- Reviews & Essays
- That Giant Sucking Sound
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THAT GIANT SUCKING SOUND
This term was coined by a presidential candidate numerous years ago; however, this was in reference to some legislation that would allow free trade with Mexico. The expression was to mean jobs being moved to Mexico from the United States by the passage of the NAFTA resolution. By the numbers of persons still streaming across the border from Mexico, we can surmise that the giant sucking sound did not happen as he envisioned it would.
An uncommon man willing to stand up for his beliefs is most unusual at best, but he was right in the terminology, just a little off in the place it would happen.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we have mistakes made at every level, and compounded as it goes up the ladder of responsibility. However, in today's "no fault" society, there is a host willing to ignore and pass off their mistakes to others above them. We have become a nation not only wanting, but willing for the federal government to accept responsibility for any and everything that happens to disturb our view of how our lives should be conducted.
From acts of terrorism to natural disasters, it is their fault and responsibility to correct it and as quickly as possible. For one man (The President) to not have the vision to foresee these problems before they even happen is almost unthinkable to some people. There in lies a danger far worse than we can imagine, but we are working to hasten that very thing into becoming a reality.
As we have seen the price of gasoline and other items skyrocket from the repercussions of these events, we continue to ignore the underlying reasons for problems, but scream for an immediate solution. Bottled water jumps from $2.50 for a twelve pack to $3.96 over night, and yet we don't ask if the water previously came from the swamps to account for the price jump.
As prices slowly drop back to semi-normal levels when the panic is over, we don't ask why they can't drop as quickly as they were raised. Throughout all the chaos, we have elected representatives from all over the country wanting their moment in the spotlight to cast blame on whomever they deem responsible for the castastrople.
We are a kind and generous people; who are willing give of what we have to soften the suffering of our fellow citizens. However, we still look for the federal government to assist and carry the burden of all mistakes past and future. The news media only helps to show the plight of the victims of the tragedy, and berate those who are not giving immediate aid to the resolution of the problems.
Some of the immediate, instant bandaids to the situation would seem funny, if they weren't so sad and misguided. A $2,000 dollar check, debit card, or direct deposit was meant to help in the restructuring of ones' missing items that had to be left behind. However, the swat team almost has to be called in to settle the dispute over the fact this is per family, and not per person as some evacuees felt it should be. Then, not only is there a run on the electronics department of a major discount retailer, but taxi cabs are used for the shopping of these items. In one rare instance, a cab driver got in an altercation with his passengers as they had purchased a BIG screen TV and wanted to put in the trunk of his cab.
Admittedly there is no perfect answer when something like this happens, but using a one size fits all bandage is not the correct way to help.
The underlying problem that comes from this is the growing and continued dependence on the federal government for all facets of daily life. Our individual freedom, self reliance, and control is diminished each and every time we hand over the responsibilty to the federal government.
The boars and sows that now feed from the trough in Washington only grow larger and constantly seek new sources where they can graze upon spoils of a situation such as this one. Fines and charges will happen to those who are caught in price gouging, but that won't be used to lower your taxes that paid for the reconstruction of the disaster. Until we demand a limitation to the time allowed at the national trough in Washington, "THAT GIANT SUCKING SOUND" will continue as your individual freedoms are eroded away.
- COMMENTS
Salamisover 18 years agoThat presidential candidate you mentioned was Ross Perot, and he made that statement about the ‘giant sucking sound’ in the 1992 presidential elections. That is the election where Bill Clinton snuck in with 43% of the vote (Bush got 38% and Perot 19%). Oh, and only 55% of the electorate voted. So one could say that Bill was elected with the support of a little over 23% of the eligible voters.
Of course both Bush and Clinton supported NAFTA. Bush pushed for it during his last year and Clinton got it signed into law. The result is a NET LOSS of jobs in the US since 1993. The Economic Policy Institute estimates over 1 MILLION U.S. jobs lost. That estimate is in dispute, and I have seen as low as 87,000 jobs per year. Some states have their own statistics. Mississippi claimed 30,000 jobs lost due to NAFTA. Any way to slice it, Ross Perot was prophetic in his statement.
So why have Americans acquiesced on NAFTA and been ambivalent about CAFTA? Simple ignorance of economics is the cause. We do not teach economics in school so most of our citizens do not understand even the rudiments of how goods and services are produced, distributed and priced. Hell, most Americans do not know that the Federal Reserve is a privately owned bank with the authority to literally create money.
The debates on free trade do not help either. Part of the problem with free trade is that it does not exist. You do not need 1,100 pages to enact free trade as they did with the last WTO agreement. We have negotiated trade. Every country in the world enacts some form of protectionism. The German’s protect Tool & Die, the French their farmers, the Japanese their rice growers, and the list goes on and on. Protectionism is the practical reflection of national will. Contrary to the press, protectionism is a good thing.
I do not vote in India, or China, or the Philippines or South Korea. I have no political power in those countries to set the rules of the economic game there as I do here in the U.S.; so for that reason alone I am against free trade.
Unlike a number of other libertarians, I see a very real and practical role for government. Government is the umpire in the game. Government can protect us from huge concentrations of power. Government should be fully engaged in enforcing the anti-trust laws of this country. If those were enforced, there would be no push for NAFTA or CAFTA.
Instead, we have a government that thinks having 4 major airlines (3 of which are or were in bankruptcy) is good. The FCC thinks a given conglomerate SHOULD OWN 1,500 radio and TV stations. The government thought that allowing the number 1 and number 2 oil companies to merge was a good thing. We are moving towards having one phone company again, ala AT&T.
Every one of these decisions threatens our democracy more than any terrorist organization could. Concentrating power in fewer and fewer hands guarantees the demise of our way of life.
Anonymousover 18 years agoI liked your overview of events and agreed with most of your conclusions, but ... You are sadly mistakend if you think the jobs did not go south. Clothing factories, small low end type of goods, textile jobs in general are no longer in the US. The flood of immigrants fill a large gruop of the jobs Americans do not want to do (plucking chickens, picking fruit, etc.). These jobs did not go south only because you can't move the fields of crops south and transportataion and time factors mandate certain jobs remain in the US. To say we no longer wish to do certain types work for the money paid or we do not wish to live at the quality of life the money provides is accurate. To say that the richer Middle Eastern countries import workers from SW Asia, the Philippines and simular countries, while the Israelies import workers from the West Bank to do the same type of labor , the people of the richer counties around the world no longer wish to do shows a worldwide attitude of low pay for low end jobs that includes the US.
