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HOW WASHINGTON GUTTED THE MIDDLE CLASS

Exclusive: Curtis Ellis says for decades Americans have sacrificed jobs to globalism

President-elect Donald Trump promised to ditch the devastating trade deals that have destroyed the livelihoods of millions of Americans.

This vow reduced to rubble the once solid Democratic “blue wall” of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

No wonder.

More than 70,000 factories have closed since Congress approved the NAFTA and China trade deals in 1994 and 2000, respectively.

The evisceration of America’s manufacturing began long before that.

As Donald Trump prepares to take the oath of office and make good on his vow, it’s a good time to examine the history of our trade policy in the post-World War II era.

The State Department used trade deals as an instrument of foreign policy to contain communism following the war. We would create middle-class societies in countries around the world so they wouldn’t go Red.

Our policymakers jiggered our trade deals to allow goods from these other countries to flow freely into the U.S. even as those countries shut out our goods and protected their home markets.

The strategy worked tremendously well in building industrial middle-class societies around the world. But it hollowed out our own middle class and industrial base in the process.

Sen. Ernest “Fritz” Hollings wrote to Democratic candidate for president John Kennedy to decry the devastation textile imports wrought on South Carolina in 1960.

Hollings explained the larger problem with trade policy in a letter to constituents. Long after war-torn countries had been rebuilt, “the State Department continues to try winning friends by encouraging the export of American technology and productive capacity – and that means loss of jobs here at home. Giving a trade advantage became part of foreign aid,” he wrote.

“Our State Department plus the international banks and multi-national giants continue to push for international welfare under the umbrella of ‘free trade,'” he continued.

“It has been said that over at the Department of State there is an Asian Desk, a European Desk, and African Desk, etc. – but there is no American Desk to represent strongly the interests of the United States. … This has caused tremendous damage to some of our basic industries,” Hollings wrote in 1978.

Pointing to the massive trade deficit in textiles, he said unemployment, particularly among women and minorities, is our greatest problem, noting that textiles was the largest employer of women and minorities in America. The same could be said for the entire manufacturing sector.

As if on autopilot, Washington pursued the same destructive policies for another 40 years, wreaking havoc on not just textiles, but virtually all our industries.

Indeed, when the rationale of containing communism expired, policymakers found a new reason to continue down the same path.

Americans are now expected to sacrifice their jobs and our national well-being on the altar of globalism.

While other nations try to negotiate an advantage for their citizens, Washington seeks “global economic integration” – even though it means national suicide.

Donald Trump says enough already. It’s time to recalibrate our trade deals and bring them in line with 21st century reality.

It’s time to put America first.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2016/11/how-washington-gutted-the-middle-class/#GzeF3BDTcxKQovAr.99