Why It’s Enough to Make You Choke on a Pretzel

July 8, 2006

Comments

At his press conference in Chicago President Bush made the following comments,

I also believe strongly that we’ve got to open up markets to goods produced here in Illinois, goods and services. One way to make sure this economy of ours grows is to reject protectionism and be confident in our capacity to trade. I’m getting ready to go to the G8, and one of the topics there is going to be the Doha Round of the WTO, which basically — the commitment is that a world that trades freely is a world in which people are going to be able to find work here at home, and it means we have better capacity to be able to help lift nations out of poverty.

This coming from the President who, in a cheap political ploy, enacted steel tariffs. The same President that put tariffs on Vietnamese shrimp. This is the same President has done nothing about the Foreign Sales Corporation Tax (which The WTO considers a defacto subsidy). Basically, Bush has one of the worst track records on free trade for the last 30 to 40 years.

10 responses to “Why It’s Enough to Make You Choke on a Pretzel”

floyd

July 8, 2006 at 2:47 pm

steve; i was shocked when i read the nonsense bush was spewing above! thank you for the reassuring words of comment that followed.i thought bush was a treasonous sellout to the WTO, but you’re saying that there’s hope yet. eventhough there’s not; it still sounds good.keep up the good work!
Fersboo

July 8, 2006 at 3:35 pm

I was preparing 1120-FSC returns for major clients in 1999 and 2000. We knew then that the FSC was heading out to pasture due to the stink that the WTO was putting up. I am pretty sure that the arguments by the US to the WTO in favor of the FSC were made well before George W. was elected the 43rd POTUS.
don surber

July 8, 2006 at 3:38 pm

Good catch!
Ugh

July 8, 2006 at 5:40 pm

This is the same President has done nothing about the Foreign Sales Corporation Tax (which The WTO considers a defacto subsidy).

I’m fairly certain that the FSC was repealed, including the grandfathering. Not that that excuses Bush’s other non-sense.
jpe

July 8, 2006 at 11:43 pm

I am pretty sure that the arguments by the US to the WTO in favor of the FSC were made well before George W. was elected the 43rd POTUS.

The final ruling from the WTO didn’t come through until 2001.
Fersboo

July 9, 2006 at 12:02 am

The final ruling from the WTO didnÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½t come through until 2001.

Are we talking past each other, or are you trying to be cute? I understand that the final ruling was issued after George W was sworn in as President, but my contention is that the prior administration was the party to the case in the WTO. Was the WTO supposed to re-try the entire case because we elected a new President? Would the WTO not have outlawed the FSC if AlGore was elected? A reasonable person would answer no to both of those questions.
Christopher

July 9, 2006 at 4:16 pm

Calm down, Steve! Jeeez. Have a heart attack or something!

You’re either a liberal who wants to get in his punches, or a moronic conservative that doesn’t understand politics.

Which is it?
Steve Verdon

July 9, 2006 at 6:46 pm

Okay, explain the brilliant politics behind this Christopher? Everybody seems to be on the same page that the steel tariffs actually cost more jobs than it saved and did nothing to help gain support for Bush in Pennsylvania. So explain the brilliance here for us morons.