Thursday, December 24, 2009

Kenneth N. Davis advocates quick passage of Buffett's Import Certificates plan to balance trade

Howard Richman

Writing in the December 1 Huffington Post, Kenneth N. Davis, former US Assistant Secretary of Commerce and IBM CFO proposed an actual solution to our economic problems which would get to the heart of the problem. He wrote:

Legislation For a "Level Playing Field": Effective legislation is the surest way to force action on any big national problem. The best plan developed for fairer competition with foreign importers in our domestic market is draft Senate bill S.3899 "The Balanced Trade Restoration Act of 2006", sponsored by Senators Dorgan and Feingold. It lacked enough support to pass when the economy seemed O.K. in 2006. But now with our jobs and deficit situation so serious, updated legislation could attract wide bipartisan support for fast enactment.

Passing S.3899 is especially important if more stimulus money is spent to foster new "green" industries. There's no avoiding foreign competition. For example, Brazil is already supplying many of the large metal blades used in wind power turbines here. S.3899 will assure a competitive market where US producers can reopen and new companies thrive, with both providing good jobs. It will also cause US companies to reconsider the off-shoring of work to supply the US market. Under S.3899, all items brought in from abroad would have new import costs to enter the US that they won't incur if the work is done here.

Not "Protectionist" or "Anti-Globalization" and is Self-funding: No one should view S.3899 as "protectionist" or "anti-globalization". Instead, it's the fairest way to keep our huge market open to all by "leveling the playing field". No industry or country is targeted or favored in S.3899. All imports having the required import certificates are welcome. Certificates of a value equal to our exports will be issued by the U.S. each year and sold in open trading. It's also important that S.3899 is self-funding. It's the only plan being proposed that won't require more government deficit spending, and it will create many thousands of jobs while reducing our trade deficit and excessive borrowing from abroad.

3 comments:

  1. I can't figure out why nobody is debating the idea of import certificates today. Could you imagine a cain 9-9-9 plan and an import certificate structure? Foreign producers would be opening shops here, having their supply chain add all the "value" on the american side of the border, especially if these foreign corporations only get taxed at 9% in the USA.

    Instead then importing a widget for 100 dollars from china.

    Chinese companies would start importing the same 100 dollar widget for 50 dollars to their american subsidiary, do a minimal final assembly in the USA and then sell the widget for agreed upon 100 to the american company. The big difference... chinese subsidiaries in the USA would pay US taxes, not chinese taxes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi there,

    I recently came across your blog and have been enjoying reading through it. You post some interesting points about the current state of trading and taxes. I realise you haven't updated in a while, but perhaps I could persuade you to give your blog a second life?

    I was wondering if you would be interested in sharing your blog on Glipho? Glipho is a new social blogging network that aims to promote the writing of its users and help build their audiences. We are trying to establish a creative community at Glipho, and your blog is just what we are looking for.

    As your blog is powered by Blogger, you can simply import all your old posts to Glipho without affecting your existing blog at all. You can use your Glipho account to connect to any other major social network accounts you may own, so you can spread your blog as far as possible. We also use our own social media accounts to promote your content.

    If you're interested check out our website at http://glipho.com and have a look around. Please feel free to ask me any questions, and if you would like to receive an invite to set up an account!

    Have a great day,

    Teo



    Glipho Limited
    14 Suite 3 D
    Docklands Business Centre
    10-16 Tiller Road
    London E14 8PX


    (e): teo@glipho.com
    (w): www.glipho.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi, Nice post thanks for sharing. Would you please consider an intro to my website on your next post. Please email me back. Thanks!

    Aaron Grey
    aarongrey112 at gmail.com

    ReplyDelete