Sanders hit Greeny hard at H-H, but didnt use my info
/ jim
Representative Bernie Sanders, Independent from Vermont,
questions Greenspan at the recent H-H hearing :
"Wal-Mart has replaced General Motors as the largest
employer in America with over 1 million employees where,
instead of earning a middle-class wage, workers earn
starvation wages of $13,861 a year - a salary that is below
the poverty line. Meanwhile, 4 out of the top ten richest
people in America are relatives of Sam Walton, Wal-Mart's
founder, and are worth over $100 billion. Thanks to the
Bush tax cuts which you supported, the Walton family will
have their taxes reduced by more than $145 million.
"Last year, you suggested to this Committee that
manufacturing jobs in this country don't 'matter.' You
said, 'Is it important for an economy to have
manufacturing? There is a big dispute on this issue... If
there is no concern about access to foreign producers of
manufactured goods, then I think you can argue it does not
really matter whether or not you produce them or not.' In
other words, if we can buy goods from China where workers
are paid slave wages to produce the same products that
Americans manufacture at $20 an hour, it does not matter.
To hell with the American worker. To hell with the middle
class. If companies can hire workers in China for pennies
an hour, we don't need a middle-class manufacturing sector.
Let them work at Wal-Mart for poverty wages and no
benefits.
"Chairman Greenspan, since you made those comments in July
of 2003, America has lost another 146,000 manufacturing
jobs. It seems to me that you have the same contempt for
the American manufacturing worker as Jeffrey Immelt, the
CEO of General Electric, who said, 'When I'm talking to GE
managers, I talk China, China, China, China, China. You
need to be there. You need to change the way people talk
about it and how they get there. I'm a nut on
China... .Outsourcing from China is going to grow to $5
billion. Every discussion today has to center on China. The
cost basis is extremely attractive.'
"Supporters of unfettered free trade, like yourself, have
told us, don't worry about the loss of manufacturing jobs.
Those jobs will be replaced with high-skilled information
technology jobs that pay better salaries, and the displaced
workers just need to be re-trained. Wrong again, Mr.
Greenspan. Over the past 3 years, we have lost over 540,000
information technology jobs as companies are shipping those
jobs to low-wage countries like India and China. And,
according to a recent study by the Haas School of Business,
14 million white-collar service jobs, representing 11
percent of the total U.S. workforce, are in danger of being
outsourced overseas. U.S. workers who have been outsourced
are not moving into better-paying jobs. In fact, industries
that are creating jobs in the U.S. are paying salaries that
are 21% less than industries that are downsizing and wages
for all middle and lower income workers have gone down.
But, just yesterday, according to the Seattle Times, the
Bush Administration believes that 'The movement of American
factory jobs and white-collar work to other countries is
part of a positive transformation that will enrich the U.S.
economy.' And, according to Bush's chief economic adviser
N. Gregory Mankiw, 'Outsourcing is just a new way of doing
international trade. More things are tradable than were
tradable in the past. And that's a good thing.'
"Chairman Greenspan, my question to you is this: do you
agree with President Bush and the Chairman of the Council
of Economic Advisors that it is a good thing for the U.S.
economy to outsource American manufacturing and white-
collar jobs overseas?
"Chairman Greenspan, as more and more Americans are working
longer hours for lower wages, are losing their jobs to
cheap foreign labor, and exhausting their unemployment
benefits, they are increasingly using their credit cards to
pay the bills and put food on the table. This has led to a
record-breaking $2 trillion consumer debt which has more
than doubled in less than a decade, and a record-breaking
1.6 million bankruptcies, an increase of 125% since 1989.
Even though the Federal Reserve has lowered the Federal
Funds Rate to a mere 1 percent, the Prime Rate is the
lowest level since 1958, and mortgage rates reached a 45-
year low last year, average credit card interest rates have
gone up since 2001 to 16.4%. In fact, at the same time the
Federal Reserve was lowering the Federal Funds Rate, credit
card issuers were increasing their average interest rates,
resulting in obscene profits. The spread between the
average credit card interest rate and the prime rate is now
at its highest level in nearly 20 years.
"Chairman Greenspan, you recently made the argument that
because interest rates are low, the record-breaking $2
trillion consumer debt 'is not a significant cause of
concern.' But, since the average credit card interest rate
is above 16% with some consumers paying in excess of 25%
interest, and credit card issuers are racking up a record-
breaking $7.3 billion in revenue from late fees, how will
lower and middle-class Americans ever be able to pay off
their credit card bills? What happens when the Prime Rate
and Federal Funds Rate go up? Won't this break the backs of
lower and middle-class Americans?"
(from Daily Reckoning) |
