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ACGA joins with manufacturers to address globalization issuesThe American Corn Growers Association's recently completed 2008 Convention included a panel presentation titled "Trade and New Coalitions, the Power of the Family Farmers' Voice." Moderated by ACGA Senior Policy Analyst John Dittrich, the panel featured two speakers linked through the recently formed Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA). Dittrich is also a director of CPA and was instrumental in its creation. "This rapidly growing coalition joins representatives of domestic manufacturing, family agriculture, and labor in a unique new grassroots effort to address our current failing trade policy," said Dittrich. "The linkage of these usually separated economic sectors is attracting high interest across the country. The ACGA and the Organization for Competitive Markets were key organizers in the development of this new coalition." CPA Vice President Robert Dumont stated, "There is a point where a county moves from stating it no longer makes certain things, but must admit it cannot make things. Our country is rapidly approaching the point in many manufacturing industries where we will have to admit we cannot make things. Just like farmers, it typically takes a tool maker 20 years to become proficient at their trade. Our country is rapidly losing these critical skills due to disastrous trade policy." Dumont is also president of the Tooling, Manufacturing, and Technology Association, a trade association representing 700 small tooling and manufacturing companies across the U.S. who have been devastated by cheap imports and unfair trade practices. Robert Mulloy, a key advisor to CPA and Commissioner on the congressionally-chartered US-China Economic and Security Review Commission spoke to the dangers of Sovereign Wealth Funds to U.S. sovereignty and economic security. Mulloy defined these investment funds as, "massively wealthy investment vehicles controlled not by private interests, but by foreign governments. These funds are created by the massive trade deficits the U.S. maintains with other countries, particularly with China and Middle Eastern oil exporting countries. These funds have trillions of U.S. dollars that are being used to purchase key assets in the U.S." Mulloy recently testified before the Senate Banking Committee regarding the U.S.-China Commission's concerns with this activity. One of the key issues he highlighted that must be addressed is the unsettling problem of how to wean the U.S. off of its dependence on foreign oil through renewable fuels. "The dependence on imported oil is transferring massive wealth from the U.S. to foreign government-controlled Sovereign Wealth Funds," he explained. The American Corn Growers Association represents 14,000 members in 35 states. See www.acga.org. 2/25/08 Date: 3/6/08
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