portfolios, mortgages and/or toxic assets. Quantitative means infusing a large quantity of money; easing means making it easy to access these funds. The problem is this money does not exist. It is created by key strokes on a computer.

To fund the Obama Federal Budget Deficit over the next decade, the Fed must sell a mind-numbing amount of debt . That i s , auctioning off the debt to investors and even foreign governments.

The Obama deficits are already projected to be more than $11 trillion or roughly equal to our entire national debt over our 233 year hi s tory; and he has barely gotten started. Since the sheer amount of this debt is so monumental, there will not be enough buyers at the Treasury auctions to absorb it. The Fed will be forced to buy its own paper. In private business you would go to jail for this. This is quantitative easing or vapor paper gone mad.

Imagine owning an art collection that you want to auction off. No one bids on your art so you buy it all back for $1 million. Now you are $1 million poorer and you still have an art collection that is so overvalued nobody wants to bid on it. But you ask for a $1 million loan based on your perceived value of your own art collection.

The U.S. Government seems to think they can solve our debt problem by creating more debt. Monetizing government debt is what third world countries do. Today in Zimbabwe, for example, the government has printed so much money that the smallest denomination bill you can own is $1 billion - enough to buy a single loaf of bread!

China, the largest buyer of U.S. Treasury Bills, has already fired a shot across our bow. The Peoples Central Bank of China recently said "policy mistakes made by some central banks may bring inflation to the whole world" and "major currency devaluations may arise".

They are talking about quantitative easing and clearly worried their large holdings of U.S. dollars and Treasury Bills are about to get devalued. The scary thing is they are right.

Let's dig a little deeper. In economics the total amount of money available at any point in time is known as the Money Supply.

M1 tracks the most liquid form of money. It is the currency in circulation including checking accounts. Presently our M1 Money Supply is $1.6 trillion.

M2 is M1 plus saving deposits and time deposits less than $100,000. Our current M2 Money Supply is $8.3 trillion.

M1 and M2 are small potatoes. It is M3 that tells the complete story. M3 is M1 + M2 plus large deposits, institutional funds, U.S. government funds and reserves, eurodollars (U.S. dol lars held overseas by foreign banks & governments) and U.S. Treasury Bills. The cur rent M3 Money Supply is estimated at $16 Trillion.

In March 2006 the Federal Reserve ceased to publish the M3 monetary aggregate because the "cost to collecting the underlying data and publishing M3 outweighed the benefits". This is nonsense. It is because the 20% annual growth in Money Supply is completely out of control.

It is about to get much worse as we must print money to pay another $11 trillion of Obama debt.

There is convincing empirical evidence that the rate of inflation is directly tied to the growth in Money Supply. In other words you cannot simply turn on the allegorical printing presses without ominous consequences.

If dollars were as available as sand on the beach, how valuable would they be? The more you have of something the less it is worth. Nothing too complicated about this. A devalued cur rency reduces your buying power as inflation soars. It is a form of stealing from you.

I wear a 1930 $20 Double Eagle gold coin around my neck as a symbol of our great country. It is nearly one ounce of 22 carat gold. When President Nixon took the United States off the gold standard in 1971 (referred to as the "Nixon Gold Shock"), the coverage of gold bullion to our paper money had slipped from 100% in 1933 to 25%. Today it is less than 1.5% -- whereas my Double Eagle $20 piece is worth over $1000.

The $4 trillion 2009 Obama federal budget is roughly 80% of all the gold that was ever mined in the history of the world.

(The World Gold Council estimates total world gold supply is about 165,000 metric tons, each containing 32,150 troy ounces, or 5.3 billion troy ounces. Today [6/02] gold closed at $980, giving a world value of $5.2 trillion.)

Beware of fool's gold. The Administration will latch onto any glimmer of hope emanating out of the economy and lavish praise on the wisdom of their massive spending.

The light at the end of the tunnel they are hoping for is a coal train barreling down on us. As a young boy my father would walk with me through a tunnel in Kermit, West Virginia. If a coal train should show up we would jump into a man hole. Seeing the train about to enter the dark, dank tunnel would scare the bejeezus out of me.

The devaluation and debasing of our currency through quantitative easing to pay for debts we cannot hope to ever repay overtakes me with a similar feeling of anxiety and helplessness.

Once a runaway locomotive builds a head of steam, it cannot be stopped unless it jumps the rails. The mad money train has left the s tation. In this train wreck we are about to wi tness, millions of hardworking Americans will be hurt. And the man hole just isn't big enough for all of us.

        

Democracy, free enterprise and an unfettered media are the foundation of America’s incredible success. We could not have become the most power ful nation in the history of the world with one of these pillars missing or weakened. That is why the tectonic shift in how news is gathered and disseminated is so vitally important to our future. The ownership of our mainstream media has become more and more radicalized and concentrated, with a diminished number of news outlets and independent journalists. Almost all cable systems are owned by one of the major media conglomerates. Two-thirds of today’s newspapers are monopolies.

What does this mean for ordinary Americans? Everything outside one’s personal thoughts and communications is determined by newsrooms increasingly influenced by political agendas. This runs smack against the principles set by our Founding Fathers that called for an independent press, which has historically been considered the bedrock of democracy. What is more disturbing is this small group of media executives imbibed by their political power determines what ordinary Americans do not see and hear. Truth be told, our former and current administration has intimidated today’s journalists by “punishing them” for unfavorable coverage by limiting access. The result is that many journalists have been made to toe the company line by not asking the tough questions; the answers to which the public deserves to hear.

Where is the media outcry about our government adding $10 trillion of new federal debt? Or the moral outrage about our currency being so devalued that it is rapidly becoming vapor paper? Who is asking why the federal budget increased by one-third or $1 trillion is just one year? Why are there no front page stories incensed that our 2009 federal budget roughly equals all the gold ever mined in the history of the world? Something is wrong.

We are seeing the collapse of investigative reporting - the kind that would have screamed bloody murder about looming media censorship, naked corruption, the rise of militant unionism, stratospheric budget deficits, unprecedented tax increases, the shackling of American entrepreneurs and exporters and apologetic narcissism.

The oligarchic media has morphed itself into a noise machine mimicking the sloganeering of the political elite. Time was when newspapers where the source of penetrating investigative reporting so essential to our democracy. Largely because of thei r betrayal of trust with the Amer ican people, they are losing their audiences while losing their shirts, financially speaking. Was Walter Cronkite a Democrat or Republican? Did anyone know? Did anyone care? He was the “most trusted man in America.” So…why should I know any newsman’s allegiance?

Let’s take a brief tour around our country’s leading newspapers or at least what is left of them.

The Tr ibune Company, the nation’s second largest publisher of newspapers filed for bankruptcy December 2008. They own The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, The South Flor ida Sun-Sent inel , Or lando Sent inel and Hartford Courant amongst others. McClatchy, our thi rd larges t newspaper conglomerate i s teeter ing on bankruptcy. Their stock is nearly worthless. They own The Sacramento Bee, The Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star and The Charlotte Observer.

Both of Philadelphia’s major newspapers are in bankruptcy, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Phi ladelphia Dai ly News. The same for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The Rocky Mountain News in Denver is now closed after being in business for nearly 150 years as is the San Francisco Chronicle that has been around for 144 years. The Seattle Post Intelligencer is gone.

The New York Times is hemorrhaging. They lost $74 million in the first quarter of 2009 and have lost millions in value. They are struggling to keep the venerable Boston Globe afloat to save themselves, if they can be saved at all. The Washington Post is reporting losses while its subsidiary Newsweek is in serious trouble.

On to radio.

According to the Center for American Progress and Free Press, nationwide there is nine hours of conser vat i ve tal k for ever y one hour of progres sive/liberal talk. Air America, the mother ship of progressive radio filed for bankruptcy in 2006. Even in Washington D.C. where the Democrats control the White House, Congress and 80% of the registered voters are Democrats, the one and only progressive talk station has closed. Progressive radio stations are dropping like flies in every part of the country. Why, because station owners cannot get decent ratings to attract advertisers. The progressive stuff just isn’t selling.

What has gotten the progressive folks so uptight is they understand radio is a more powerful medium than cable news when it comes to long-term national influence. It is therefore no mystery why bringing back the so called “Fairness Doctrine” is being heavily touted. “If we can’t beat ‘em, silence ‘em” seems to be their only hope.

To bring back the unconstitutional, un-American “Fairness Doctrine”, is a slap in the face to our First Amendment and to all real journalists. Let’s encourage f reedom of speech and f ree enterprise at the same time. Anybody, no matter what race or gender, can own a radio station and can offer 24/7 progressive programming. Why should we care if it is not commercially viable? This is tantamount to forcing upon the world gas guzzling Hummers just because GM makes them.

Day after day the concept of freedom, family values, shared responsibility and the building of a stronger, prouder America is trampled under our mainstream media’s feet. They just don’t get it. We are smarter than they think.

The meteoric rise of the new media is inevitable as the t radi t ional media i s gros s ly fai l ing. Independent cable and radio, the Internet, blogs , podcas t s , YouTube and MySpace i s increasingly where American’s are getting their news.

We now have the technology to tell a different story. The real story. And it is resonating in ways we do not yet ful ly under s tand. In a f ree enterprise system capital always gravitates to the winner and that is increasingly no longer the traditional media.

As the old adage goes “The first victim of war is the truth”. Americans are in rebellion against a traditional media that has lost all credibility.

I am not buying into the surrender of media to neglect its responsibilities when it comes to putting this country under a magnifying glass. Both for good and bad news . And I am con f ident that there are millions of my fellow citizens who share my firm belief that America’s best days are ahead of us. Not because of our government and failed media, but despite them. I am challenging the mainstream media to get onboard and give Americans an unfiltered look at the truth. If they can’t, then I will. I’ll shout it out, loud and clear, every week in my columns and on my nationally syndicated radio show.

        

    Gold has always had a magic allure. So it was a shock when in 1971 U.S. President Richard Nixon suddenly and without warning ended the direct convertibility of the U.S. Dollar into gold. For the first time in the 20th century the United States began piling up budget and trade deficits. It was unimaginable that a country that had enacted the Marshall Plan to help our enemies rebuild their economies by opening wide U.S. markets to imports without demanding equal access to foreign markets for our exports, would find itself on the short end of the trade stick.

    By 1970 we were printing U.S. Dollars like comic books to send overseas to cover our expanding trade deficit. The gold coverage of the U.S. dollar shrank from 55% to 20%. Our trading partners began demanding “promise to pay” gold bullion in exchange for our debased paper dollars (the U.S. currency is actually a fabric made from cotton). Switzerland, then France demanded and received their gold.

    Nixon’s worst nightmare was the thought of Fort Knox being emptied to pay for Japanese stereos and Taiwanese knick-knacks. On August 15th President Nixon in a televised speech carefully scheduled not to conflict with the popular TV series “Bonanza” used the lead-in of the show to ensure the greatest audience. Instead of Little Joe and Hoss, viewers witnessed Nixon closing the “gold window,” making U.S. paper dollars nonconvertible to gold. This was the genesis of the floating and volatile exchange rates we have today. This was also the beginning of runaway budget and trade deficits fueled by paper currency that was no longer a hard asset, but a fictitious piece of paper that could be printed at will.

    If the printing pressesever landed in the hands of the wrong people in calculable harm could be done . Take a moment to reflect on the developing countries over the past twenty years that have debased their currencies through deficit spending. Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, the Philippines, Russia, Venezuela… The list goes on and on. I have witnessed it repeatedly. It is the same everywhere. You work your entire life and save whatever you can. Over time you accumulate enough to retire. You are looking forward to some years of tranquility. Then poof…some corrupt, greed imbibed leader turns on the printing presses and your entire life’s savings is devalued to the point where you spend your retirement struggling for survival. What makes it intolerable is you have no time to recover. You are doomed. It is the ultimate “Catch 22”.

    President Obama has been in power just a few short months. The printing presses have never worked so hard. Our 2009 budget deficit, as calculated by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), is estimated to be $1.85 trillion out of a record breaking federal budget of $4 trillion (a trillion is twelve zeros, an incomprehensible number to grasp). For every dollar we collect in taxes we spend two.

    The CBO further projects a budget deficit from 2010-2019 of $9.3 trillion on top of the $1.85 trillion. Our current national debt is $11 trillion. We are doubling it in just ten years. This is the good news. The bad news is it will be much worse. This is the best case scenario based on current spending, overly optimistic economic growth projections and higher tax collections.

    An inevitable increase in tax rates will assuredly result in a lower tax base as business declines, American companies move offshore and jobs disappear. The alarming rise in unionism will also accelerate U.S. jobs losses. The budget projections do not yet take into consideration other large Obama campaign promises including healthcare reform, renewable energy, environmental and global warming initiatives, and education reform.

    In the eight years that George W. Bush was President, the federal budget increased by $700 billion, for which he was relentlessly and correctly criticized, notwithstanding the events of 9/11 and fighting two wars. In just four months Obama has added another $1 trillion to the federal budget.

    Our 2009 budget deficit is 2.5 times our total currency in circulation. It is $500 billion more than the worldwide exports of American products and services.

    Ronald Reagan has been criticized for his deficits. The Obama deficit after four months is four times greater than any deficit during the Reagan years. I might add Reagan also inherited a struggling economy with a “misery index” in the stratosphere.

    The Obama deficit can only be covered by borrowing or printing dollars. Even the Chinese don’t have enough dollars to invest to shore up the Obama deficits. We are participating in a dangerous board game with play dollars in which we cannot possibly win.

    What makes us any different than the reckless governments that trash their countries through printing press economic policies? Aren’t these the same folks who we love to lecture about fiscal responsibility?

    The U.S. dollar will never be the same. The American worker put their faith “In God We Trust.” Yet, there are millions of Americans reaching retirement age who will be shocked to learn that they will fare no better than those in developing countries with debased currencies that have driven them into poverty. We lived through the Nixon Gold Shock. But I’m not sure we’ll make it through The Obama Deficit Shock.

        

If you think America is going “Back to the Future” with talk about the Great Depression, job losses, and other references to the 1930s, then America’s slide toward Isolationism will put this country in a tragic time machine that will have devastating results.      During the 1930s, the combination of the Great Depression and the memory of horrific losses in World War I contributed to pushing American public opinion and policy toward Isolat ionism. For example, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 essentially shut off imports into the U.S. by imposing prohibitively high tariffs on foreign goods.

 
    Echoing developments today with U.S. trading partners, even before the Act went in effect, boycotts of U.S. goods began. As ear ly as September 1929, President Hoover 's administ rat ion had received protest notes from 23 trading partners, but threats of retaliatory actions were largely ignored. 

    Before the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act even went into effect in 1930, U.S. imports decreased 66 percent from $4.4 billion dollars in 1929 to $1.5 billion dollars by 1933, and exports decreased 61 percent from $5.4 billion dollars to $2.1 billion dollars. 

    According to government stat istics, U.S. imports from Europe decreased from a 1929 high of $1.3 billion to just $390 million during 1932, while U.S. exports to Europe decreased from $2.3 billion in 1929 to $784 million in 1932. Overall, world trade decreased by some 66 percent between 1929 and 1934. This was a major contributor to the Great Depression as jobs disappeared. 

    During this time, Isolationists advocated non-involvement in European and Asian conflicts and non-entanglement in international politics. Although the United States took steps to avoid political and military conflicts overseas, it continued to expand economically and protect its interests in Latin America. The reality of a worldwide economic depression and the need for increased attention to domestic problems only served to bolster the idea that the United States should isolate itself and the Western Hemisphere from troubling world events. 

    This attitude prevailed until the start of the 20th century which coincided with American colonization of the Philippines resulting from the Spanish-American War. America’s interest in the global community only reawakened during the 1940s as the U.S. pushed into the far western Pacific Ocean during World War II. At the same time, the continents were linked as the result of improved transportation and communication, as well as through steamships, undersea cable, and radio. The growth of shipping and foreign trade slowly enhanced America's world role. 

    Now when the world’s economy is challenged, instead of finding global solutions, many countries, including the U.S., are turning inward and revisiting Isolationism. Russia is taking the lead on this ill-conceived idea. Other nations are sure to follow. 

    A trade war is the last thing this country needs when it’s trying to create jobs. A robust trading environment is the number one catalyst for job creation. If you shut down free trade, you shut down American jobs and the increase in GNP that comes from global trading. 

    If you want to see the flip side of Isolationism, see all the positive things that will result when Congress opens markets to U.S. exporters when it ratifies the Colombian, Panamanian, and South Korean Free Trade agreements. 

    At least there appears to be some positive signs from Washington when it comes to global trade. By all accounts, despite pressure by trade unions, it looks like NAFTA will remain intact and not renegotiated. It also looks like the Panama free trade agreement will be the first of the “Three Trade Hostages” to see the light of day, although the Colombian agreement should be the first in line. 

    Isolationism was a bad idea in the 1930s and it’s a bad idea today. It’s up to Amer ican expor ters and others to get Congress to wake up and overturn flawed trade policies that are only delaying job creation and prolonging our current economic meltdown.

        

American ent repreneur s and smal l bus inesses have historically taken the leadership position when it comes to innovationand helping the U.S. work its way out of past economic downturns; and they will certainly play a vital role in ending the current recession. Now Atlanta entrepreneurs can get a weekly dose of sound advice and insights into the benefits of free enterprise from The Neal Asbury Show, broadcast each Sunday from 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM on WGKA-920. 

    Guests on his show have included: former Director of National Intelligence, Ambassador John D. Negroponte; former U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Carlos Gutierrez; former United States Trade Representative Ambassador Susan C. Schwab; former U.S. Under Secretary of International Trade, Christopher Padilla; and Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX).
 
    “Many Americans share my concern that small business is not receiving the attention from government that it needs to excel, and that includes access to capital and open trade with foreign markets. This will immediately create U.S. jobs and result in a historic recalculation of our tax base. The U.S. entrepreneur and small business owner are the engines of our economy, and yet, are the most under-represented group in America. Congress needs a wake up call to reinvigorate entrepreneurship, and that means giving voice to people who will actively advocate on behalf of U.S. enterprise – that’s the role The Neal Asbury Show will play in Atlanta,” said Neal Asbury, who received the SBA’s 2008 United States National Champion Exporter of the Year Award. 

    Asbury, chief executive of Greenfield World Trade, has published over 100 articles on enterprise and global trade issues, and his asburysworld.com blog is quickly becoming a favorite on-line destination for visitors who share his passion for small business entrepreneurship and the benefits of expanding the U.S. role in global commerce. His advocacy has taken him to address the United Nations at the Commission of Trade and Development, as well as frequent speaking engagement at Universities and Trade Associations.

 

For more information visit

www.thenealasburyshow.com.

        

If America was in a foot race against Europe, Asia and even Canada for negotiating the greatest number of free trade agreements, America would barely get out of the starting blocks.  

Consider that America has free trade agreements with only 14 countries. While according to the Asian Development Bank, 150 bilateral free trade agreements have either been signed or are under negotiation in Asia; and the European Union (EU) is negotiating trade agreements with more than 100 developing countries.

The EU finalized a free trade agreement with Mexico in 2000 -- the second largest market for U.S. exports. Against a backdrop of conflicting and confusing statements coming from the new U.S. administration concerning NAFTA Canada has begun allying itself more closely with Europe evidenced by the ongoing negotiation of a comprehensive free trade agreement with the EU. Once concluded it will make European products more competitive and available throughout the Canadian market. Canada is the largest export market for American products; a market we cannot afford to lose.

While we are running in place, the rest of world is negotiating trade agreements that will give their manufacturers a global advantage over the U.S.  What’s worse, for every step we take forward, we take three steps backward.  Just look at the Colombia, Panama and South Korea Free Trade Agreements that are languishing in Congress awaiting final approval.

Looking at South Korea alone, it is already the EU’s eighth-largest trade partner and the EU has been the single largest investor in South Korea since 1962, giving the EU a big competitive advantage over the U.S. By concluding the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement we would give American manufacturers a big boost in this very important market.

If you don’t think that American companies are frustrated by the unequal trade policies worldwide, it may be reflected in the fact that among the roughly 8.5 million American companies with employees, only 250,000 are exporting, and 60 percent of these export to just one country.  American manufacturers are, by and large, passing up exports in favor of doing business within the U.S. to avoid the export roadblocks put in their way.

To put it in perspective, in the 14 countries where U.S. exporters enjoy free trade agreements, their revenues are up 40% over countries where the U.S. does not have free trade agreements.   
To give this situation a local perspective, the free trade agreements passed in recent years have done wonders for Florida’s exporters.  They create a trickledown effect across the economy, as evidenced by the ensuing demands at Florida ports, which generate hundreds of millions of dollars in investments to expand terminal access so that new shipping lines can be brought in to increase the coming and going of cargo.
As a state that is defined by its strategic international position, Florida must continue to lead the pack since the Florida economy will continue to thrive by pursuing open access to foreign markets for the goods and services produced by Florida companies.  
As Thomas Paine is so famously quoted: “Lead, follow or get out of my way.”  It is time for all of us to lead the race for free trade and let everyone else follow.

        

As a nation of immigrants, it’s hard to explain how xenophobic this country can be.   For whatever reason, if we believe that the U.S. is slighted in any way, our inclination is to lash out diplomatically, economically, or when all else fails, by force.

We are currently engaged in an economic battle with many nations who we perceive as having an adversarial relationship with America.  In such cases, we punish them by imposing trade sanctions, which rarely have the anticipated effect. Instead, such We are currently engaged in an economic battle with many nations who we perceive as having an adversarial relationship with America.  In such cases, we punish them by imposing trade sanctions, which rarely have the anticipated effect. Instead, such sanctions usually only hurt American manufacturers and workers.
 
A recent article from Bryan R Early for The Christian Science Monitor bears this out.  Early conducted a study spread over 50 years (from 1950-2000) of 100 cases where the U.S. imposed sanctions   His conclusion was that “the United States’ allies have consistently exploited the commercial opportunities created by U.S. sanctions for their own benefit.”
 
There’s little doubt that during these past fifty years the United States has gone overboard on sanctions.  We have sanctioned more than 80 countries over 175 times. If we include “soft” sanctions such as denying export financing through the EXIM Bank the number would be much higher. Our sanctions threaten two thirds of the world’s population. Over half of the sanctions established in our country’s 233 year history have occurred in the last ten years.
 
It’s no secret that when we impose sanctions, the first people in line to pick up the export dollars are our own allies -- eager European and Asian competitors who trip over themselves to fill every purchase order and contract we walk away from.   Early suggests that our allies “use their alliances with the U.S. as political cover to shield their companies from American retaliation.  In effect, this means that the U.S. subsidizes the economies of its allies to the detriment of its own business.”
 
Although it is difficult to estimate, sanctions cost American exporters at least $70 billion annually in lost sales which translates into 600,000 jobs.  
 
We are deemed by many to be unreliable suppliers beholden to an impulsive Congress. Trade sanctions have become foreign policy “on the cheap” as a way to show disdain without sending in the marines. At least we can all be reassured that Congress can not be blamed for being discriminatory. We literally sanction every country from A-to-Z: Angola to Zimbabwe.
 
We sanction to fight communism (ironically our trade policies now perpetuate communism in China). We sanction in the name of human rights, to protect the environment, to stop weapons and nuclear proliferation, to protest military action, to improve treatment of labor, to elevate environmental standards, for harboring terrorists, for dealing in expropriated U.S. property, for drug trafficking, for money laundering and my personal favorite, for having restrictive trade policies.
 
In fact, if we consistently applied our policies, only a handful of countries would be left to trade with.
 
Of course all good people support human rights and don’t want the “bad guys” to get dangerous weapons. However our sanctions are totally out of control. They have robbed the jobs (and lowered the wages) of hundreds of thousands of Americans without having any impact on the targeted countries. If they are to be used, sanctions should be weighed carefully, and be targeted primarily against rogue countries with out-of-control weapons programs. Unless sanctions are airtight and multilateral they have absolutely no chance to succeed.
 
Why do we continue down a road of such arrogance and assured failure? Too often we fail to realize that our power has some very real limitations. A better solution is to let Americans engage the citizens of foreign countries by traveling abroad, taking with them our values, culture and ideas. By allowing Americans to engage with the world, trade barriers would fall, and the only losers would be tyranny, poverty and ignorance.
 
If we truly want to jump start the economy, we have two immediate priorities: stop imposing sanctions against our foes and start passing free trade agreements with our friends.

        

By Patrick Danner
PDANNER@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Exporter Neal Asbury operates a Weston company that represents 40 American manufacturers in the commercial food service industry in 130 countries.

He also owns a handful of companies that make commercial and home appliances, everything from heavy-duty mixers to drink dispensers to blenders.

And he just spent millions to buy two iconic companies: Omega, which makes juicers, and Zeroll, whose novel ice-cream scoop earned a place in New York's Museum of Modern Art.

Yet Asbury says he has a more pressing purpose. ''I'm on a mission,'' he says. ``I'm on a mission bigger than running a couple of businesses and making a couple of acquisitions. [I] want to change the world.''

Asbury, president of Greenfield World Trade and the Small Business Administration's reigning National Champion Exporter of the Year, believes fixing global trade inequities that favor other nations would go a long way towards curing the economic ills that now plague the United States.

So he's spends much of his time spreading the word. He writes a regular column for an online news service. He blogs. He pontificates on a weekly radio show now broadcast in six major cities. And he's writing a book tentatively titled Trading Up he says will offer solutions to such problems as unemployment, poverty, failing schools, and a crumbling infrastructure. It's set for release later this year.

''This is fundamental to who I am and where I'm going,'' says Asbury, 51. ``We just can't keep making bad decisions and wasting money and resources and think this country is going to live happily ever after.''

Working for 21 years overseas in the export business representing American companies, Asbury says, gave him a bird's eye view into what he calls a ``corrupt and skewed trading system.''

''Countries like China, India, Brazil, Japan and others routinely manipulate and distort markets to their benefit, and conversely, discriminate against American exporters,'' Asbury charges.

Take KitchenAid, the appliance maker, which Asbury represents overseas. Getting approval from China late last year to sell KitchenAid products took two years of effort, Asbury says.

China requires companies to submit manufacturing drawings and other intellectual property to be able to sell there. That has scared off many manufacturers who are afraid their property rights will be pirated by Chinese companies, Asbury says.

Asbury cites U.S. government's statistics that show intellectual property theft by Chinese companies costs American companies $250 billion a year in lost sales.

''We need to invest in our trade enforcement under the U.S. Department of Commerce, because the magnitude of the problem is so much greater than the manpower that we have working on it,'' he says.

So what does KitchenAid have to say about Asbury's effort on its behalf?

''Neal Asbury is one of our favorite people,'' says Larry Simpson, KitchenAid's export sales manager. ``He just does a lot for KitchenAid. He clearly has our interests high on his list as he works on his many, many projects.''

Asbury didn't start out as an exporter. He was a music major at New Jersey's Rowan State University but decided he didn't want to pursue a music career upon graduating in 1979.

''It just dawned on me that I wanted to be in international trade,'' he says. So he moved to New York and got a job as a mail clerk for an export company. It was a fortuitous decision, even though the company told him he was overqualified.

That's because a colleague later recommended Asbury to a recruiter. That led to Asbury's hiring as a sales manager in Singapore for Amimpex, a food-service equipment company. He learned the business before starting his own company, Asbury WorldWide, in the Philippines, in 1987.

Asbury WorldWide and its manufacturing subsidiary equipped commercial kitchens around the world for McDonald's and other restaurant and hotel chains. Asbury, who built the companies to 500 employees, sold them to Middleby Corp. in various transactions throughout the 1990s for about $7 million. Middleby makes cooking equipment used in commercial restaurants and institutional kitchens.

Asbury left Middleby in 1999 and moved to South Florida, where he opened Greenfield World Trade. He says besides starting his third export business, he wanted to establish a food service equipment business serving the U.S. market.

LOOKING FOR A NAME

Greenfield hired a group of industrial designers to create a family of products. Among the first: a blender under the Maxximum name. Asbury concedes it was slow going.

''I could come up with a really great product at a great price that blows away the competition, but if it's not a branded product, a lot of people won't even look at you,'' Asbury says.

So last year, Greenfield started looking to buy companies with well-known products. Its first deal was for the brand name and intellectual property of General Slicing, a company started in the 1930s that produced food-preparation equipment, including slicers, mixers and food processors. Asbury declined to disclose the price.

ZEROLL PURCHASE

Greenfield followed that up by acquiring Zeroll, a Fort Pierce company that makes ice-cream scoops and other utensils, for $4.3 million in December.

''I can take the Zeroll brand name and put it on all kinds of gadgets and high-end accessories and utensils, and people will buy it because it's associated with Zeroll,'' Asbury says.

In January, Greenfield bought Omega, a Pennsylvania maker of juicers, for $4 million. Asbury expects to put the Omega name on the Maxximum blenders and other products. He also wants to move some of the overseas production of Omega's higher-end products (over $200) from Asia and elsewhere to Zeroll's plant in Fort Pierce.

Asbury proudly notes he completed the latter two deals with bank loans despite the tightened credit markets and ''the world falling apart.'' With the recent deals, he says, his companies generate $60 million in annual revenue and employ 100 people.

Asbury says he's on the lookout for other companies to buy. In the meantime, he's preaching about the importance of trade on his radio show and elsewhere. On a recent edition of The Neal Asbury Show, he voiced his disbelief over President Barack Obama not making any mention of trade in the first address to Congress.

''How could he miss something so big?'' Asbury, a Republican, wondered on the show, which airs locally on WZAB-AM (880) at 5 p.m. each Friday. Asbury pays for the air time. It also can be heard on his website, thenealasburyshow.com.

The show is produced by Coral Gables-based Atlantic Radio Network.

''For a guy that runs some very successful businesses . . . one would think he would be all consumed with that,'' says Andy Korge, Atlantic's president. ``But I tell you he devotes a lot of time to the radio program. I think it came somewhat naturally to him.''

Korge says it's difficult to gauge the size of the audience on the fledgling station, but he estimates it's between 4,000 and 5,000 listeners. The program also airs in other cities big in international trade, including San Francisco, Seattle and Houston. The goal is to air in 20 markets by the fall, Korge adds.

Meanwhile, Asbury is collaborating on a book with author Lou Aronica. Asbury is represented by New York literary manager Peter Miller.

''What he's writing about is particularly relevant, in terms of the trade imbalance that exists between us and the rest of the world,'' Miller says.

        

At a time when our country is fixated on a protracted political process passionately promising to cure all our ills, this would be an excellent time for our incoming president to put forward his vision to solve the most critical economic issue of our time: our degenerative trade deficit.

While Congress grapples with car companies, real estate and a down economy, they are ignoring the greatest accelerator for job creation: exports. Unlike other seemingly impossible challenges we face, our trade deficit is something we can correct in a relatively short period thus creating millions of well-paying jobs. It is as straightforward as establishing an environment where U.S. exporters are allowed to compete.

First, we the people must demand that the new administration understand trade, be able to articulate a comprehensive strategy in dealing with our global competitors and have the guts to fight.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is by far the most beneficial piece of trade legislation Congress has ever passed. At a time of economic upheaval where job creation must be at the heart of our recovery it is mind-boggling Congress could contemplate changing or even opting out of the agreement. As supporters of fair market access for American exporters, it is our obligation to push Congress to maintain NAFTA with its current provisions. Since NAFTA was implemented, the U.S. added 30 million new jobs.

Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Carlos Gutierrez, has aptly stated when NAFTA country partners hear the U.S. is seeking to renegotiate the agreement; it causes uncertainty about America’s commitment to its trade partners causing them to seek out new partners such as the European Union. 

This becomes an extremely sensitive issue considering that during 2008, the U.S. exported $200 billion to Canada (up 11 percent over 2007) and $115 billion to Mexico (up 13 percent). In fact, 30 percent of all U.S. trade goes to NAFTA partners.

Further, most Americans don’t appreciate that today, Canada is America’s biggest trade partner, and it is where the U.S. gets most of its crude oil. It does NOT come from the Middle East.

Consider that Mexico imports more U.S. products than China and Japan combined, and that Mexico is neck-and-neck with Saudi Arabia when it comes to energy exports to the U.S.

Now NAFTA faces two real challenges that need to be addressed.  First, is the rumblings from Congress to alter NAFTA, which must be stopped at all costs.

The second challenge comes from growing congressional protectionist sentiment and the ramping up of Homeland Security scrutiny between the U.S. and Canada.  By clamping down on trucking between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico, the added barriers imposed on border access drives up costs and reduce the productivity of American workers.

At a time when this country is working to stimulate the economy and create jobs, anything that interferes with Free Trade Agreements such as NAFTA, is an anti-stimulus initiative.   The relationship between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico is one of the real drivers of the U.S. economy.   To put it in perspective, in the 14 countries where U.S. exporters enjoy Free Trade Agreements, their revenues are up 40% over countries where the U.S. does not have Free Trade Agreements.

In 2008, excluding energy imports, the U.S. had a $3 billion surplus with our Free Trade Partners compared with more than a $500 billion deficit with countries where we do not have Free Trade Agreements. The problem is not that we have too many Free Trade Agreements, it is we have too few.

Now as some in Congress are moving toward an isolationist mentality, a quick trip back to 1930 conjures up nightmares of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which increased tariffs on imported goods to record levels. Foreign governments retaliated with vastly increased tariffs on American products. As a result world trade shrank by more than sixty percent. In just two years American unemployment soared 300%.  It is widely believed America's withdrawal from the world market put the "Great" into the "Great Depression." It turned a severe but manageable recession into a generation-long depression that only a horrific world war could cure.

If the U.S. wants to stimulate the economy, we must all support Free Trade Agreements such as NAFTA, and put pressure on Congress to ratify the pending Free Trade Agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.

Let’s remember that small and medium-size companies have accounted for more than seventy percent of new job creation over the past decade and represent ninety-seven percent of America’s exporters. When the economy begins to recover, it will start with small and medium-sized companies who can and will create thousands of jobs through the expansion of Free Trade Agreements, of which NAFTA should be the model. Let’s not kill the goose that laid the golden egg through populist pandering and naked naivety.

By Neal Asbury

        

There is nothing new under the sun in politics and history always repeats itself with devastating effect. The parallels between today and the 1930’s are bloodcurdling, yet we go headlong down a path of failed policy reminiscent of empty-headed farm animals. I guess if you spread enough pork around Washington social welfare can come to mean economic stimulus.
                                                                
On March 4th, 1933 the Democratic administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was sworn in replacing the unpopular Republican Presidency of Herbert Hoover. The country was in the grips of a severe financial crisis that threatened everything. The winds of isolationism were howling like a blustery blizzard in the dead of winter. Global trade was tied to the whipping post, beaten and bled.

President Roosevelt wasted no time to enact a series of programs he named “The New Deal”. They included banking reform, social welfare handouts and public works projects. Very little emphasis was placed on America’s businesses, both small and large. The New Deal was ideologically anchored in the far-left political organizations and labor unions that coalesced around the Roosevelt campaign. It is the genesis of the permanent rise and power to unionism which we are still reeling from today.

FDR, in a speech along the campaign trail in 1932, made his intensions clear “we require a more equitable opportunity to share in the distribution of the national wealth… I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people. This is more than a campaign. It is a call to arms.”  

To compound the problem, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 increased tariffs on imported goods to record levels. Foreign governments retaliated with vastly increased tariffs on American products. As a result world trade shrank by more than sixty percent. In just two years American unemployment soared 300%.

It is widely believed America’s withdrawal from the world market put the “Great” into the “Great Depression”. It turned a severe but manageable recession into a generation-long depression that only a horrific world war could cure.

Isolationism, anti-trade, social welfare, unionism and wealth redistribution did not work then. And it will not work now to address today’s failing economy.

Take a cursory look at the stimulus package passed by the House and you’ll find that only 12 cents of every $1 can plausibly be considered as having anything to do as an economic stimulus.  On the other hand, $252 billion or 30 cents of every $1 is direct social welfare, given to individuals for doing absolutely nothing. Some $70 billion, or less than ten percent of the spending bill, is earmarked for infrastructure projects that simply can not be taken up fast enough to have any immediate economic stimulus impact. Projects such as fixing highways and bridges, airports, waste water treatment, broadband and electric grid development need long lead-times and cannot be considered the impetus for quick start-up job creation. Only $20 billion in the stimulus package is devoted to business tax cuts – something that will actually stimulate the economy.

For this to be a stimulus package it must at its core contribute to sustainable job creation. Congress must recognize that the sector of our economy that has created most of our jobs over the last decade is SMBs (small and medium sized businesses) that can move quickly to innovate and grow the economy. This is also where America’s historic rise in technology breakthroughs and important patents originate. SMBs are the backbone of our economy.

Rewriting the tax code must lead the stimulus package

A real stimulus package would begin with rewriting the tax code so it encourages investment and does not discriminate against U.S. manufacturers and exporters. Our businesses pay a disproportionate share of taxes that fund our schools, support our defense and pay for loony stimulus packages.

We must rid ourselves of an arcane and convoluted income tax system and move to a simple consumption tax or flat tax.

Tax code revisions must include the following provisions:

• Provide tax cuts to every American taxpayer by eliminating payroll taxes for the next six months.
• Permanently repeal the marriage penalty tax and the $1000-per-child tax credit.
• Reduce the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25% indefinitely. If our fifty-states were countries, twenty-four would be the highest taxed in the world. We are suffocating in taxes.
• Irrevocably commit to maintaining the capital gains tax at its current level of 15%.
• Provide tax credits for research and development. After all American ingenuity is the bedrock of our economic success.
• Allow accelerated depreciation on capital expenditures and acquisitions.
• Provide tax credits for new hires.

 

Let American exporters operate on a level playing field

Ensure American exporters have equal access to markets overseas. Vigorously pursue Free Trade Agreements with all our trading partners and especially those with our largest deficits such as China, Japan, India and Brazil. Demanding reciprocal market access will return $500 billion annually to our economy and create two million jobs.

Forget about trade sanctions.  In the past fifty years the United States has gone overboard on sanctions.  We have sanctioned more than 80 countries over 175 times. If we include “soft” sanctions such as denying export financing through the EXIM Bank, the number would be much higher. Our sanctions threaten two-thirds of the world’s population. Although it is difficult to estimate, sanctions cost American exporters at least $70 billion annually in lost sales which translates into 600,000 jobs.  

Get tough on Intellectual Property Protection and Counterfeit Goods.Counterfeit products produced and sold freely at markets in China and exported around the world cost Americans an estimated one million jobs a year and American businesses $250 billion.

If the new administration intends to stand by its populist philosophy that we are all in this together, then they need to put their money where their mouth is (and where it will do the most good).  

Instead of growing the government bureaucracy, let’s inspire the private sector to invest in their businesses. Instead of giving more money to politicians, give it to American taxpayers and small businesses. Instead of taking a trillion dollars out of the economy in wasteful programs, put it back into the economy and create the sustainable jobs that will reverse the course of our economic hardship.

That’s the deal that Americans need and deserve.

By Neal Asbury

        

At a time when our country is fixated on a protracted political process passionately promising to cure all our ills, this would be an excellent time for our new administration to put forward their vision to solve the most critical economic issue of our time: our degenerative trade deficit.

Unlike other seemingly impossible challenges we face, our trade deficit is something we can correct in a relatively short period thus creating millions of well-paying jobs. It is as straight forward as establishing an environment where American exporters are allowed to compete.

First, we must demand that this government articulate a comprehensive strategy in dealing with our global competitors.

Number one should be reversing any calls to “fix” the evils of NAFTA or “opt out”.
NAFTA is by far the most beneficial trade legislation Congress has ever passed.  They must also finally ratify pending Free Trade Agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.

Next, we must create the Department of Global Trade

Most of the authority for our global trade policies is split between the USTR (United States Trade Representative) and Department of Commerce. This split provides the USTR responsibility for “policy”, “coordination” and “negotiations” while providing the Secretary of Commerce “nonagricultural operational trade responsibility”. Furthermore there are over twenty federal agencies that have responsibilities over international trade policy that must be consolidated.

What we need is a single Department of Global Trade. The Secretary of Commerce would become the Secretary of Global Trade, possessing real power over a portfolio that offers opportunities for important policy leadership. Unlike today, the Secretary of Commerce would have complete authority over all facets of trade including strategy, negotiations and enforcement.

Forget about trade sanctions.

In the past fifty years the United States has gone overboard on sanctions.  We have sanctioned more than 80 countries over 175 times. If we include “soft” sanctions such as denying export financing through the EXIM Bank the number would be much higher. Our sanctions threaten two thirds of the world’s population. Over half of the sanctions established in our country’s 231 year history have occurred in the last ten years.  Although it is difficult to estimate, sanctions cost American exporters at least $70 billion annually in lost sales which translates into 600,000 jobs.  

Trade sanctions rarely have the anticipated effect on our adversaries. A better solution is to let Americans engage the citizens of foreign countries by traveling abroad, taking with them our values, culture and ideas. By allowing Americans to engage with the world, trade barriers would fall, and the only losers would be tyranny, poverty and ignorance.

 Get tough on Intellectual Property Protection and Counterfeit Goods.

Counterfeit products produced and sold freely at markets in China and exported around the world cost Americans an estimated one million jobs a year and American businesses $250 billion. The bulk of the world’s pirated material comes from China. If China for whatever reason can not close this down, then the Chinese Government must make restitution to US companies and workers being cheated because of their ineptness to govern. We must declare war on Intellectual Property theft and provide the resources to fight it.

Our U.S. Export Assistance Centers (USEAC) throughout the United States and our Foreign Commercial Services Offices at our Embassies overseas must be provided resources needed to promote and defend our exporters.

We must continue to invest in and build further our infrastructure that promotes American exports.America’s back bone has always been its small businesses and entrepreneurs. This is where we can benefit from the U.S. Export Assistance Centers and the Commercial Sections of our Embassies overseas, which are important resources in helping American exporters reach potential customers in every where.

Quality trade education must be made available that is predictable, affordable and convenient, such as the Florida District Export Council’s Export University program. Hundreds of students have passed through its courses. It is a program that must be rolled out nationally.

Rewrite the tax code so it does not discriminate against U.S. manufacturers and exporters.

Our manufacturers pay a disproportionate share of taxes that fund our schools, support our defense and build our roads. We must rid ourselves of an arcane and convoluted income tax system and move to a simple consumption tax that spreads the burden equally over American made and imported goods. Like our competitors, we must provide tax incentives and rebates to our exporters.

Fifty years of successive Republican and Democratic administrations without a comprehensive trade vision has resulted in an infrastructure that is unable to compete globally. Providence has bestowed on ordinary Americans an extraordinary privilege to change things for the better. It is our duty to seize that right. This is not the time to point fingers or play partisan politics. It is time for Americans of all stripes to come together.

It starts with a vision.

By Neal Asbury

        

We enter the new year with desperate hopes that a new direction can provide us with bold and lasting cures for our gasping economic situation. Politicians and pundits alike fill the media with recommendations for how to stop the bleeding and inspire consumer confidence as the world looks to America to restore its leadership position as the engine of economic growth. Our international competitors realize that a teetering American economy is very, very bad for their own business.

In times of great economic upheaval misguided sentiments seem to rise as irrationally as stock values decline. After the numbness of economic insecurity takes hold, it is difficult to believe in anything other than your own weakness. Weakness turns to defeat and defeat is always bitter. Bitterness seeks blame, which acts as the sinister enabler of false perception and convoluted reality.

In other words, panic has blinded us to the fact that a solution to our financial woes - along with many of the most profound social issues on our planet - stands directly in front of us. In an imploding world economy, we must quickly seek ways to improve our financial underpinnings in wise, sustainable ways. The solution exists in plain sight- a huge global market in need of our products and services. A comprehensive revision of the way we trade with the rest of the world changes everything. And with the exception of a handful of corrupt, oligarchs and despoilers, it changes it for the better for everyone.

More than anything else it is access to foreign markets that will get Main Street back on its feet. Those benefiting most will be legions of small and medium sized businesses ( SMB ) and the millions of our citizens they will and do employ. Throughout the 20^th century, SMBs have historically done the “heavy lifting” for the American economy. They provide jobs for more than fifty percent of private sector employees. They produce thirteen times more patents per employee than large firms. They are the repository of American creativity and ingenuity that is the envy of the world. Over the last decade, SMBs have accounted for over seventy percent of new jobs generated annually.

If our government supported SMBs, they could quickly create 4,000,000 well paying and sustainable jobs at very little cost to the American taxpayer. Compare this to the much touted $840 billion stimulus package that hopes to create 2,500,000 jobs.

By their very nature, SMBs are proud and self-reliant. They never beg for the kind of bailouts handed to diminished bankers and washed-up industrialists. This would be beneath their dignity. They humbly accept their fate and the consequences of their decisions. We provide them very little yet they give back so much. Their only desire is to be allowed to fairly compete in the world market and for our government to defend their property.

It is the SMBs that hold the key to our financial recovery and security. So before we start doling out billions more in an ill-conceived stimulus package, consider this:

There are 27 million companies in America of which 6 million have employees on their payroll (only 8000 of these are large corporations). There are over 250,000 U.S. exporters, of which ninety-seven percent are small businesses. Of these nearly 60 percent export to just one country.

What is hindering more companies from exporting is they lack vital information about foreign markets, they have no access to financing and they have very few opportunities to be educated in international trade.

If we are seeking to invest in programs with proven results that address these barriers let’s start by looking to the Small Business Administration (SBA) and The Department of Commerce.

Each dollar that American taxpayers have invested in the Small Business Administration’s export finance program has yielded over $500 in export sales. Each dollar we have invested in the Department of Commerce export promotion program has resulted in $425 in export sales. These are probably the two most successful programs dollar-for-dollar, in the entire U.S. government.

Our total exports of goods and services in 2007 were $1.6 trillion. It is widely believed that not having access to foreign markets cost the United States $500 billion annually (I personally believe it is much more than this). This is exacerbated by Department of Commerce figures that estimate that intellectual property theft in China alone costs U.S. manufacturers $250 billion each year in lost sales.

Unfortunately the small businesses on Main Street don’t have Wall Street’s budget to hire well connected K Street lobbyists to influence Congress. If they did they would be demanding the same market access for our exporters as foreign manufacturers have to the U.S. market.  They would seek protection of our intellectual property and the expansion of proven government programs that assist our small businesses grow internationally.

The export growth opportunity for American SMBs is unlimited. If we came anywhere close to balancing our trade deficit, the only Americans who couldn’t find a good-paying job would be those either physically unable to do so or those simply unwilling to do so. The positive effects this would have on our economy – including a huge recalculation of our tax base – would be historic.



Americans have never backed away from a challenge, no matter the hardship. We have always looked to unknown lands to stake our claims and expand our influence. We are a toughened people. Our expansion westward over an untamed continent shaped our conscience and is still very much part of us today.

I have every confidence in the American entrepreneur once again to lead the charge around the world, bringing with them our products and services. Let’s put our faith in our ability to compete and create, to withstand and prevail. We have nothing to fear and everything to gain.

Main Street has a hero...

By Neal Asbury

        

When did America lose its social conscience in regards to conducting commerce on the world stage?  In the face of rising global poverty, unbridled corruption and the destruction of the Earth’s fragile environment, Congress, by ignoring its oversight responsibilities on harmful trade arrangements with corrupt governments, while failing to ratify comprehensive Free Trade Agreements, becomes culpable for the malfeasance that is eroding the U.S. and world economies.

Not so very long ago, the American economy was the envy of the world. Our economy, along with the American Constitution, exemplified the power of our ideals for fair business dealings domestically and internationally.  After the bloody end of World War II, as much of the world lay in ruins, only one country stood up and offered to help the very enemies it recently vanquished. America launched the audacious Marshall Plan, which revitalized Europe and Asia. America was hailed as the country to turn to when help was needed. 

Now as the world looks to America to restore its leadership position as the engine of economic growth, the international community is not only silent, but complacent in forcing America to comply with export rules that put U.S. manufacturers at a distinct disadvantage.  The result is the loss of American jobs, suffocating corporate taxes and the inability to reinvest our financial resources in education, the crumbling U.S. infrastructure and renewable energy.  Where once we held sway, the world is tilting away from us, and the ramifications will be felt by every citizen in every town and village in every part of the world.  

Enormous profits are being made by foreign manufacturers off the U.S. economy. These same foreign companies and their employees pay taxes to their home governments providing the vital resources needed to develop their countries. Yet these same foreign governments propagate skewed and unjust trade relations that openly discriminate against American companies and workers.

Meanwhile, American companies forced to flee our shores because of excessive taxation and burdensome regulations are employing workers overseas who are paying taxes to foreign governments.  Often these governments are fervently working against U.S. interests.  We are aiding and abetting a despicable crime against every American worker and tax payer.

I have seen this firsthand in my travels around the world.  I see up close the poverty and the injustice that seem to be invisible to those in a position to help.  But solutions do exist in making important progress in poverty and hunger alleviation, corruption eradication and environmental safeguards while creating millions of jobs for the American worker.  

There is only one way to bring about change. We must demand Free Trade Agreements that have at their core enforceable measures that deal head-on with the economic and human tragedies our politicians love to invoke but have absolutely no clue how to fix.  Congress can start by ratifying the South Korea, Colombia and Panama Free Trade Agreements.

We need Free Trade Agreements with these partners, as well as with every one of our other trading partners and even more so with those that do not possess our values. This means Free Trade Agreements with the world’s most corrupt, manipulative and environmentally irresponsible governments.   Ignoring the imposed blight on their citizenry turns a blind eye to the underlying problem. It is our obligation to introduce American justice and fair trade policies to these nations so  they recognize that Free Trade Agreements will boost their economy, put people to work and generate alternatives to programs that rape the environment and cause misery to nations thousands of miles away.

Back in 1947 George C. Marshall saw a world in need of change and offered a new vision. I humbly suggest we think that boldly again.

By Neal Asbury

        

The start of the New Year is traditionally a time to project some accomplishments you hope to accomplish during the coming year.  Looking at 2009, I’m hoping that my fellow exporters will make some New Year’s resolutions to help our industry.
                  

RESOLUTION 1
Put pressure on Congress to pass the stalled free trade agreements for South Korea, Panama and Colombia. Instead of languishing in some committee, they could be fueling the economic recovery by creating millions of new jobs.  Since no one in government seems to be willing to promote these agreements, it will up to U.S. exporters and entrepreneurs looking to open foreign markets, to convince Congress that it is in the best interest of the U.S. to pass these vital agreements.

RESOLUTION 2
Starting communicating today with the office of incoming Secretary of Commerce, Bill Richardson.  As one of the few Democrats that support the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), he needs to stay strong as voices around him continue to advance the idea that it needs to re-negotiated. Let him know that he has our support and that it would be disastrous to damage what is the most important free trade agreement negotiated during the past 20 years.

RESOLUTION 3
Stop paying attention to trade unions that advocate that trade agreements translate into American job losses.  It’s never been true and it’s not true today.  A healthy export market of American goods creates American jobs and improves the economy. 

RESOLUTION 4
Help America take a more global perspective to the benefits of free trade. Free trade not only means American jobs, but it plays a critical role in reducing poverty in poor countries and in the U.S.  When countries engage in free trade agreements, all sectors of a population garner benefits.   Another important benefit accrues when U.S. exporters play a role in convincing corrupt governments to stop sacrificing their environment and ecosystems in the name of greed.

RESOLUTION 5
Lead by example.  Employees working for U.S. exporters need to lend their voices to the support of free trade.  Jobs are created and maintained by a robust export industry.  Get involved in the dialogue and make sure Congress knows that we expect them to support America’s leadership in free trade.

 By Neal Asbury

        

As discouraged as I am about the Obama administration’s on-the-record negativity about the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the one spark of hope is the nomination of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson as Secretary of Commerce.  Perhaps due to Richardson’s proximity to Mexico, he has been one of the most prominent Democratic supporters of NAFTA, and one of the rare pro-free trade Democrats. He is generally recognized as the only former Democratic presidential candidate who did not call for a renegotiation of the free trade agreement.

NAFTA is by far the most important piece of trade legislation ever passed by Congress. The benefits of NAFTA have been consolidating. Since 2000 our deficit on manufactured goods and agricultural products with Canada and Mexico (our first and third largest trading partners respectively) has grown just $3.5 billion. Compare this to China over the same period where our deficit has grown $173 billion or fifty times greater on less than half the volume of trade.

Now that Obama has made a gesture to support free trade with the Richardson selection, let’s hope that Richardson has the clout to advance his NAFTA stance and get Obama to back down from his threat to renegotiate NAFTA.  He may have his work cut out since VP choice Joe Biden, after initially supporting NAFTA, backed off his support during the political campaign.  Reaffirming NAFTA is the key to creating millions of new American jobs by expanding exports to our critical free trade partners.  

 By Neal Asbury

        

        

        

Kudos to Fred Barnes for his remarks about the Central America-Dominican Republic-U.S. Free Trade Agreement in "We Could Be In for a Lurch to the Left," (op-ed, Nov. 4), which rightfully takes umbrage with those who do not support this important trade agreement.

By its very nature Cafta is designed to eliminate tariffs and trade barriers and expand regional opportunities for the workers, manufacturers, consumers, farmers, ranchers and service providers of all the countries. In fact, Cafta eliminates tariffs on more than 80% of U.S. exports of consumer and industrial products. Eighty percent of Cafta imports already enter the U.S. duty-free. It's shortsighted for labor or anyone in Congress not to recognize the benefits of Cafta to the U.S. economy.

Neal Asbury
CEO, Greenfield World Trade
2008 SBA Exporter of the Year
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Mr. Barnes is particularly disheartened by the prospect of labor's new power in Washington. He is, of course, correct to be concerned. If we don't watch out, big labor will soon be calling for the bailout of whole industries to protect jobs and employment benefits. Oops, sorry! Management of some of our largest industries has already called for such bailouts. Industry has stolen the march on the lurch to the left before the "liberals" could even get started.

Julie Jetton
Princeton, N.J.

I completely agree with Fred Barnes who writes: "A sharp lurch to the left and enactment of a liberal agenda, or major parts of it, are all but inevitable." When that happens, all Americans will be better off.

The Supreme Court will gain respectability with newer, younger members. Unions will again rebuild the middle class. The U.S. military will carefully and thoughtfully leave the Middle East. Thank goodness for that because that will provide more money for domestic issues. Liberal ideas will sweeten the sour conservative economy. Education at all levels can look at a brighter future.

Robert Wesolowski
The Villages, Fla.

Mr. Barnes's thesis is that "for decades" American politics has been played "between the 40 yard lines," but now, after the election, it will be played at the Democratic Party's end of the field.

For most of the past decade, the Republican Party controlled all three branches of the federal government. It has not been what I would call politics at the 50 yard line.

Even after a Democratic Party landslide the Republicans still will dominate the federal bench, and will control at least half of the Supreme Court for another generation. Moreover, conservative ideology has dominated political discourse since 1980. We will need a long period of Democratic rule to fully drain the poison from the body politic.

Richard Joffe
New York

Click here to see this article on the Wall Street Journal

        

On Thursday, December 4th, The Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration Sandy K. Baruah will appear live during The Neal Asbury Show on WZAB-AM880 between 11:00 A.M. until Noon. Asbury, the show’s host and Small Business Administration’s United States National Champion Exporter of the Year will be exploring “The SBA’s Support For Increasing American Exports” with Administrator Baruah. Sandy K. Baruah was designated Acting Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration on August 15, 2008. Baruah, who is pending Senate confirmation as SBA Administrator, has served in the Bush Administration since 2001. Prior to SBA, he was the Assistant Secretary for Economic Development at the Department of Commerce, and comes to SBA with a keen understanding in how to promote local business growth, manage organizational change, and respond to federal disasters.

Baruah helped lead significant accomplishments for EDA, including the agency’s induction into the Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame, passage of EDA’s Congressional reauthorization, the agency’s inclusion in President Bush’s Executive Order which established the Preserve America Initiative, and achieved the second-highest effectiveness ranking from the White House’s Office Management and Budget. Prior to joining President Bush’s team at the Commerce Department, he spent seven years with a Portland, Oregon-based corporate management consulting firm. As a business consultant, he worked on engagements with clients such as Walt Disney World, Intel, Key Bank and Citizens Bank. Sandy Baruah’s previous government service includes work with U.S. Senator Bob Packwood and service to President George H.W. Bush, with positions in the office of the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of the Interior. Mr. Baruah holds a B.S. from the University of Oregon and earned an M.B.A. from Willamette University.

Over the past two years Asbury has published over 50 articles on global trade issues, been quoted in The New York Times and has appeared on network television nationally and internationally discussing important trade issues. Asbury’s asburysworld.com blog is quickly becoming a favorite online destination for visitors who share his dismay at today’s global business environment for U.S. exporters. His advocacy has taken him to address the United Nations at the Commission of Trade and Development, Capitol Hill to lobby on behalf of important trade agreements as well as frequent speaking engagements at Universities and Trade Associations. The Neal Asbury Show will be streamed live on line at WWW.880THE-BIZ.COM. WZAB-AM 880 is affiliated with Bloomberg Radio and CNBC and broadcasts live from Coral Gables, Florida.

        

        

        

In July of 2006 Sean Spicer was appointed Assistant United StatesTrade Representative for Public andMedia Affairs within the ExecutiveOffice of the President of the UnitedStates. As a member of the seniorexecutive service, Sean is the Administration’s point person for creat-ing and implementing the domesticand international media strategy ontrade related matters. On a daily basishe works with senior Administration officials and media outlets worldwide.Prior to his time at USTR, Seanwas served in the leadership of the U.S.House of Representatives as theCommunications Director for the Republican Conference where heoversaw the message and communi-cations planning and training of Republican members of Congress andover 220 press secretaries.Sean has done stints at theNational Republican Congressional Committee, House Budget Committee,House Government Reform Committee, Congressman Mark Foley,Congressman Mike Pappas, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
His media experience also extends intopolitical campaigns where he servedas spokesman and media advisor forseveral local and congressional races.

Sean previously was elected by his peers to serve as the presidentof the Republican CommunicationsAssociation and has taught mediarelations and on camera skills to US and foreign national government andmilitary officials. National Journal named Sean one of the most influen-tial staffers on Capitol Hill in 2003 andhe was profiled in the Almanac of the Unelected in 2006.Sean has been a leadingsource for national and internationalreporters and has worked with and been by quoted by every major newssource in the US. He has appeared onNational Public Radio, AgriTalk,Marketplace Radio, Voice of America,CNBC, Al-Jeezera, Fox Business News, Reuters TV and Bloomberg TV. He has done media events on every continent in the world including Antarctica,China, India, Brazil, Ghana, Geneva and Moscow.Sean, a commissioned officer in the US Navy, also has almost adecade of experience in military pub-lic affairs planning and execution. In 2004, he was elected to represent Virginia in the Electoral College. Sean and his wife Rebecca live in Alexandria, VA. The Neal Asbury Show tackles key trade issues every Thursday from11:00 AM until Noon WZAB-AM 880.The show is streamed live on line at WWW.880THEBIZ.COM, which is affiliat-ed with Bloomberg Radio and CNBC.

        

Appearing on the Neal Asbury Show on WZAB-AM today, United States Trade Representative Ambassador Susan C. Schwab warned listeners that the European Union is aggressively negotiating several free trade agreements that will give Europe a significant competitive advantage over U.S. exporters. The end result of these negotiations and the inability of the Congress to vote on pending trade agreements with Colombia, South Korea and Panama, will be the loss of millions of American jobs.

Described by Asbury as the person who is “tirelessly fighting for market access for American exporters,” Ambassador Schwab recently returned from the Mid-East where she was working to open markets for U.S products and services. She was also addressing other key issues, including intellectual property, government procurement, telecommunications, the environment and labor rights. Ambassador Schwab reminded listeners that in the 14 countries where U.S. exporters enjoy free trade agreements, their revenues are up 40% over countries where the U.S. does not have free trade agreements.

In short, when the U.S. can play on a level playing field, it directly benefits small and medium-sized exporters that make up 97 percent of all U.S. exporters. Part of the discussion centered on the South Korean free trade agreement, where U.S. citrus exporters have paid $250 million in tariffs that could have been eliminated had Congress voted on the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS-FTA). In Colombia, U.S. exporters have paid $1.3 billion in tariffs that could have been eliminated if the U.S. - Colombian Free Trade Agreement had been voted on by Congress.  Ambassador Schwab noted that since more than 90 percent of Colombian products coming into the U.S. are duty free, U.S. exporters should enjoy a reciprocal agreement with Colombia. Ironically, Colombia supports the agreement and is willing to eliminate most tariffs.

Although NAFTA has been under attack since the day it was passed, Ambassador Schwab said that it is short-sighted not to recognize the benefits of NAFTA.  Today, Mexico imports more U.S. products than China and Japan combined.  Canada by a long shot is America’s biggest trade partner.

Ambassador Schwab asked listeners to get more involved in the process and demand that Congress agree to an “up or down” vote on the Colombia, Panama and South Korea trade agreements so that U.S. exporters can save billions of dollars in tariffs and can create millions of U.S. jobs.

The Neal Asbury Show tackles key trade issues every Thursday from 11:00 AM until Noon WZAB-AM 880.  The show is streamed live on line at WWW.880THEBIZ.COM, which is affiliated with Bloomberg Radio and CNBC. 

        

On Thursday, October 30th, United States Trade Representative Ambassador Susan C. Schwab will appear live during The Neal Asbury Show on WZAB-AM 880 between 11:00 A.M. until Noon.  Asbury, the show’s host and Small Business Administration’s United States National Champion Exporter of the Year will be exploring “An Update on the American Trade Agenda” with Ambassador Schwab.

Ambassador Schwab was nominated to be United States Trade Representative (USTR) by President George W. Bush on April 18, 2006, and was confirmed as USTR by the United States Senate on June 8, 2006.  As USTR, Ambassador Schwab is a member of the President's Cabinet and serves as the President’s principal trade advisor, negotiator, and spokesperson on trade issues.  From October 2005 until her confirmation as U. S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Schwab served as Deputy USTR. 

The Office of the USTR is responsible for the development and oversight of U.S. trade policy, including strategy, negotiation, implementation and enforcement of multilateral, regional/bilateral and sector-specific trade agreements.

 “I have long admired Ambassador Schwab’s negotiating skills in addressing important  trade agreements such as the ongoing Doha Development Agenda multilateral trade negotiations, as well as the seventeen Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) to which the United States is currently a party.  During her tenure, Ambassador Schwab successfully concluded bilateral FTAs with Peru, Colombia, Panama and South Korea,” said Neal Asbury, who is president of Greenfield World Trade in Ft Lauderdale, Florida that exports American made products to over 130 countries around the world.  “Her vision on future trade agreements will give listeners a roadmap for the trade issues they should be following as the U.S. seeks to regain its world export leadership,” added Asbury.

Over the past two years Asbury has published over 50 articles on global trade issues, been quoted in The New York Times and has appeared on network television nationally and internationally discussing important trade issues. Asbury’s asburysworld.com blog is quickly becoming a favorite on-line destination for visitors who share his dismay at today’s global business environment for U.S. exporters.  His advocacy has taken him to address the United Nations at the Commission of Trade and Development, Capitol Hill to lobby on behalf of important trade agreements as well as frequent speaking engagement at Universities and Trade Associations. The Neal Asbury Show will be streamed live on line at WWW.880THEBIZ.COM.  WZAB-AM 880 is affiliated with Bloomberg Radio and CNBC and broadcasts live from Coral Gables, Florida.

        

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was enacted January 1st, 1994 between the United States, Canada and Mexico creating the largest free trade zone in the world. It is by far the most important piece of trade legislation ever passed by Congress. It is also the most misunderstood. Traveling to Mexico City prior to NAFTA was a completely different experience than today. The Metropolitan Cathedral and Zocalo (central plaza) built over the ruins of Montezuma’s Aztec Templo Mayor and the grand boulevard of Paseo de la Reforma, its fountains and monuments beautifully colored with a multitude of flowers belied the dull, dismal veracity of one of the largest cities in the world. Despite the grandeur of another era, a sullen emptiness permeated the thin, polluted air.

It was quickly apparent that this was not a city of entrepreneurial energy. It takes only a few short moments when arriving in a country to determine whether it is “open for business.” Mexico was in a thick cocoon, self spun and nearly impregnable. This was a country dominated by an oligarchy left behind by the Spanish, reflecting Spain’s long-held devotion to wealthy officials and connected institutions.

Before NAFTA there were few importers of American products. Most American exporters had more customers in tiny Puerto Rico than Mexico. Mexico proudly posted a “No Entry” sign at the border, imposing import duties exceeding 40% on American products, coupled with endless bureaucracy and barriers. The banking system was rife with cronyism that sufficiently snuffed out any sort of entrepreneurialism. The oligarchy monopolized the financial institutions, essentially freezing out foreign competition. Banks collected deposits to finance and subsidize the projects and investments of their aristocratic owners. They rarely loaned money to those outside the ruling elite.

Ordinary Mexicans trapped in a downward spiral frequently saw their life savings slowly and sometimes rapidly disappear through the devaluation and depreciation of the Mexican Peso. The oligarchy increased their wealth by investing in monopolized industries and foreign assets. The result has always been the same; the rich get richer and the rest die poor.

Each October over the past five years our company hosts a gala dinner for our Mexican customers at the Hacienda de los Morales in Mexico City. The Hacienda de los Morales was part of the original land grant bequest to Hernan Cortez in 1526 by the King of Spain. It was initially intended by the Spanish Conquistadors to be a gargantuan silk worm enterprise to replace trade with volatile China. Silk at the time was one of the worlds most sought after commodities. “Morales” derives its name from the “matas de mora” berry tree that was abundantly planted to nourish silk worms and provide sites for the worms to lay its larvae. Our Mexican clients arrive to the old colonial building impeccably dressed, in good cheer and always respectful. It is an evening of flowing tequila and sangria, great food and bellowing mariachis.

I am gratified to witness how favorably Mexicans respond to doing business with Americans. The rhetoric of our media paints a picture of discord at all levels. This could not be further from the truth. Out of the 130 countries I do business, there is no more enthusiastic reception for our products than Mexico.

Throughout the evening I listen to stories of growth and success… of new and expanding opportunities for American products being sold to every corner of the country.

The best thing, however, is to see young entrepreneurs excited about the future. Each year there are an increasing number of entrepreneurial endeavors being launched and nurtured. This level of activity was impossible before NAFTA. It brings light and hope to all of us.

The benefits of NAFTA have been consolidating. Since 2000 our deficit on manufactured goods and agricultural products with Canada and Mexico (our first and third largest trading partners respectively) has grown just $3.5 billion. Compare this to China over the same period where our deficit has grown $173 billion or fifty times greater on less than half the volume of trade. What the anti-NAFTA advocates have been hiding or are not smart enough to realize is the increase in our NAFTA deficit since 2000 is directly tied to U.S. imports of oil and gas from Canada and Mexico. Canada is our largest supplier of crude oil whereas Mexico is neck-and-neck with Saudi Arabia. Our staggering trade deficit in oil and gas is an energy policy problem, not a free trade problem.

With an open market, playing by established rules, American exporters excel. This is still a fragile process that must be protected. American businesses have provided Mexican entrepreneurs alternatives to the oligarchy and they have responded with overwhelming support for American goods and services. The largest bank and retailer in Mexico today is American owned. American companies play important roles across the Mexican economy. American investment and entrepreneurial zeal has been the genesis of a new Mexican revolution that is creating millions of jobs on both sides of the border.

The Democratic political elite avow they are going to “fix” the evils of NAFTA or “opt out”. Astonishingly this is the same rhetoric the ultra-left wing Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador used when discussing NAFTA during the 2006 Mexican election. He came within a hair of winning. Lopez-Obrador openly campaigned for taking Mexico out of NAFTA and aligning it closer with Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez and other radical leftist Latin American governments. This would have been a disaster for Mexico, the United States and the region.

Now Senator Obama, Democratic members of Congress and their labor union allies are clamoring for the same thing. Do not be fooled. We must all know the truth about NAFTA. Mexico is “Open for Business” with U.S. exporters, and NAFTA is the key to success.

        

Each Thursday from 11:00 A.M. until Noon, global trade and its impact on all aspects of ourlives and economy will be the front-and-center topic during Neal Asbury’s radio talkshow on WZAB-AM 880 The Biz. Asbury, the Small Business Administration’s United States National Champion Exporter of the Year for 2008 is a nationally and internationally rec-ognized expert onfree trade issues. Expectsome strong opinions relating to America’scurrent trade imbalances, mixed with somesound advice to reinvigorate U.S. exports. “Politicians and main stream media are talking about the economy. You know what they’re not talking about? Solutions to America’s staggering and unsustainable trade deficit that would generate millions of American jobs,” said Asbury, who is president of Greenfield World Trade in FtLauderdale, Florida that exports American made products to over 130 countries around the world. “On my show, we’re getting into the economic issues that most people aren’t talking about. I’ll help bring light to the dark side of conversations about exports and trade.” Over the past two years Asbury has published over 50 articles on global trade issues, been quoted in The New York Timesand has appeared on network television nationally and internationally discussing important trade issues. Asbury’s asburysworld.com blog is quickly becoming a favorite on-line destination forvisitors who share his dismay at today’s global business environment for U.S.exporters. His advocacy has taken him to address the United Nations at the Commission of Trade and Development, Capitol Hill to lobby on behalf of important trade agreements as well as frequent speaking engagement at Universities and Trade Associations. The Neal Asbury Show is a production of Atlantic Radio Network (ARN) and will be streamed live on line at WWW.880THEBIZ.COM. WZAB-AM 880 is affiliated with Bloomberg Radio and CNBC and the Neal Asbury Show will broadcastlive from the ARN studios in Coral Gables, Florida."

        

In the old Wild West, the way for the sheriff to keep peace in his town was to pull out his Colt six-shooter.  In today’s Democratic controlled Congress the way to keep peace with constituents is to pull out their ordnance of tax increases to shake down our businesses.  Both of them can inflict great pain.

The U.S. may have a lost a step or two as the world’s leading economic power, but when it comes to taxing our corporations until they flee our shores and taxing the rich until there are rich no more, America is clearly at the front of the line. Consider this. Nearly half of our states when combining federal and state income taxes already lead the world in the highest corporate tax rates of any industrialized country.  If Iowa, Pennsylvania and Minnesota were countries they would be the top three highest taxed in the world. Massachusetts, Alaska and New Jersey would be four, five and six. Twenty-four U.S. states have a combined corporate tax rate higher than top ranked Japan. Thirty-two U.S. states have a combined corporate tax rate higher than third ranked Germany. Forty-Six U.S. states have a combined corporate tax rate higher than fourth ranked Canada.

All fifty U.S. states have a combined corporate tax rate higher than fifth-ranked France. Higher taxes are obviously not the answer. They will only propel jobs and wealth away of America. It does not matter if our taxes were quadrupled; there is not enough money in America to bring redemption to the multitude of social problems inflicting our world. 

The solution is an expanding tax base. If you had to put your finger on the best way to expand America’s tax base, it would start with reversing our trade deficit.  Our trade deficit is once again tracking to exceed $800 billion. It is widely believed that market barriers, manipulations and distortions cost the United States $500 billion annually. I personally believe it is much more. The corporate taxes paid on these lost sales assuming a 12% pre-tax income and a 40% federal and state combined tax rate would be $24 billion per year. That’s just the beginning. Some $500 billion in manufacturing would employ roughly 3,500,000 Americans making on average $30,000 per annum or $100 billion in salaries. If we assume a 35% federal and local personal income tax rate this would generate $35 billion per annum in taxes. Also think of the millions of our citizens that would have healthcare coverage.

In addition there would be roughly $350 billion in material purchases and other operating expenditures from American vendors that pay corporate taxes and employ millions more paying personal income taxes. All of this can be invested in our failing schools, crumbling infrastructure and renewable energy. We would finally be able to do something about poverty alleviation instead of feebly railing against its immorality. So why can’t we reap the dividends of this influx of taxes for the U.S.?  The answer is that many American companies are overtaxed, forcing them to put perceived profits ahead of what is best for America by sending jobs overseas. Enormous profits are being made by foreign manufactures off the U.S. economy as a result of skewed and unjust trade relations that openly discriminate against American companies and workers. These foreign corporations and their employees pay taxes to their home governments providing the vital resources needed to develop their countries.

Meanwhile, American companies employing overseas workers are paying taxes to foreign governments, many of whom are despotic and openly Anti-American.  We are aiding and abetting a despicable crime against every American worker and tax payer. If we are to restore confidence in the U.S. financial structure, it shouldn’t rely on having U.S. taxpayers bail out failed lending institutions. It must start with Congress removing the chains and shackles that bound America’s entrepreneurs by demanding comprehensive trade agreements with all our trading partners and especially China, Japan, India and Brazil. By allowing American companies to fairly compete, we can expand our tax base by putting more American workers to work – tax-paying workers.  Let our exporters generate profits overseas, but with American labor so that the tax base stays here, along with the jobs. We have come a long way from the Wild West, but todays stick ‘em up politicians are not keeping the peace because they are shooting at the wrong targets.

        

        

For two weeks while watching the Olympic Games the world glimpsed into the most polluted country on earth. The athletes competing outdoors were breathing a lethal cocktail of dust, contaminants and poisonous gases that attack the immune system causing respiratory disease, heart failure and cancer. The air in Beijing is so thick with toxic particles and soot emitted from the outdated coal-fired power plants nearby you can taste a searing sensation in the back of your throat.  Don’t be fooled by the temporary improvement in the air quality during the Olympics when virtually all factories were shut down and cars were prohibited near the Olympic venues. The air will return to its pre-Olympic state almost immediately. 

It’s now official; China is the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2). The setting of this world record should be no surprise. The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) recently released its report for 2007 showing China accounted for 24 percent of global CO2 emissions compared with the United States at 21 percent. Carbon dioxide is the main heat-trapping gas produced by human activity that causes global warning. 

It is now predicted by 2030 China’s CO2 emissions will equal the entire world’s carbon dioxide production of today. As if the impending catastrophe gathering in our atmosphere is not terrifying enough, this is only one aspect of the rape of our planet thrust upon us for the purpose of economic competitive advantage. To know the magnitude of environmental disdain gone mad, take a journey with me to China’s neighboring countries. 

It was fascinating to witness the transformation of South Korea leading up to the 1988 Olympics. Overnight Seoul shrugged off its backwater, under-military siege mentality to morph itself into a glamorous city of glass towers, expansive parks and high fashion. The towering buildings of Yoido and Gangnam-ku, Olympic Village and the promenade and beautiful bridges along the Han River are truly remarkable. 

Even the rowdy hot spots of Itaewon were reinvented into a respectable enclave of nightclubs, restaurants and shopping complexes. Itaewon is at the center of Seoul and about a mile outside the American military base, Yongsan, the headquarters for the U.S. military presence in South Korea. During the day international visitors to Seoul would wander the labyrinth of alleyways bargaining for high quality knock-offs of Louis Vuitton, Channel, Gucci and any other luxury brand you can think of. At night it once was a soldier’s paradise of well deserved R&R. 

In keeping with South Korea’s ’88 Olympics induced respectable make-over, the knock-offs were banished underground. The girlie-bars with names like The Cadillac Bar, Love Cupid and The Texas Club all suddenly disappeared in a manner that only a domineering patriarchal government so common in Asia can so effectively pull off.  

Seoul has come so far since the ’88 Olympics despite having the million-man army of North Korea, armed to the teeth and on a hair trigger, just thirty miles from its northern gate. The frequent check points randomly set up along Seoul’s streets and highways manned by South Korea’s military are a distant memory. The high profile presence of the U.S. military in and around Seoul has vanished. It no longer feels like a city under siege as it did just a short time ago.

However Seoul today is a city under vicious attack. China has unleashed upon it a deadly wave of airborne pollutants known as “yellow wind”.  These massive dust storms engulf the region, especially prevalent in the spring. The dust mixes with billions of tons of carbon dioxide and other pollutants that China emits each year into the atmosphere. Most of China’s emissions come from its coal-fired electrical generation plants and furnaces. China brings on line on average one coal-fired power plant every week. It is their stated policy to do so for years to come. These plants are quick and cheap to build. They use antiquated technology developed prior to World War II. These plants have a lifespan of seventy-five years meaning they will be spewing out death and destruction for decades to come. Already China burns more coal than the United States, European Union and Japan combined. 

For many weeks each year Seoul is covered in a yellow toxic haze. School is cancelled and people are told to stay indoors because of a multitude of health risks. Acid rain pours down poisoning lakes, rivers, forests and crops. Yellow wind swallows up the entire Korean peninsula and most of Japan. 

Numerous scientists believe this phenomenon will accelerate and continue to worsen impacting the western United States within a decade. Others suggest the effects of yellow wind can already be detected as far away as Kansas. .  

 The deforestation of China’s north and northwest provinces has created a large, desert wasteland. Decades of timber exploitation, slash and burn farming techniques and population growth has resulted in desiccation or the elimination of water resources as plant life disappears, rainfall shrinks and lakes disappear. More than fifty percent of China’s land is either arid or semi-arid, mostly the result of man-made activities.

Recently I stood on the 23rd floor of a downtown Seoul office building. In the middle of the day I could barely see the silhouettes of buildings nearby. The sun was blotted from the sky. The people outside scurried about with white masks covering their faces as if attacked by biological weapons. A thick grimy dust coated everything. No matter how hard and often you scrub you can never make it go away. Let this be a stark warning to the citizens of San Francisco, Seattle and Portland. 

The ecologically sensitive tropical rain forests of Kalimantan (the Indonesian portion of Borneo) and Sumatra are rapidly disappearing, by no small measure resulting from America’s demand for cheap Chinese furniture. As China has destroyed forever much of its forests, they have turned to Indonesia where corrupt officials are plentiful and ready to plunder its resources for a price. After the forests have been illegally cleared of its valuable timber they are set on fire to make way for sprawling agricultural estates. These fires often burn out of control for weeks until the monsoon rains arrive. A highly toxic, thick black cloud covers the region. More than 150 million people in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and southern Thailand are impacted; the air unfit to breathe leading to long term healthcare problems.  

Borneo is undoubtedly one of the most important habitats of wildlife in the world. It is one of only two places on Earth where orangutans, elephants and rhinoceros can be found. There is believed to be thousands of plant and animal species still undiscovered. It is unthinkable but many of these species will become extinct before we ever knew they existed.  

Since the mid 90’s when China’s economy kicked into high-gear, nearly five million acres per year of Indonesian tropical rain forests have been destroyed for their timber. This is an area about half the size of the Netherlands. As a result pygmy elephants, clouded leopards, gibbons, orangutans, sun bears and rhinoceros are just a few of the species hovering on the edge of extinction.

It would be irresponsible to believe the wanton destruction of China’s environment and the surrounding region is their problem alone. It is sheer idiocy to suggest American trade policies towards China have not contributed to the greatest environmental meltdown in the history of our planet. It is time to fess up. Over thirty percent of Chinese emissions are a direct result of exports for consumption by the United States and the European Union. The destruction of Southeast Asia’s tropical rain forests is rife with our fingerprints. We have been willing participants in these horrific crimes. 

The Kyoto Protocol, the global-warming treaty that excludes and forgives China, is not the answer. China, India and Brazil have no obligations other than to monitor and report omissions. China’s increase in omissions over the next ten years will surpass by five times the decreases the Kyoto Protocol seeks from the industrialized world. To make matters worse India is right behind China in the construction of outdated coal powered plants.

The answer must be enshrined in a comprehensive U.S.-China Free Trade Agreement. Under the present arrangements of our bilateral trade, China can not continue to grow its economy without plunging the world into an environmental abyss. Trade with the United States must be conditioned on environmental protections that are strictly enforced and monitored by American scientists. Our most recent Free Trade Agreements negotiated with Colombia, Korea and Peru include strong language on the environment. We must go much further with China.  No matter what the China pundits and apologists may argue, China will not risk its trade relations with the United States for all the tea in China.

We must convey in the strongest language possible we will no longer be accomplices to these crimes. These are crimes against all humanity. Crimes that is soon to be committed against our own citizens in their yards, streets and playgrounds.

        

        

ROCKING RUSSKIES;
Written by To The Point News

Prepare yourself for this one - maybe with a Stoli martini or two. 

Back in the days of the Soviet Union, the Soviet Red Army had an official choir composed of male soldiers and musicians.  It still exists.  The Red Army Choir performs throughout Russia to this day.

        

        

        

   

Be on the look out in August for my upcoming interview on BBC television. They are coming here to Florida to interview me, where I will talk about the coming U.S. presidential election,  sharing how it will impact trade overseas. Free trade, and the impact it has on U.S. workers, has become a hot-button issue on the presidential campaign trail. America has nothing to fear in the global market. Watch for the interview - I will be posting a link here, as soon as it is available!

Neal Asbury - Greenfield World Trade

neal asbury bbc television free trade overseas trade election 2008 Turbo Tagger

        

If ever you wanted to see the faces of free traders in Washington pulsate like a lava lamp, alternating between purple and red, casually drop the name Lou Dobbs over drinks and hors d'oeuvres.

It is remarkable that these very educated, smartly dressed and well connected folks who have the facts, moral clarity and plain common sense on their side are being crushed so completely in the free-trade debate.

Sadly, they have yet to figure out one simple truth: you must connect your vision with the American people. It is not the message but the messenger that needs to be re-tooled.

Enter Lou Dobbs. He has effectively linked the "evils" of trade to everything wrong with America. For answers on our economic insecurity, family disintegration and crumbling infrastructure, Dobbs simply looks no further than to the container ships clogging our ports or to the tractor trailer trucks heading north in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.

It is as if we are 19th century China and they are loaded with opium sent to weaken us by the foreign devils. He has become a fuddy-duddy populist prankster complete with face-contorting rants lecturing us nightly on a subject he knows frighteningly little about.

I do not see how Lou's pontifications on withdrawing from our trade agreements are going to make us more prosperous, safer or stronger. North Korea withdrew from world trade and now millions of its citizens boil tree bark for their nutritional needs. Even Castro figured out Cuba needed to trade with the outside world to survive. Isolationism in America last reared its ugly head in the 1930's and was fortunately outmaneuvered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Otherwise we would now be dealing with an outside world speaking only German and Japanese.

The latest battleground of America's trade future is Colombia. At a time when we should be investing every ounce of our energy to tear down the barriers to American exports in China, Japan and India, instead we are side tracked on the U.S.-Colombian Free Trade Agreement that should have quickly passed Congress with broad bipartisan support. Any reasonable person in less than seven minutes should understand why this is good for America.

Colombia has enjoyed preferential-trade access to the U.S. market for the past seventeen years as part of the Andean Trade Preferences Act, or ATPA. ATPA was created to provide farmers and workers alternatives to being swallowed up in the omnipresent narco-industry throughout the Andean region.

As a result, 93 percent of Colombian exports arrive in the United States duty-free. Colombia wants the free-trade agreement because it would make this preferential-trade access permanent while solidifying their commitment to democracy and economic freedom. The last time ATPA came before Congress for renewal in June of 2007, it passed with an overwhelming majority of 365 votes.

Now for a poke in your eye. Tariffs ranging from 7 to 80 percent currently apply to U.S. products exported to Colombia, putting American exporters at a significant disadvantage. The U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement would immediately eliminate tariffs on 80 percent of our industrial and consumer products exported to Colombia. Eventually, 100 percent of U.S. exports would enter Colombia's market of 44 million potential customers duty-free.

The U.S.- Colombia Free Trade Agreement levels the playing field by providing much greater benefits to U.S. exporters, which face high tariffs, than it gives to Colombia, whose products already arrive in the United States with very few restrictions. A perfect illustration is the flowers that Colombia exports to the United States are duty-free, whereas the tractors and fertilizers we send to Colombia to help to grow these flowers pay substantial duties.

The loss of jobs that Lou wishes to instill fear against is dark fantasy. The big winner in this agreement and all agreements of this kind is squarely American exporters who will return the favor by hiring more American workers. The irony of Lou's middle class anxiety and loss of manufacturing jobs argument is that we need to immediately insist on more trade agreements and leave alone the ones we are fortunate enough to have.

Since NAFTA was implemented, the U.S. added 30 million new jobs. The problem is not NAFTA; it is that we do not have free-trade agreements with China, Japan, India and others. Lou has used our trade agreements to whip up his populist fervor. He should know the United States is already effectively a duty-free market. The average tariff on products entering the U.S. is less than 3 percent. This is peanuts to pay to participate in the world's most open and lucrative market.

The tragedy for the American middle class is Lou does not understand trade. After all, he has never sold or exported anything in his life. He has never had the responsibility or privilege to represent the American worker overseas, to fight their battles and sell their products. For if he did he would know the world trading system is corrupt and skewed against them. This can only be corrected by the implementation of comprehensive free-trade agreements.

So if our past, present and future trade agreements simply give American exporters access to markets that our trade partners already have, why is Lou winning when such trade agreements help regulate labor rights, defend unions, set safety standards, protect the environment, secure our intellectual property and instill due process?

If the middle class has yet to embrace and fight for these agreements that will provide scores of new jobs while giving up very little in return, part of the blame must go to trade supporters who have been unable to articulate their vision in a passionate and reassuring way.

Most often the spokespeople debating for the free-trade agenda are seen as aloof and out of touch. They come from the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies, Wall Street, and elitist Washington think tanks. Although their intensions are good, they have been easy targets for Lou to discredit because of their ties to corporate motives.

Small and medium-sized companies are the backbone of the American economy and have not been given a voice. They are responsible for over 70 percent of American exports. It will be they that eventually correct our trade deficit through booming exports. It is their voice the American people desperately need to hear.

As an American entrepreneur and exporter, I would welcome the opportunity to set Lou straight - if he had the guts to have me on his show. The first thing I will tell him is to never bet against American ingenuity. You will lose. The second thing I will tell him is to give us more comprehensive trade agreements and we will put to work millions of our citizens.

Then again, the truth is the last thing demagogues want to hear.


Neal Asbury is president of Greenfield World Trade, exporting American-made products to 137 countries worldwide.


lou dobbs colombia free trade andean trade atpa nafta neal asbury Turbo Tagger

        

        

From: Inc.com By: Angus Loten

Free trade has taken a lot of heat since the Democratic presidential primary, when both Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton vilified NAFTA, blaming the 14-year-old trade pact with Canada and Mexico on widespread job losses in the U.S. manufacturing sector. Obama, who has since clinched his party's presidential nomination, has pledged to renegotiate the deal to better protect American workers. That kind of talk makes Neal Asbury wince. Asbury, whose foodservice equipment export firm helped launch China's second McDonald's, has managed global business interests for U.S. manufacturers for over a quarter century. He says what American workers need are more free trade deals, not fewer. The president of Weston, Fla.-based Greenfield Worldtrade, Asbury was recently named Small Business Exporter of the Year by the Small Business Administration. He spoke to Inc.com about NAFTA, Obama's bid for the presidency, and why U.S. small businesses -- and their employees -- have nothing to fear in the global market.       

You've called NAFTA one of the most important international trade agreements of the 20th century. What has it done for American businesses?

Free trade agreements, like NAFTA, work because they bring us much closer to the kind of trade that exists domestically between the 50 states. They are comprehensive and not only deal with eliminating tariffs on manufactured and agricultural products but open up service markets and government procurement.

They regulate labor rights, set safety standards, protect the environment, defend against intellectual piracy, and instill due process. In short, they level the playing field. They must be vigorously pursued. We need more trade agreements like NAFTA.  

What do you make of Barack Obama’s anti-free trade stance during the primaries? How do you expect the issue to play out in the general elections?  

Sen. Obama is pandering to the blue-collar vote in key swing states that have mistakenly placed blame for their economic insecurity on our trade agreements. Ironically, it is because of the lack of trade agreements with our key trading partners such as China, Japan, India, and Brazil that we are not growing our manufacturing sector jobs.

If Sen. Obama was truly concerned for the American worker and their families he would be presenting his vision to make American exporters more competitive. He would be fighting to take down barriers to U.S. exports that stubbornly exist throughout the world. He would be using Free Trade Agreements to improve labor rights, as a catalyst for real poverty alleviation at home and abroad, as an important tool for corruption eradication, as one of the most effective ways to implement meaningful environmental protections. Instead he seems to have given up on American ingenuity and our ability to compete. He does not grasp the power of trade and, unfortunately for all Americans, not likely to change his misguided message throughout the general election.

What do you tell American workers who are worried about losing their jobs to foreign competitors?  

The simple truth is the United States is effectively a duty-free market. The average tariff on products entering the U.S. is less than 3 percent. This is peanuts to pay to participate in the world's most open and lucrative market. Contrary to what some may lead us to believe, the United States has very few protective tariffs on manufactured goods. If we did they would be squarely against World Trade Organization rules.

If we were to turn the clock back to 1994, before NAFTA was implemented, the average cost of our imports from Mexico would increase by a mere 2 percent, whereas American products exported to Mexico would increase by more than 30 percent. This would make absolutely no difference in what we presently import, but it would have a dramatic impact on our exports. Mexico would simply source those products it currently imports from the United States from others, such as the European Union, where Mexico has in place a free trade agreement. As a result, thousands of American well-paying jobs created by our exports would be lost and in return we would not create a single job. We have already lost the jobs we are going to lose. It is now time to bring them back through increased exports that only free trade agreements can achieve.

The big winner in all agreements of this kind is American exporters, who will return the favor by hiring more American workers. Since NAFTA was implemented, the U.S. added 30 million new jobs. The problem is not NAFTA; it is that we do not have free-trade agreements with China, Japan, India, and others that make up most of our suffocating trade deficit...

When Politics and Trade Collide -Read Full Inc.com Interview

Trade Deficit Neal Asbury Exporter of the Year NAFTA Free Trade Agreements  World Trade Organization  Turbo Tagger

        

According to the opening statement of Sun Tzu’s work: “The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road to either safety or ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.”

 

It is no accident Chinese exports vs. imports with the United States are at a ratio of 6:1. China exports six times more to the United States than it imports (image left). Likewise; Japan’s staggering trade surpluses with the United States over the past thirty years is the result of relentless planning and execution by Japan’s omnipresent bureaucracy in close association with its kireitsu (Japanese business conglomerates).

The absence of imported cars on South Korean streets is not because foreign automakers have no interest in the world’s tenth largest market. Until recently, anyone who owned an American car automatically was subjected to an intensive income tax audit as a matter of government policy.

China, Japan and South Korea which account for over 60% of the U.S. merchandise trade deficit, fanatically pursue large, favorable imbalances as spoils of war.  With them come jobs, wealth and strength, the life-blood of a nation.  These surpluses are proof-positive of fulfilling Sun Tzu’s fundamental objective: “To defeat the enemy and become stronger.”

 Before falling into the trap of believing our rhetoric about the righteousness of free trade as if it was one of the Ten Commandments, we must restrain ourselves and repeat three times Sun Tzu’s immortal line: “All warfare is based on deception.”

He goes on to counsel: “Thus I say that victory can be created. For even if the enemy has a larger force, I can prevent him from engaging me.” When Japan swept into dominance in consumer electronics in the 1980’s, the American government acted smug and unalarmed. If Japan was willing to subsidize their exports, American consumers ought to welcome them as gifts. This same shortsighted argument has been dusted off and used today with China. History has shown the “termite strategy” of the Japanese worked brilliantly by decimating then eliminating entire American industries.

The need to win profitably is at the heart of Sun Tzu’s teachings: “Wars should be won with maximum gains and minimum costs.” East Asia has relied on American and European companies to underwrite the huge investments required in research and development. This has saved them billions of dollars which has been channeled into predatory pricing. An extension of this strategy is overt piracy and intellectual property theft that is estimated to cost American manufacturers $100 billion in sales annually equating to 750,000 lost jobs.

Sun Tzu prefers strategies that rarely require all-out war to win. Spies, diplomats, deception and a correctly organized internal structure were his main tools. East Asia goes to great lengths to avoid outright confrontation. Carefully crafted concessions that look impressive but rarely amount to anything are offered up in great deference. Once the threat passes, they go back to quietly conquering while we drift in oblivion.

The United States once upon a time possessed a major weapon to deploy. Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended, is the principal statutory authority under which the United States may impose trade sanctions against foreign countries that maintain barriers, policies and practices that violate, or deny U.S. benefits under trade agreements or restrict, burden or discriminate against U.S. commerce. Super 301 went further and required in 1989 and 1990 the USTR (U.S. Trade Representative) to publicly identify “priority foreign countries” and unfair “priority practices” that were major impediments to U.S. exports. If the offending country was not forthcoming in scrapping their designated barriers, it provided the President authority to retaliate. As a result of Super 301 several quantifiable market opening initiatives with Japan were successful. President Reagan deftly used the threat of Section 301 to revalue the Japanese yen. Immediately after the Plaza Agreement in September of 1985 the yen appreciated against the U.S. dollar by over 50% playing a crucial role in increasing American exports.

Contrast this today with Beijing’s refusal to allow the RMB (Chinese currency), under-valued by 40%, to reflect its true value. The threat of Section 301 has all but disappeared. China has been gifted an important victory without taking the battlefield. They manipulate their currency with impunity gaining an enormous advantage for their exporters. This is a beautiful example of Sun Tzu’s instruction: “To win a hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the hallmark of skill. The acme of skill is to subdue the enemy without even fighting.”

The reason they can get away with this may shock you. We have surrendered our trade sovereignty to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The United States is no longer allowed to directly apply Section 301 to pressure trading partners into eliminating barriers to U.S. exports and other unfair practices. U.S. trade enforcement is now in the hands of the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DS which essentially takes the U.S. government out of deciding its trade interests. This is tantamount to handing over national security to our feeble friends at the United Nations.

Throughout Sun Tzu’s writing he emphasizes the importance of detailed planning. One such example: “With careful and detailed planning, one can win; with careless and less detailed planning, one can not win. How much more certain is defeat if one does not plan at all!" There must be a complete overhaul of the American global trade infrastructure. We are incapable of fighting the war we are in. Article I of the U.S. Constitution grants Congress sole power “to regulate commerce with foreign nations”. The Constitution grants the president no trade specific authority whatsoever. Congress reins supreme on trade unless and until it decides otherwise. Congress is a decentralized institution of 535 individuals, particularly vulnerable to pressure from special interest groups and lobbyists. It is unimaginable any sort of sophisticated trade strategy can be developed while its members pander to their constituents. Congress therefore does what comes naturally once the politics of benefit-seeking spins out of control, it delegates responsibility.

Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) is granted by Congress to the President for the purpose of managing trade and negotiating agreements with foreign countries. This authority is only given for predetermined periods of time. It often lapses for years eliminating the command structure leaving no one in charge.

Sun Tzu is rolling over in his grave: “The enlightened ruler lays his plans well ahead; the good general cultivates his resources.”

We have no ruler. Back at headquarters our generals are off on conflicting missions.

The Secretary of State stresses the importance of trade to alliances; however the State Department is directly responsible for the destruction of numerous American industries bargained away in pursuit of countless foreign policy boondoggles.

The Secretary of Defense is concerned about the transfer of technology for military purposes; unfortunately the Department of Defense often pushes for meaningless trade sanctions on military and non-military goods alike that cost each year America $70 billion in lost sales and 600,000 jobs. European and Japanese manufacturers’ trip over themselves to fulfill orders we foolishly turn away. Sun Tzu has some good advice on the futility of sanctions: “Do not move unless there are definite advantages to be gained… Engage only when it is in the interest of the State. Cease when it is to its detriment.”

The Secretary of Agriculture is sensitive to farm welfare and prices; sadly the Department of Agriculture is responsible for $20 billion of taxpayer money being wasted on agricultural subsidies that prevent far-reaching trade agreements to be concluded, essential to America’s export success.

Sun Tzu is clear an army can not win: “When the general is weak and without authority; when his orders are not clear and distinct.”

Our command crisis is condemned further by the split authority between the USTR and Department of Commerce that provides the USTR responsibility for “policy”, “coordination” and “negotiations” and the Secretary of Commerce “nonagricultural operational trade responsibility.”

Here’s the solution.

We must replace the USTR-Department of Commerce two headed monster with a Department of Global Trade. The Secretary of Commerce will become the Secretary of Global Trade with real power over a portfolio that offers opportunity for important policy leadership, unlike today. He or she must have complete authority over all facets of trade including strategy, negotiations and enforcement. At the same time Congress creates the Department of Global Trade they must make the President’s Trade Promotion Authority permanent. Congress would retain the right to approve trade agreements in a simple up or down vote within 90 days of being submitted for ratification. This would give our trade partners confidence to seriously negotiate knowing special interests will not be able to insert deal altering amendments.

We would never allow our foreign, defense, or monetary policies to be developed in public for the world to see our next move. They are shrouded in secrecy for very good reason. So must the planning and implementation of our trade policy. Let’s listen carefully to Sun Tzu: “O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible; and hence we can hold the enemy’s fate in our hands.”

We must bring back Section 301 and Super 301. The Global Trade secretary must have the weapons he needs to fight and be allowed to deploy them. The economic destiny of America can not be in the hands of foreign bureaucrats at the WTO.

 “If you know the enemy and yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

Sun Tzu understood more than two-thousand-five-hundred years ago defeat was inevitable with an army in disorder. The only question now is, what are we going to do about it?

        

        

By keeping true to our values and simply allowing Americans to compete, the deficit will be reduced significantly and in a short period of time.

However, it will take determined leadership with the courage to fight. Our trade partners will not easily dismantle the barriers and impediments to American exports that are at the heart of their national agendas. 

Time is running out. We must insist on free trade agreements with the countries that cover the bulk of our trade, including Japan, South Korea and, most especially, China.

MODERATOR: I would like to thank our speakers for their passion and patriotism. Let the Great Debate begin in our living rooms, lunchrooms and classrooms across America.  We the people throughout our history have been called upon to take charge of our destiny. Providence has bestowed on ordinary Americans an extraordinary privilege to change things for the better. It is our duty to seize that right.

The Great Debate : America's Global Trade Future was originally published at To The Point News Friday, October 6, 2006.  The article was then adopted as the theme of the 2007 National District Export Council Conference moderated by CNN award winning journalist Gene Randell.  One of three panel discussions covering the dynamics of U.S. trade and what is in store for the American economy in the future "The China Trade Card" included myself, Trevor Houser, Director, China Strategic Advisory, William Zarit, Regional Director, Asia - U.S. Commercial Service and Richard Latham, Managing Director, Asland China Forgings.  View "The China Trade Card" panel discussion videos on YouTube.



Great Debate Global Trade Neal Asbury Greenfield World Trade trade deficit trade relations free trade policies free trade agreements World Trade Organization To The Point News District Export Council China Trade Card Turbo Tagger

        

The United States, European Union and Japan have used farm subsidies to enrich large agricultural concerns in their own countries, but at the expense of small farmers from developing countries such as the Philippines.  You can gain a greater perspective on this issue by accompanying me on a visit to a poor farmer in Batangas, Philippines, about two hundred kilometers south of Manila.

Bong Dumlao and his family live on a mountaintop overlooking the South China Sea where a brisk breeze blows supplying an endless stream of fresh air. The raspy sound of the wind fluttering through the towering crown of a banyan tree and ruffling coconut fawns instills a strange, tenuous serenity. Out in the distance sparsely inhabited islands dot the bright shimmering sea. There is something about the sea and fresh air that makes you sleep so deep even in the humblest of surroundings.

Bong, his wife Clara and three children live in a one room nipa hut, constructed with a bamboo frame held together by a thatched roof and walls made from the dried leaves of the nipa palm which abundantly grows in mangroves. It is finished off with a smooth, slatted bamboo floor. Nipa huts are usually elevated a few feet creating a natural convection that lowers the temperature a few degrees providing the only relief from grueling hot days and humid nights.

To reach Bong’s home I drove my four-wheel-drive SUV several kilometers along gravel and dirt roads until we reached a point where the monsoon rains had caused a massive mudslide that swallowed up the road.  We then walked for more than an hour along a winding dirt path up a steep mountain side. In a small clearing sat Bong’s nipa hut.

There is no running water, electricity or any sort of plumbing. For fresh water they have to walk over a kilometer to a community well. He ekes out a living from a small plot of maize and coffee that he meticulously tends. Everything is done by hand with the assistance of the crudest tools. His farming techniques have not changed for several generations.

Clara is in her early twenty’s though she looks much older. She already has three young children with a forth already protruding from her small frame. There is no form of sex education, contraceptives or family planning practiced throughout the Philippines and much of the developing world. Countries with the highest birth rates are the least able to provide nourishment for their exploding populations.

It is likely the first time Clara conceived she had no idea what was happening to her adolescent body. Clara is barely 4’10” tall. Nutritional deficiency stunts growth. You quickly recognize the impact of hunger in poverty stricken areas.

As is customary, Bong offered us food soon after our arrival with the friendly Filipino greeting “kain na” (let’s eat). The only thing Clara had to prepare was some rice that we flavored with vinegar and fiery hot chili peppers that Bong plucked from a bush nearby. We ate with our hands and drank warm Coca-Cola.

Before we could finish our meal, Bong with his eyes fixed downward, apologized for the few scoops of rice on our plates. On many days Bong’s family would have only one meal and many times that meal would only be rice with perhaps some salt or ground up coffee beans to mix in for flavor.

I have found those trapped in extreme poverty feel compelled to apologize. Although their dignity has been stolen by those much more powerful, they feel deeply ashamed and humiliated. It was agonizing to witness a grown man with the responsibility of a young and growing family asking for my forgiveness.

I could not keep my eyes off his children knowing they had absolutely no possibility to receive their most basic nutritional needs. Forget about access to any sort of healthcare and formal education. To make it to adulthood would already be a major achievement.

Bong and tens of millions of farmers just like him in developing countries have been robbed of their ability to a make a livable income by the governments and powerful agricultural interests of the United States, European Union and Japan. Their shackles can be found in legislation like the 2008 Farm Bill that was recently enacted by Congress. The 2008 Farm Bill over the next five years provides $300 billion of agricultural subsidies and pork barrel projects.

Even President Bush, who has shown a talent for spending taxpayer money, felt obliged to veto the bill as being too much pork and not enough bacon. Not to be spurned, Congress with broad bi-partisan support overwhelming voted to override the President’s veto turning it into law.

It is no wonder. The agricultural lobby spends more than $100 million each year to influence Congress. They got their money’s worth. The 2008 Farm Bill provides $20 billion per year in direct agricultural price subsides. In addition it subsidizes fertilizers, pesticides and freight.

It is a misconception that farm subsidies exist to stabilize the incomes of poor American family farmers who are at the mercy of unpredictable weather and uncontrollable price fluctuations. Eligibility for subsidies has nothing to do with low incomes or poverty reduction but by the crop that is grown. Growers of corn, wheat, cotton, soybeans and rice receive 90 percent of all farm subsidies. Due to how the program is designed and administered most subsidies go to large corporations and wealthy individuals.

The top 10 percent of subsidy recipients receive 75 percent of all federal funds. Fortune 500 recipients include International Paper, Kimberly Clark, Caterpillar, John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance and Chevron. Millionaire celebrity “farmers” receiving millions in subsidies include Bob Dole, Ted Turner and Scottie Pippen. 

This has become the largest corporate welfare program in the history of the United States. These subsidies have accomplished the complete opposite of their intended purpose. Instead of saving the family farmer it has provided capital for large corporations to buy out smaller farms and consolidate the industry with taxpayer money.

Farm subsidies were created by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 to aid farmers barely staying alive during the Great Depression. My father’s family in West Virginia and mother’s family in Kentucky living on small family farms was most grateful in their time of need. It was a noble and necessary cause, however, like many government administered programs, it has become grossly perverted.

We are not the only guilty party. According to the World Bank the industrialized world spends nearly one billion dollars a day of taxpayer money on various types of farm subsidies. The European Union pays out $133 billion annually (France is the main beneficiary).

A European cow receives more in subsidies each year than the three billion people who live on less than two dollars a day. Japan pays out $49 billion and South Korea $20 billion.

Don’t think they will be going away any time soon. The French farmers have incredible power. They can and will close down the French economy if any serious attempt is made to cut supports. Given the word to mobilize, French farmers will have their tractors at the gates of Paris shutting down the city. No politician has the guts to stand up to them.

The Japanese are also not going to budge. Agricultural subsidies underwrite the Japanese political system. They are nothing more than bribes from the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) to its core constituency, the rural communities and farmers, which in turn are funneled back to LDP politicians as contributions and kickbacks. Farm subsidies are the grease that has allowed the LDP to monopolize political power for the past 50 years.

South Korea is one of the heaviest subsidized agricultural markets in the world. Their radical farmers would actively and passionately work to assassinate any South Korean politician that attempts to dismantle agricultural subsidies and tariffs.

American and European farm subsidies allow agribusiness exporters to routinely sell their products between twenty to forty percent below the cost of production. Additionally, excess crops are purchased by the government to keep domestic prices artificially high then dumped on the world market as “food aid”. All of this paid for by the taxpayer at a time when food prices and farm profits are at a record high.

Many developing countries including the Philippines decided it was cheaper to lower import tariffs and purchase subsidized food on the international market than to invest into its farming infrastructure.

However the plan has backfired. Today governments in Asia, Africa and Latin America can not find enough food to feed their people. Since January 2007 food prices have soared by as much as sixty percent sparking riots in more than thirty countries. Thailand, the world’s largest exporter of rice, briefly restricted exports because of shortages at home. Wheat, corn and rice are at all time highs. For developing countries food has become scarce and unaffordable. 

My friend Bong has no way to comprehend what he is up against. He can not compete in his local market against the heavily subsidized producers of America and Europe. He is not able to export because of the extreme tariffs levied on agricultural products by Japan and South Korea.

His own government abandoned him by lowering tariffs and encouraging subsidized imports at the expense of Bong and other family farmers like him.

Due to the large increases in food and energy prices he now has to pay significantly more for less. He and his family are already on the verge of starvation before the unfolding food crisis began. What more can you take away from this family? What more do they have to give?

The road to food security is not through Free Trade as long as the United States, European Union and Japan manipulate and distort the agricultural markets with subsidies, extreme tariffs and import restrictions.

As the old adage goes; “give a man a loaf of bread and you feed him for day, teach him how to farm and you feed him for life.” You also must provide him a market.

Before we ate our meager meal, Bong said the Lord’s Prayer. The right to food is a most fundamental human right that can be found in the Lord’s Prayer. “Give us this day our daily bread” has been recited countless times but for 900 million or nearly fifteen percent of the world’s inhabitants who experience extreme hunger each day, their prayers still have not been answered. 

2008 farm bill poverty farm subsidies agricultural markets basic needs Turbo Tagger    

        

Plenty Can Be Done To Solve America's Trade Vision Deficit Disorder (TVDD)

At a time when our country is fixated on a protracted political process passionately promising to cure all our ills, this would be an excellent time for our presidential candidates to put forward their vision to solve the most critical economic issue of our time, our degenerative trade deficit. Unfortunately they appear to suffer from Trade Vision Deficit Disorder (TVDD), or are simply too busy (I personally subscribe to the former). We must take it upon ourselves to provide the remedy.

Unlike other seemingly impossible challenges we face, our trade deficit is something we can correct in a relatively short period thus creating millions of well-paying jobs. It is as simple as establishing an environment where American exporters are allowed to compete.

1.)  We the people must demand our candidates understand trade, be able to articulate a comprehensive strategy in dealing with our global competitors and have the guts to fight.

Unfortunately this election cycle is a huge disappointment. Barak Obama has cut and pasted the AFL-CIO anti-trade positions to his websites and routinely included their talking points in his speeches.

NAFTA is by far the most beneficial trade legislation Congress has ever passed. Obama is ardently against the Free Trade Agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea already signed but awaiting Congressional approval. 2007 will be known as the year that Democrats lost their way on trade.

Over on the Republican side John McCain rarely mentions trade and when he does his comments are so elementary our competitors from Beijing to Berlin are standing on their seats smugly shouting “four more years." Although he supports free trade, there is no vision, passion or understanding of the issues. It is this sort of knee-jerk reaction that has gotten us into the huge mess we now face.

2.)  We must rid ourselves of trade policy derivations from the Marshall Plan era.

Half century old Marshall Plan export economics has set us on course towards $1 trillion trade deficits stretching as far as one can see.  Ridding ourselves of the Marshall Plan mentality that permeates the mindsets our political and academic elite is an enormous task. We have unilaterally disarmed and unconditionally ceded our once envious export prowess to our competitors and adversaries with devastating effect on millions of our citizens.

3.)  We must make Trade Promotion Authority(TPA) permanent either by a Constitutional Amendment (highly improbable) or an Act of Congress (very achievable).

Article I of the U.S. Constitution grants Congress sole power “to regulate commerce with foreign nations." The Constitution grants the president no trade specific authority whatsoever. There is no sphere of government policy where the primacy of Congress could be clearer. Congress reins supreme on trade unless and until it decides otherwise.

Congress is a decentralized institution, particularly vulnerable to pressure from special interest groups and lobbyists. So it does what comes naturally once the politics of benefit seeking spins out of control, it delegates responsibility. If it did not, the result would be a high level of trade barriers and tariffs (resembling many of our most important trade partners) to the benefit of certain groups and to the detriment of the nation as a whole.

In 1934, Congress began delegating specific trade authority for predetermined periods of time to the president.  Since 1974 Congress has granted every president authority to negotiate trade agreements for Congressional approval on an up or down vote.

In 1994 the president’s Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) lapsed. It was not restored until 2002. It passed Congress by a single vote, 215 to 214. It was the one of the most hotly contested and partisan pieces of trade legislation ever. It expired June 30th, 2007.

With the over-the-top demagoguery that is now commonly practiced in Congress, Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) will not be renewed at the very earliest until the next administration takes office. Having a weak presidency unable to negotiate trade puts us at an overwhelming disadvantage in dealing with our competitors.

4.)  We must insist upon comprehensive Free Trade Agreements(FTA) with our most important trade partners.

China and Japan alone are responsible for over 60% of our merchandise trade deficit. American exporters are also at a tremendous disadvantage in Brazil and India. Our trade deficit will not be reversed until we deal with its root causes.

The global reality is that free trade amongst countries rarely exists. Where free trade does exist is between 50 of the United States-and it has been wildly successful. Free Trade Agreements work because they bring us much closer to the kind of trade that exists amongst the states. They are comprehensive and not only deal with eliminating tariffs on manufactured and agricultural products but open up service markets and government procurement. They regulate labor rights, set safety standards, protect the environment, defend against intellectual piracy and instill due process. In short, they level the playing field.  They must be pursued vigorously and immediately.

90% of our trade deficit is from countries with which we do not have Free Trade Agreements. The average duty on products entering the United States is less than 3%, whereas the average duty imposed by a World Trade Organization (WTO) member is 30%. We do not need WTO, but we do need more Free Trade Agreements.

5.)  Create the Department of Global Trade.

Our command structure is a convoluted mess due to the split authority between the USTR (United States Trade Representative) and Department of Commerce. This split provides the USTR responsibility for “policy," “coordination” and “negotiations” while providing the Secretary of Commerce “nonagricultural operational trade responsibility."

We must replace the USTR-Department of Commerce two headed monster with a Department of Global Trade. The Secretary of Commerce would become the Secretary of Global Trade possessing real power over a portfolio that offers opportunity for important policy leadership. Unlike today, the Secretary of Commerce would have complete authority over all facets of trade including strategy, negotiations and enforcement.

6.)  Forget about trade sanctions.

Our sanctions only hurt American manufacturers and workers while denying our adversaries nothing. We have eager European and Asian competitors tripping over themselves to fill every purchase order and contract from which we walk away. 

In the past fifty years the United States has gone “nuts” over sanctions.  We have sanctioned more than 80 countries over 175 times. If we include “soft” sanctions such as denying export financing through the EXIM Bank the number would be much higher. Our sanctions threaten two thirds of the world’s population. Over half of the sanctions established in our country’s 231 year history have occurred in the last ten years.

Of course all good people support human rights and don’t want the “bad guys” to get dangerous weapons. However our sanctions are totally out of control. They have robbed the jobs (and lowered the wages) of hundreds of thousands of Americans without having any impact on the targeted countries. If they are to be used, sanctions should be targeted against weapons programs and little else.

Why do we continue down a road of such arrogance and assured failure? Too often we fail to realize that our power has some very real limitations. A better solution is to let Americans freely export thereby traveling abroad taking with them our values, culture and ideas. By allowing Americans to engage with the world, the only losers would be tyranny, poverty and ignorance.

The next time we hear a member of Congress throwing a temper tantrum about some evil in the world let us make sure that we get one simple truth right: that it will be the American worker who pays the price for sanctions. Unless sanctions are airtight and multilateral they have absolutely no chance to succeed.

7.)  Get tough on Intellectual Property Protection and Counterfeit Goods.

Counterfeit products produced and sold freely at markets in China and exported around the world cost Americans an estimated 750,000 jobs a year and American businesses $250 Billion. The bulk of the world’s pirated material comes from China. If China, for whatever reason, can not close this down, then the Chinese Government must make restitution to US companies and workers being cheated because of their ineptness to govern. We must declare war on Intellectual Property theft and provide the resources to fight it.

8.)  We must radically rethink our involvement with the World Trade Organization (WTO).

It is time to stop wasting energy, resources and goodwill to conclude the multilateral Doha Round of the World Trade Organization negotiations which are doomed to failure. The WTO talks are at an impossible impasse over the EU (held hostage by France) and Japan’s inability to give up the “opiate” of agriculture subsidies and a block led by Brazil and India unwilling to agree on meaningful Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection.

It is much more practical and rewarding to negotiate with one trade partner at a time instead of the 149 members of WTO all at once, each having veto power. Groups are often formed to thwart American initiatives. The WTO has reached the critical mass to be self sustaining and will not be going away. However there is very little reason to believe it will ever be much more than it is today. The WTO is the trade equivalent to the United Nations.

9.)  Take Back Our Trade Sovereignty.

Once upon a time the United States possessed a feared and effective weapon. Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended, is the principal statutory authority under which the United States may impose trade sanctions against foreign countries that “maintain barriers, policies and practices that violate, or deny U.S. benefits under trade agreements or restrict, burden or discriminate against U.S. commerce”. 

Today, in contrast, the threat of Section 301 has all but disappeared.  We have surrendered our trade sovereignty to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The United States is no longer allowed to directly apply Section 301 to pressure trading partners into eliminating barriers to U.S. exports and other unfair practices. U.S. trade enforcement is now in the hands of the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DS which essentially takes the U.S. government out of deciding its trade interests. This is tantamount to handing over national security to our feeble friends at the United Nations.

10.)  Get Rid of Agricultural Subsidies.

The true cost of farm subsidies that our tax dollars are supporting should cause outrage among the American people.  The negative impact that our farm subsidies have abroad can not be understated. They clearly distort world trade, deepen poverty and undermine our credibility.

American agribusiness exporters routinely sell their products below the cost of production with the American taxpayer making up the difference. It is impressive to witness at foreign trade shows, the pervasive presence of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and American food companies exhibiting their products under its banner. Many of the products being sold are costing the American taxpayer every time an order is placed. The companies benefiting from these subsidized transactions are some of the biggest corporations in the United States.

It is a misconception that farm subsidies exist to stabilize the incomes of poor family farmers who are at the mercy of unpredictable weather and uncontrollable price fluctuations.  Eligibility for subsidies has nothing to do with low incomes or poverty alleviation, but by the crop that is grown. Growers of corn, cotton, rice, soybeans and wheat receive 90% of all farm subsidies. Most subsidies go to large corporate farms simply because of how the program is designed and administered.

There is an undeniable “plantation effect” happening in the United States. The number of farm operators is rapidly shrinking while the average size of a farm is greatly increasing. These mega-farms employ thousands of migrant workers and tenant farmers that are being paid near poverty wages with limited access to healthcare.

President Franklin Roosevelt created farm subsidies to aid farmers barely staying alive during the Great Depression. This was a necessary and noble cause, however like many government administered programs, it has become perverted. The intension was never to be paying millions of dollars to millionaires.

Unfortunately the present farm bill is only accelerating the transformation of farm subsidies into corporate welfare programs with most of the funds going to highly profitable corporations and celebrity millionaire farmers. The family farmer is rapidly becoming extinct while the American taxpayer continues to be fleeced like an apathetic lamb. 

To illustrate the impact this has overseas, consider the following. Subsidized U.S. food products being imported to Jamaica are cheaper than homegrown Jamaican crops. This makes it impossible for the dirt-poor farmers to survive. If they are not competitive in their own market, there is no way they can hope to export. Gripping poverty has a firm headlock on them thanks to farm subsidies.

With the U.S. Government guaranteeing American farmers a minimum payment for commodities such as corn, rice, soybeans and sugar, it encourages over production in the U.S.  This drives down market prices forcing even higher subsidies paid by taxpayer money and creating surpluses that are dumped around the world and make it impossible for local farmers to compete in their home markets.

11.)  Fairly distribute U.S. government supports recognizing the contributions of manufactured goods to our economy and security.

Whatever funding the American government does provide to promote exports goes to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA gets approximately seven times more funding to promote agricultural exports which represent just 9% of our overall exports than the Department of Commerce (DOC) receives to promote the other 91%. To add further to this absurdity, much of our agricultural exports are subsidized by U.S. tax payers and sold below the cost of production.

By logging onto FASonline , you can view the many taxpayer funded programs offered by the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). Although the exact amount is buried deep inside the USDA budget, FAS receives millions of dollars. The DOC equivalent, Market Development Cooperator Program (MPDC) has zero funding and is provided no assistance from the U.S. government whatsoever.

12.)  The United States is the only industrialized country that taxes its citizens based on nationality rather than their residence.

This means our European and Japanese competitors do not pay income taxes to their home countries while working overseas. This is a significant incentive for them to relocate overseas to assist their producers in penetrating foreign markets.

I have witnessed the tremendous benefit ex-pat communities bring their home country manufacturers. America must provide income tax incentives, like our competitors, to those willing to be the front line soldiers of American exports. The present Foreign Earned Income Exclusion that Americans overseas are subject to is insufficient and outdated.

13.)  The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is a silly, archaic law that is a real impediment for American companies competing overseas.

It is a law that our European and Japanese competitors do not have to contend with. FCPA, enacted by Congress in 1977, makes it illegal for U.S. companies to pay fees to foreign government officials in order to obtain business or gain some advantage.

The trigger for FCPA was the Lockheed Scandal whereby the American aircraft manufacturer paid various Japanese government officials in the course of trying to sell its aircraft. Some of these funds found their way to then Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and eventually forced him to resign from office.

Though I don’t subscribe to paying bribes to foreign government officials, this is a law we do not need. It should be up to U.S. companies overseas, fighting for American exports, to police themselves. Something as simple as paying a “facilitation fee” to a foreign customs officer holding goods hostage desperately required to complete a contract, is against U.S. law.

We must always remember in most other countries there is a way to compete and survive in many countries that is very different from the U.S. Do we want our exporters to bring home business that American workers desperately need and at the same time become criminals in American courts?

14.)  Our U.S. Export Assistance Centers(USEAC) throughout the United States and our Foreign Commercial Services Offices at our Embassies overseas must be provided resources needed to promote and defend our exporters.

We must continue to invest in and build further our infrastructure that promotes American exports. America’s back bone has always been its small businesses and entrepreneurs. The world is a big and daunting place. The U.S. Export Assistance Centers and the Commercial Sections of our Embassies overseas are an important resource in helping American exporters reach potential customers in every where.

Our competitors have armies of lawyers and trade specialists working feverishly to clear away barriers targeted against their exports. The U.S. Department of Commerce who is responsible for enforcing our trade agreements and promoting American exports is woefully understaffed. Gross violations impacting thousands of jobs go unchallenged allowing foreign governments to trample American interests with not even the slightest resistance.

Quality trade education must be made available that is predictable, affordable and convenient. A glowing example of the U.S. Government and the private sector working together for the good of the nation is the Florida District Export Council’s Export University program. Hundreds of students have passed through its courses. It is a program that must be rolled out nationally.

15.)  The EXIM Bank and SBA (Small Business Administration) are valuable tools and must be expanded upon.

Over 70% of American exports are done by SME’s (Small and Medium Enterprises). They are therefore essential to solving the trade deficit.

Product financing is a major component of any purchasing decision. Our European and Japanese competitors are notorious for offering soft payment terms subsidized by their home governments. This many times makes the difference in winning large export orders that employ thousands of workers.

Each $1 that American taxpayers have invested in the SBA’s export finance program has yielded over $500 in export sales. This is probably the single most successful export promotion program, dollar for dollar, in the entire U.S. government.

The EXIM Bank and SBA programs need to be made more accessible with increased barrowing limits and less restrictions. These programs are the life-blood of American exporters.

16.)  Rewrite the tax code so it does not discriminate against U.S. manufacturers and exporters.

Our manufacturers pay a disproportionate share of taxes that fund our schools, support our defense and build our roads. We must rid ourselves of an archaic and convoluted income tax system and move to a simple consumption tax that spreads the burden equally over American made and imported goods. Like our competitors, we must provide tax incentives and rebates to our exporters.

Fifty years of successive Republican and Democratic administrations without a comprehensive trade vision has resulted in an infrastructure that is unable to compete globally.

This is not the time to point fingers or play partisan politics. It is time for Americans of all stripes to come together.

It starts with a vision.

lockheed scandal US export assistance foreign corrupt practices trade deficit NAFTA
trade promotion authority free trade agreements world trade organization exim bank Turbo Tagger

        

Oil Will Be the Defining Issue for United States/China Relations

For several years before Deng Xiaoping initiated China’s economic reforms in 1982, one of the few opportunities to experience The Peoples Republic of China was to climb a ridge in Hong Kong’s New Territories. As I made my way up the rocky slope I could feel the steady crescendo of my heart anxiously pounding at my rib cage.  Peering through the trees into the valley below I could see border sentries of the Peoples Army wearing drab olive green uniforms and caps with big red stars. Flapping in the wind was the Communist Chinese flag.  In the distance peasants dressed in baggy black pants and large straw hats toiled in neatly embanked rice paddies as water buffalo pulling their ploughs slogged through thick clay- like mud. It was like standing at the edge of the earth.

In Shanghai at the time, the tallest building was a hotel constructed in 1929, twenty years prior to communist rule. Standing on the Bund and looking across the Huangpu River towards Pudong there was no illumination. What I remember most were the tens of thousands of bicycles, each rider with the same humdrum expression. It was as if no emotion was worth the effort to exercise the muscles in one’s face. Everyone wore the same blue Mao-suit. There were no colors anywhere.  The very few cars I encountered were the exclusive realm of communist party officials and their guests. It is hard to believe but this was only twenty-five short years ago.

The difference between China then and now is something out of a sci-fi movie. Standing today on the Bund and looking across the Huangpu River I am awed by the towering skyscrapers of Pudong.

It is as if Manhattan was built in a decade. The bicycles are gone; replaced by cars and black-smoke belching buses and trucks, trapped in massive gridlock.

My first journey between Hong Kong and Guangzhou in 1984 was ninety miles of picturesque rice paddies and small villages frozen in time. The peasants I saw then were living their lives much the same as they had for centuries before. 

Today this corridor is one of the most highly congested and polluted industrial sprawls in the world with a never ending parade of tractor-trailer trucks pulling shipping containers; each doing their part in China’s export-centric economy.

For the past two decades China’s communist leadership has pursued an uncompromising policy of export dominance while systematically distorting and manipulating the world trading system for their benefit. As a result, millions of poverty stricken urban dwellers and rural peasants have been absorbed into the workforce. The creation of these jobs has meant relative social stability throughout China which is essential to continued communist rule.

However, this is getting more and more difficult to sustain. There is a broad coalition around the world demanding China’s currency, the Renminbi (RM, reflect its true value.  Many believe it is undervalued by as much as 30% thus creating an unfair advantage for Chinese exporters. Over the past three years the RMB has appreciated 16% due to intense pressure from China’s trading partners. It will continue to gradually appreciate eroding Chinese competitiveness.

The elimination of Chinese export tax rebates (which are against WTO rules) have accelerated. These rebates allow Chinese manufacturers to sell at or below cost and still show a profit through their unconventional accounting practices. At the same time, as the export tax rebates end, thousands of Chinese manufacturers are destined to close.

Labor costs, energy costs, and operating costs have dramatically risen especially in the coastal cities that have benefited most from the high economic growth rates of the past twenty years. Over the last six months I have seen several China-based manufacturers tack on large price increases citing rapid cost increases, the elimination of the export tax rebates and the appreciation of the RMB.  I am hearing a growing chorus of manufacturers saying it is time to look towards Vietnam and India instead of China, which is becoming too expensive.

China’s communist leadership, fearing its export competitiveness has begun slipping away, has quietly initiated a radical change of strategy that has huge implications for us all. To survive it must continue to absorb its never-ending, restive workforce. To do so their emphasis must shift from export dominance to creating domestic demand. Yet, increased domestic consumption does not mean more imports. 

I must caution American exporters to contain their excitement.  China will continue to impede United States exports with insuperable barriers.  At the top of this list are their baffling product approvals and investment laws.

The rapid emergence of a Chinese consumer class is the only way to save communism in China. How ironic. churning out these goods in Chinese factories, creating Chinese employment and keeping the appearance of economic prosperity is the new priority for big-brother in Beijing. Automobiles, appliances, electronics and anything else you can think of that have been out of reach for the vast majority of Chinese citizens must be made more accessible.

As a result, China’s demand for oil is going to explode. Everything the Chinese consumer will be buying for the first time is either made from oil, energized by oil, or both.  Yet, China has very limited oil reserves and must import most of its demand.

The United States and China compete on many levels; however our competition for oil will be the defining issue in our relation for years to come.

China’s need to obtain oil is essential for maintaining stability at home. China will coddle our sworn enemies including Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran. To get their oil China will offer arms and military support.

The Spratly Islands are a group of 100 coral reefs, islets, and islands in the middle of the South China Sea. They are claimed by China, Taiwan, The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. The Spratly’s are believed to have 17.7 billion tons of oil and natural gas reserves which surpass Kuwait’s 13 billion tons. This potentially makes the Spratly’s the fourth largest reserve bed in the world. China’s thirst for oil could very well lead to an attempt to enforce its claim on the Spratly Islands which the United States does not recognize. This could quickly escalate to a full scale confrontation. We do not have to go back far to understand the implications of oil in Asian-American diplomacy. In 1932 Japan colonized Manchuria in northern China and created the puppet state of Manchukuo. From here in 1937 Japan unleashed its all-out war on China beginning with its brutal Rape of Nanking. Japan for decades had sought to politically and military dominate China and control its vast human and raw material resources.

Japan like China has no oil reserves. Its oil prior to World War Two came from Alaska. President Roosevelt placed an oil embargo on Japan in July, 1941 to be lifted only after Japan agreed to get out of China. Without Alaskan oil Japan could no longer execute its war on China. They had a big decision to make. To kowtow to the American President, lose face and give up its dream of colonizing Asia under its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere or make a mad dash for the Dutch East Indies oil fields in what is today Indonesia.

They chose the latter and the rest is history.

The increasing demand for imported oil in China over the next ten years is going to make today’s China seem like the surrealistic bicycles I encountered twenty-five years ago. China’s seemingly benevolence of the past must give way to the oil confrontations of the future.

We must demand from our government a comprehensive energy policy that has at its core American controlled solutions. The cost of a barrel of oil has no ceiling, so we are forced to compete with China for world oil reserves controlled by some of the most despotic regimes on the planet. Unless we act decisively there is no reason why gas will not hit $10 a gallon. After all today it is $15 a gallon in Denmark.

We must immediately start drilling on the continental shelf, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and and other federal lands. We must launch an affordable alternative fuel program with man-on-the-moon determination. This is truly the best way to give America the edge over China in controlling our dependence on oil, and setting our own oil prices without doing business with despotic governments.

There is no rational reason why we, with the third largest oil and gas reserves in the world according to the Interior Department, can't produce enough oil and gas to prevent the Chinese from escalating world energy prices.

As Newt Gingrich says, "Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less." If we do, we'll be paying a lot less to the Chinese
as well..   The stakes could not be higher.

Update:  A reader sent in a link to an alternative fuel source video clip originally aired on FOX News well worth watching
(has over 1,500 comments 7/08).  Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment here.

Neal Asbury

spratly islands south china sea ANWR Neal Asbury Turbo Tagger

        

The River’s Edge

Upon arriving in Jakarta for the first time nearly twenty-eight years ago, I hurriedly checked into one of the city’s most luxurious hotels and headed straight to the concierge to inquire where I could see a live performance of Gamelan. A puzzled attendant looked at me for a moment to ensure he heard correctly, then lit up with a contagious smile. He took out a Bahasa-Indonesia language newspaper and approvingly informed me that there was a performance that evening not far away. He warned me it was in a part of town not frequented by foreigners. His voice modulated to seriousness when he strongly suggested I take a hotel car and have the driver wait for me until the performance ended. This was not somewhere I should be strolling around alone.

Gamelan is an Indonesian music tradition dating back to the 12th century. It is performed by an ensemble kneeling on stage wearing colorful batiks and typically featuring a variety of instruments such as xylophones, drums and gongs.

The driving rhythms and intense clashing sounds are punctuated by long climaxing crescendos. Their instruments are tuned to unique scales making their melodies unpredictable and strangely pleasing.

When I walked into the decaying theater I was taken aback by its bare décor and simple surroundings. Small folding chairs were jammed together in neat rows.

The only relief to the stifling heat and humidity were large rickety ceiling fans that churned above. The pungent smell of burning Kretek cigarettes made from clove leaves thickened the air.

I was watching everyone watch me as I located my seat. I quickly realized I was the only Caucasian in the theater. If only for a brief moment, Gamelan is a rare opportunity for Indonesia’s pitiless poor to escape their gripping poverty. As the performers took the stage I could see in the eyes of those in the audience a blank look of submission to their impoverished fate. It left a permanent mark on my conscience. 

The following morning while standing on the balcony of my 17th floor room my mind was wildly overwhelmed by the images from the night before. I was fixated on a sea of orange clay roofs stretching several blocks. These roofs covered shacks with dirt floors and no running water. A putrid brown river swerved through the kampong (shanty-town). I could see bubbles frothing on the surface as the garbage below decayed. Skimpily dressed children waded in and splashed each other. At times they would fall and disappear underneath the brown murkiness then quickly reappear laughing uncontrollably.

Mothers crouching over tin basins washed clothes while others built small fires from dried wood to cook their evening meals in stock pots filled with water from the river. This open cesspool was both life and death.

Watching this was too much to bear. I wanted to run down to the river’s edge and shake those mothers until they realized the poison they were ingesting into their children by swimming, washing and cooking in the diseased water was killing them. I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs for them to stop everything they were doing. Surely they must know the high infant mortality and other sicknesses that relentlessly plagued their families were directly related to their daily routines.

As I drove around the Indonesian cities of Jakarta, Surabaya and Medan I was stunned by the vastness of poverty. It was everywhere. Scenes at the diseased river were repeated over and over and over again. But it was not just in Indonesia that I confronted this; but the Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Africa and Latin America.  Everywhere I traveled I was haunted by grinding, halting, hideous poverty.

A few years later I moved into a highly secure compound in Manila. A number of prominent Philippine political figures including President Estrada were my neighbors. Our “village” was surrounded by high concrete block walls with charred glass cemented into the top. Should any poor fool try to make it over they would slash themselves and perhaps bleed to death. If somehow they managed to get to the other side they would have to contend with our guards carrying Uzi machine guns and 12 gauge double barrel sawed off shotguns. This was a crazy time of almost daily kidnappings and “sparrow units” sent by the Communist New People’s Army to assassinate Americans. Our guards were to shoot first and ask questions later.

A large shanty-town sprang up just outside our walls that was home to countless nameless, faceless people. Anything and everything imaginable was used to construct their shacks including cardboard, shipping crates and rusted out galvanized sheets. We lived less than a hundred feet away but I never knew their names or even recognized their faces.

I first arrived in Southeast Asia as a young American entrepreneur full of big ideas to save the world. I often thought it was my life’s mission to save the poor; one-by-one if I had to.  It took a while for the enormity of the situation to finally sink in. After living with and seeing it everyday callousness develops, making you sufficiently numb. Instead of caring you gaze over their heads and avoid them. This process makes us all less human.

It soon becomes clear that all men are not created equal. More than 2.7 billion of the world’s current inhabitants or nearly sixty percent will die in complete misery having never had a chance for any other existence.

Poverty is much worse than having no food or medicine or clean water. It goes well beyond having no shelter, education or access to healthcare. Poverty is living in a continuous state-of-abuse from the time you are born to the time that you die.

If these poor children are not killed by the diseased waters they play in and drink, they often fall victim to child abuse both physical and sexual that is passed on from one generation to another. Maybe due to their demented state-of-mind brought on by their hopelessness and despair, parents take out their anger on those most unable to defend themselves.

Daughters at young ages become the family breadwinners. Having an attractive daughter is a blessing as they can be sent to work in night clubs, hostess bars and massage parlors, selling themselves so their families can eat and their male siblings go to school. Their innocence and childhood is ravished and robbed by those who were supposed to protect them. You can’t help but be stunned by the number of parents that prostitute their young children for a few dollars to the American and European pedophiles that frequent the city.

Sons, if they are lucky, are sent away to the Arabian Peninsula to become “contract workers” where they are treated like slave labor. There is no way out.

Over time I came to understand the hopeless plight of those trapped in poverty. The more successful I became as an American exporter, the more I had to deal with corruption. Just as poverty is omnipresent; dark, deceitful corruption is lurking around every corner. To repeatedly stare corruption in the eye will change you forever.

The countless millions of mothers I have seen on the rivers edge have no chance for a better life.  The resources needed to provide clean water, sewerage, healthcare, education and nutrition are being sucked out of the economy through the enormous cost of corruption.

Poverty and corruption are one in the same. It is hard to comprehend the extent to which poverty is so devastating to the human condition and spirit unless you have lived with it. The World Bank believes corruption costs the global economy over $1 trillion per year. Imagine what that would do to alleviate poverty?

Sadly the wails of mothers that  have lost their infant children to disease because they lack the most basic services  do not reach the ears of those in Merdeka Palace in Jakarta or Malacanang Palace in Manila; or all the other presidential palaces in poverty stricken nations. I have met many government and military leaders of developing nations who give lip service to poverty alleviation but adamantly embrace its root cause: corruption. The culture of corruption runs deep. It is expected by family, friends and colleagues when attaining a position of authority that you maximize the financial gain it brings.

This brings me to the reason I dedicate my time to write about trade. As a young American idealist I could do nothing to improve the situation of those that need our help most. I could only observe and participate in the system that perpetuates the status-quo.

The only way that we as Americans can help bring about meaningful poverty alleviation is through the enactment of Free Trade Agreements that have at their core enforceable measures that deal head-on with corruption. Our trade agreements already have clauses dealing with legal issues such as due process, environmental protections and labor rights.

It is only logical we go one step further and make it integral to our trade agreements corruption eradication. Foreign government, military and business leaders will not do it by themselves. They are numb to poverty just like I became. They have huge financial interests to keep things just as they are.

However there are still many good-intentioned civil servants who would mandate real change if their trade relation with the United States were at risk. It would take a bold action by the United States to alleviate the situation, creating a boon to all good people everywhere.

This means we must vigorously pursue more Free Trade Agreements, especially with countries that have high poverty rates. Remember the United States has already essentially given duty-free access to our market as our average tariff is less than three percent.

This is peanuts to pay to participate in the world’s most prosperous market. We give away nothing and gain something of immeasurable worth; meaningful poverty alleviation.

We hear all sorts of poverty alleviation rhetoric accompanied by no realistic plan. Well here it is, staring us right in the face. And the good thing is, it costs us nothing but our desire to stand-up for the mothers and children on the rivers edge.

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BY JULIE LEVIN

Special to The Miami Herald (Excerpt)

Now that he has been named the Small Business Association's National Champion Exporter of the Year, Neal Asbury can also claim two other firsts.

Not only is his company, Greenfield World Trade, the first in the state to win the prestigious award, it is also the first time a food service equipment company has been given the honor.

''It's something that will distinguish our company for years to come,'' said Asbury, 50.

''It's not just selling the product but working passionately to try to improve America's position internationally as a country, trying to educate our citizens how better to trade and export so we can start to deal with this trade deficit we have,'' he said.

Locally, he serves as chairman of the South Florida Chapter of the District Export Council and helped create the U.S. Department of Commerce's Export University program.  ''We are in one of the greatest trading cities in the world,'' said Asbury, who also got to visit the White House as part of the honor.
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Special thank you to the writer, Julie Levin and The Miami Herald for running the story.

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On my next appearance on The Rich Roffman Show  I will be talking about the true meaning and significance of trade agreements: 
poverty, corruption, environmental concerns and labor laws (child labor laws as one example) and a better way of life for all involved. 

The question is:  "Why doesn't this message get across to the average guy??"

This could be a good discussion with "real time" answers and examples.

Please feel free to ask your questions or share your comments below.


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successful exporter SBA champion exporter neal asbury Turbo Tagger