Paul Ryan Has A Road Map For America, All Right-- And Your Role Is Roadkill

Yesterday I saw that European nations, all of which negotiate directly with the drug companies to keep prices low for their citizens-- have been lowering the prices they pay for non-generic pharmaceuticals. Thanks to conservative dogma and corrupt politicians (all the Republicans-- not a single exception-- and a hefty chuck of Democrats), the U.S. government doesn't negotiate fair drug prices for us and we pay more than anywhere else in the world-- despite the fact that our tax dollars have paid for the research and development of virtually all the drugs on the market. And with European drug prices falling, guess where Big Pharma is turning to smooth out its bottom line. (If you guessed China or Japan, you'd be wrong.)

This morning our resident Paul Ryan-watcher in southeast Wisconsin, Dave Sherbula sent us his thoughts on "Free" Trade since Ryan has been such a dogmatic supporter of every single "free" trade bill that has come down the pike to strip away Wisconsin's manufacturing base and ship its middle class jobs-- and lifestyle-- overseas to low wage hellholes. Paul Ryan-- and his party-- have been as much a godsend for China as they've been a disaster for Racine, Kenosha and Janesville. Protected by the DCCC, which has made sure Ryan would never be seriously challenged in an election-- and he won't be this year either-- Ryan can just skip around from TV station to TV station vomiting out more Wall Street talking points while amassing a gigantic-- ostensibly unneeded-- political warchest. Ryan has gotten more cash payoffs from Wall Street than any other politician in Wisconsin's history. And he's Wall Street's pick to... go places. Just watch. Here's Dave:

Has it occurred to anyone but me that the WTO is really nothing more than a corporate PAC? 

The US is the elephant in the room. We have the power to call the shots. The countries we have such huge deficits with need us badly. China needs someplace to sell their products, the Arab countries need customers for their oil, Airbus needs to sell airplanes. And so on.

All the WTO does is enable multinational corporations to lower the cost of production for their corporate or government masters. If they were legitimate they would take action against OPEC members. Don't hold your breath. Not gonna happen.

For example, the US invented the TV and Cell Phone. Do we make them in the US any more? No.  Cheaper labor overseas. How about textiles? Shoes? Again, almost entirely overseas.

We need to turn the Republicans own argument around on them to say the lack of manufacturing in this country is unsustainable. Not our social services. 

Funny thing is I have never seen a U.S. Chamber of Commerce ad promoting "Buy American!"

I think a better name for them would be "World Chamber of Commerce for Corporate Profits". 

Impose tariffs, do not allow any transfer of technology or manufacturing facilities to other countries. Level the playing field. 

The Republicans love to talk about tough love. Sacrifice. 

How about we impose that on our trading partners. And our corporations. Not just our citizens.

It may be bad for Walmart, but it sure would help American workers get or keep a job.