Neal Asbury opened his nationally syndicated “Neal Asbury’s Made in America” show on Radio America by speculating that if the Obama administration continues to ignore Republican warnings that more tax increases are off the table, the GOP may start to attract more supporters that don’t want to see higher taxes.
Neal also noted that Made in America is now syndicated to 40 radio stations that embrace the show’s mission to fight for American jobs.
Joining the show as a return guest was Gretchen Hamel, Executive Director of Public Notice, which seeks to explain complex economic, regulatory, and budget issues to Americans.
“I think we should all be disappointed that Congress only punted on the fiscal cliff negotiation. We’re in for a long debate when Republicans proclaim that taxes are off the table, while the President wants to raise even more taxes. Americans should brace themselves for some ugly debates,” predicted Hamel.
Hamel believes that nothing much will get done until after the inauguration and the President’s State of the Union address. Yet, the sequestration cuts, which are across the board bad cuts not backed by good decisions, will take place on March I unless something happens. But she fears that the Obama administration will wait until the last minute to act like they do with most major policy decisions to try and get more concessions.
“What’s amazing is that the President doesn’t think we have a spending problem, despite the fact that we’re adding $1 trillion of new debt every year. We have a long way to go to close the gap,” added Hamel, who thinks that while Obama can make a “big legacy play” during the State of the Union, he probably will miss this opportunity to show that he can reach across the aisle.
To introduce John Manzella, CEO of Manzella Trade Communications as a return guest, Neal noted that many U.S. companies are struggling because they failed to capitalize on exporting to foreign markets. Manzella is a world-recognized speaker on global trends, international business, China, and today’s new economic realities.
“The economic growth in the U.S. is at about two percent, which isn’t enough to sustain growth in this country. U.S. companies that want to grow need to expand overseas,” recommended Manzella.
Manzella noted that over the last decade, U.S. companies have made great progress being accepted in overseas markets. He suggested that U.S. products have a lot of prestige overseas and there is a great demand for them.
Co-host Dr. Rich Roffman reminded listeners that a thriving export market creates U.S. jobs. As an example, in 1992 after Hurricane Andrew devastated South Florida at the same time both Eastern and Pan Am airlines closed operations, Miami continued to thrive due to its strong international trade activities, which Dr. Roffman characterized as an economic “insurance policy.”
“International trade will grow seven percent through 2014. U.S. companies are exporting $169 billion to South and Central America. Smart companies looking to export should begin with Canada and Mexico, and then look to developing Asia as a real growth export market,” concluded Manzella.
Joining the show as a return guest was Fred Wszolek from The Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI), an organization committed to educating voters, employers, employees and citizens about issues affecting the workplace.
Wszolek suggested that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) oversteps its boundaries by circumventing Congress and making its own laws. The latest example is the NLRB trying to dictate social media policies at both union and non-union companies.
“We don’t need a Board to oversee social media policies. They shouldn’t be telling employees what they can do on or off the clock when it comes to social media,” said Wszolek.
Before introducing his next guest, John Berlau, from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Neal noted that post-Watergate, everything was related to “gates.” Now everything is related to “cliffs,” as exemplified by the “Basel cliff.”
Berlau explained that the Basel cliff refers to the potential economic fallout from the implementation of the Basel III agreement, an international accord that is supposed to make the international banking system more stable. Unfortunately, Basel III is likely to dramatically increase the costs of mortgages and small business loans while making the banking system less stable.
“This new agreement gives community banks incentives to buy foreign stocks rather than to make smaller community loans. Essentially, U.S. banks are bailing out faltering European nations at the expense of U.S. growth,” said Berlau.
Berlau notes that this is all the more troubling because Congress has had no role in voting on what is essentially a treaty. Rather the Federal Reserve is driving the process and instead of calling it a “treaty,” characterizes the initiative as “just taking suggestions.”
“This move is so brazen that even Democrats are concerned about the ramifications for community banks,” added Berlau, who invited listeners to learn more by visiting cei.org.
Once again, Dr. Roffman continued his weekly “Cronyism Report,” an ongoing look at how federal funding payouts are wasting taxpayer dollars.
He began with an update of former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, who went on to run MF Global and in the process lose $1.2 billion of investors’ money. Dr. Roffman noted as a big contribution bundler for the Democratic Party, Corzine has escaped any legal repercussions, including a recent judicial ruling that Corzine is not responsible for the losses to the investors in MF Global.
Next, Dr. Roffman turned to his favorite target, Secretary of Energy, Stephen Chu, who helped Nissan receive a $1.22 billion federal loan to produce the Nissan Leaf model in Tennessee.
“What’s amazing is that Tennessee is a right-to-work state, which can’t make Obama’s union supporters happy. And yet again, the American taxpayer is paying to manufacture another green energy car that nobody wants. Only 9,000 Leaf models were sold in 2012,” concluded Dr. Roffman.
Each week Neal Asbury’s Made in America provides Neal’s insights into the week’s top news stories and their impact on the worlds of entrepreneurship, small business ownership and the overall economy. Neal’s analysis, together with co-host Dr. Richard Roffman, a veteran 30-year publisher with extensive domestic and international experience, takes a non-biased approach based on real life experience in business as an American manufacturer and exporter. Made in America airs nationally each Saturday from 7-8:00 PM on Radio America. Link to Made in America at http://www.nealasbrysmadeinamerica.com.
JAN
