Quote:
Originally posted by Spanky
Of course that is the excuse that Tauscher is using. But that is the excuse the unions use every time. I never said specific industries support free trade. I said before that businessmen support free trade in every industry but their own. I also said that you can't trust businesses to look out for the enviornment. But I still stand by what I said. Business groups that represent a broad spectrum of business, like the Chamber of Commerce almost always support pro-growth bills. The broad interest of American businessnes (not specific industries) is to support pro-growth policies (especially free trade). The only time the Unions and the Chamber seem to agee on stuff, is when it comes to raping the environment. The only other time Unions and business get togehter, is when specific industries, like the steel industry, push for self serving stuff, like steel tariffs that screw the rest of the business coummunity. But the unions usually support these inividual industry anti-growth pork barrel legislation, because such usually also protects union jobs (to the detriment of the rest of the country). But groups like the Chamber rarely go down that path. So most of the time the Unions and the Chamber are at eachothers throats. When the Chamber and Unions disagree most of the time the Chamber takes the pro-growth side where the Unions do not. This does not mean that Unions do not serve a purpose or never do good things, it is just when it comes to legislation, if the Unions are opposing the Chamber, the Chamber is usually on the side of growth. The Republicans on a local, State and Federal level side with the Chambers much more than the Democrats do. So on balance if you want to support pro-growth policies you should be supporting Republicans.
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Let's see. Maybe what I really want is a strong economy, not fancy free-trade ideology.
Here's a nice link to a chart showing the performance of the economy under Democrats and Republicans over roughly 50 years. So, which party really grows the economy?
As an example, the Rs have been advocating rate cuts and capital gains cuts; untargetted across the board tax relief. Clinton focused his tax cuts in areas that specifically spurred economic growth (for example, he passed a provision that permitted the tax free reinvestment of venture capital into new ventures).
Likewise, Clinton balanced the budget. The Rs have engaged in deficit spending to finance their tax cuts and their adventure in Iraq, and have fought hard to keep Iraq off-budget rather than being fiscally responsible.
Judge us by our works.
