Thom Hartmann: Obama vs US Chamber of Commerce

[thomhartmann]

Run time: 09:01 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVJXwFUzPoM   Posted on YouTube: February 08, 2011 By YouTube Member: TheBigPictureRT Views on YouTube: 16   Posted on DU: February 08, 2011 By DU Member: thomhartmann Views on DU: 488

 
The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann on RT TV "live" 9pm and 11pm check www.thomhartmann.com/tv for local listings

[bulloney]

1. It's called intra-firm trade.

The aggregate trade figures may call it "trade," but it's actually international companies moving products within their companies across international borders.

I remember bringing this up at a NAFTA panel discussion I participated in. At that time, most of the product movement between the U.S. and Mexico was intra-firm. I argued that it's not trade. It's glorified inventory shifting. This was in a room full of economists. I about gave them a collective heart attack for blaspheming NAFTA with that statement.

[rhett o rick]

3. I think they use that as a method of getting out of taxes. They sell a product from one of their

companies in a country with low or no taxes, at an elevated price to one of their "American" companies. The "American" company sells the product for a slight mark up and pays taxes on the small profit. I may be all wet on this but heard it on Thom Hartmann.

[Populist_Prole]

2. I like how Thom always stresses that much of what is called trade

...is really just ( US named ) multinationals selling to themselves.

Regarding trade, in and of itself, it's curious ( or more accurately, downright infuriating ) how pundits/wonks/economists attempt to prime the pump and give the term trade a positive spin, as though the idea itself is good for us hoi polloi. I remember a few years after NAFTA's passage, and the "giant sucking sound" was getting louder and louder, these wonks saying NAFTA was good because it increased "total trade" between the US and Mexico. Pointing out that whitewashing a small surplus becoming a growing deficit was very impolite.

How does a "more competitive" company that doesn't employ citizens here become positive spin?