(ThyBlackMan.com) (This article is written for mature audiences only; strong language and brief nudity). Words are powerful and words matter. The vociferous denunciation of Donald Trump, by LeBron James and National Basketball Association (NBA) players, who boasted in their reviling of him, as a racist and a source of discord in dividing the country, rings hollow. When, it comes to defending the principles of the “freedom of speech,” involving one of their own; the strength and unanimity of their voices does not match the freedom of speech, they displayed, in denouncing President Trump. The General Manager, Daryl Morey, of the Huston Rockets basketball team tweeted these words and they were heard around the world;
“Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”
The tweet might have gone unnoticed, if not for the Chinese government, at the highest level, responding to the tweet. They demanded and got an apology from NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver. While Silver, later changed his comments, after a great amount of criticism, the damage had already been done. The NBA and its players’ less than robust response, to an attack by the Chinese Communist Party on one of the founding principles, of our Democracy, is telling.
The interaction between the Chinese government and the NBA, an American business, to astute observers, revealed the failure of trading policies advanced, by Wall Street investment houses, millionaires (in this instance, basketball players), billionaires and corporate America. The dogma or principles laid down by Wall Street investment houses and corporate America, as an incontrovertible truth, is the Chinese state somehow regard Chinese businesses, and business dealings, as being beyond “direct influence” from the Chinese Communist Party. Well, that notion was clearly debunked, as the response to Morey’s comments came from the Chinese government, itself. And it was the Chinese government, led by the Chinese Communist Party, which ordered the confrontation, with the NBA.
This brush-up with the Communist Party of China, illustrates what American workers, in states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan, and other manufacturing areas of the nation have been telling us. Additionally, its part of the reason, Donald Trump won the electoral vote battle in those states and others. They are essentially saying, millionaires, billionaires and corporations (MBC’s), supported by financing from Wall Street investment houses, are taking our livelihoods, good paying American jobs, and exporting a goodly number of them to a communist nation, where all businesses are subject to the control of the Chinese Communist Party, without demanding reciprocity or any benefit in return.
The argument, put forth by MBC’s, for doing this, that is initially bowing to the wishes of the dictatorial regime of China, which makes the NBA and corporate America one in the same, is that they say, the Chinese assist them, in making a great deal of money. They salivate, when it comes to the amount of money, that can be made, selling their products into a consumer market of 1.4 billion people.
So, the bottom line, for corporate America, including the NBA, is its all about the money. American based businesses, corporations, millionaires, and billionaires have no problem checking historical American values, based on the United States Bill of Rights, which guarantees all Americans freedom of speech, at the door of the Chinese dictatorial regime, to make a fast buck. The sin of Greed, as we clearly see, is not limited to race, as American NBA players are 70% black. However, this argument falls flat, for American workers and voters in general in the aforementioned states and the nation.
American workers and Americans generally are disenchanted with the trade policies with China, hatched by Wall Street investment houses and corporate America, because of the results, which they are experiencing in real time, from what they perceive, as an unbalanced trade policy. The major problem is that replacement jobs rarely match the income of the jobs being exported, to China. While, corporations and businesses up-size their income based on labor cost, as a result of exporting jobs to China and other countries as well, they essentially down-size economically the communities, where these jobs are located. The results can be an increase in individual bankruptcies and home foreclosures, as American workers scramble to duplicate the income of the exported jobs.
So, many Americans see China’s dispute with the NBA and the NBA’s response to an attack on the principles of our Democracy, when it comes to freedom of speech, as another example of the irrationality of our trade policy with a nation like, Communist China. Additionally, consider the sheer absurdity of embellishing economically, a potential adversary. The United States’ trade policies would be amusing, were they not so pathetic.
The trading policies with China, as they are currently constructed allows China to benefit from the $570 billion of America’s annual consumer demand. Thousands of American businesses and corporations have established supply chains in China. They moved their factories overseas and are shipping finished or near finished goods back to U.S. shores, to be sold in the United States (it was Trump’s tariffs on these goods that interrupted this sweetheart deal). It’s a relatively simple proposition; the MBC’s have the Chinese make everything cheaper and export it back to the United States, making China America’s manufacturing floor. Thus, it is America consumers, (the same Americans who are losing jobs) through American based businesses and corporations, who have made China into an industrial behemoth over the last 47 years.
However, as China has become stronger economically, it has morphed into a military rival, and is challenging the dominance of America. It is stealing U.S. intellectual property, forcing technology transfer and is not reciprocating, when it comes to trade. China’s objective, is to build a middle class comparable to that of America and cease being dependent on America. It wants to evolve its economy from dependence on exports, to drive economic growth, to a consumer driven economy, like America. However, currently, it needs jobs created from manufacturing goods bound for America to achieve that objective. Thus, if American businesses and corporations leave China, and seek cheap labor elsewhere, achieving the objective of a viable middle class will be delayed, enormously, perhaps decades, as they need the $570 billion annually exported to them to pay Chinese labor.
Even so, China is not without its own weapons to achieve its objectives. It knows, the MBC’s are greedy, like the NBA, when it comes to selling goods into the Chinese population. In this respect, China can be viewed as a beautiful and alluring whorish woman, who has “decked her bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.” She has perfumed her bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.” She says to the MBC’s, come, as I open my soft, but firm legs, let us take our fill of love, until the morning, let us delight ourselves with caresses.” The MBC’s, who want to do business in China are enticed, “to get it, all night long.” But, just like any good whore, she exacts a price from you, for pleasuring yourself. Then, at the prompting of the Communist Party, her pimp, she will cross her legs and say, you have to do, “this or that” or you can’t get anymore. “This or that,” in the case of the NBA, is the renunciation of the principles of freedom of speech, when it comes to Hong Kong.
Finally, in dealing with China, as the NBA commits the sin of greed, President Trump commits the sin of lying. There was no announcement or mention of any good paying jobs, returning to America, as a result of his recent negotiations with China. This was his campaign promise! Additionally, the Federal Reserve isn’t lowering interest rates to near zero, because we have the greatest economy in U.S. history. Duh!
The U.S. economy is producing weakening Job Numbers, under the Trump presidency, and a RECESSION is now being predicted in 2020. Wages are flat and the GDP is projected to average 2.0% or less this year. GDP is a measure of how healthy, and how well the economy is. Any number below 3.0% GDP is a failing grade.
How do you stop the twin engines of a run away train of sin; greed and lying?! You do the right thing. In a capitalist economy, money is the fuel that powers the train. Mr.Trump GAVE his supporters the fuel they demanded, a $1.5 trillion tax cut and the nation’s reward, was NO economic growth. Democrats need to give U.S. CONSUMERS an over-do 10%, $25,000 TAX CUT, as outlined in the book, “The Fix This Time,” TO GET GDP GROWTH CONSISTENTLY ABOVE 3.0%! With GDP over 3 percent annually, it would give the Federal Reserve the opportunity to normalize interest rates. The normalization of interest rates would lead to less reliance on easy money, as a stimulus policy and the complications associated with such a policy.
Then, you decouple from China, WHEN IT COMES TO TRADE, reducing U.S. exposure to this dictatorial regime. Buttressing, a rival authoritarian government, which is the track, on which the U.S. is currently, adds nothing long term to our nation, in any material way. The United States has to aggressively widen the number of countries it actively trades with in order to make the policy of reciprocal trading work. Africa, which has a population of 800,000 people, that is expected to double to 1.6 billion by 2050, is an area worthy of consideration, as it is composed of as many as 55 nations in various stages of economic development. The United States has proven its ability to advance nations economically using, American consumer demand.
If we say China, as an authoritarian government, is indispensable to the success of Capitalism, then Capitalism, as an economic system, as we know it, is already doomed. There is no historical reference, I am aware of, where American Capitalism and entrepreneurship, as practiced in the United States, has coexisted successfully, with an authoritarian form of governance. The NBA is a prime example!
Staff Writer; James Davis
Mr. Davis is a leading expert and consultant in Financial Analysis and Social Dynamics. He is a graduate of Florida A. and M. University (FAMU), a former stockbroker, and a human rights activist who resides in Sanford, Florida. He was awarded the prestigious Governor Haydon Burns Scholarship to attend FAMU and while at FAMU was awarded the first Martin Luther King Scholarship. He is the author of three books, among them is “The Fix This Time,” Boost Your Retirement Income! Simultaneously Create Jobs and Spur Economic Growth (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MI3PD2M).
Mr. Davis can be reached through his blog @ https://thefixthistime.com.
