Obama Strikes Out on Asian Trade Negotiations

A metaphor for President Obama’s recent trip to Asia was the widely aired game of soccer he had with a Japanese robot. In essence, Japan made Obama kick the impending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — which unites 12 economies around the Pacific Rim — down the road as trade talks stalled. How important is TPP to American trade? The Peterson Institute for International Economics projects that it could cause American exports to rise by $123.5 billion per year by 2025.... Read More

Job Creation Stymied as Obama Strikes Out on Asian Trade Negotiations

A metaphor for President Obama’s recent trip to Asia was the widely aired game of soccer he had with a Japanese robot. In essence, Japan made Obama kick the impending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — which unites 12 economies around the Pacific Rim — down the road as trade talks stalled. How important is TPP to American trade? The Peterson Institute for International Economics projects that it could cause American exports to rise by $123.5 billion per year by... Read More

Obama Is Manufacturing His Manufacturing Numbers

Most presidents surround themselves with cabinet and staff members who have the skill sets required to handle the daunting tasks that they face each day. President Obama has taken a different approach. He hires fiction writers. If you spend any time looking at the unemployment numbers, for example, the Obama administration puts the national unemployment rate at just under 7 percent. That sounds very manageable, unless you take into account the 11 million Americans who have... Read More

American Trade Policy Stuck in Neutral

For a president who vowed to double exports in five years, you have to wonder why President Obama has been unable to make any progress in expanding U.S. trade. This week, Obama met with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to reaffirm their support for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) estimates has grown the U.S. economy from roughly $290 billion in 1993 to more than $1.1... Read More

Cronyism Steals Taxpayer Money and International Prestige

The Constitution gives Congress the power to raise funds (tax) and appropriate (spend) those funds to check the power of the executive branch by controlling the resources of the president. The thinking was that it would prevent the president from abusing the means to serve his own ends. Somewhere along the line this process has gone terribly wrong, especially under the Obama administration, which gives its “friends” enormous amounts of money and privileges without... Read More

U.S. Oil Production Will Help Regain Prestige

President Obama has made it clear that he is no advocate of fossil fuels. He has gone to war against coal and refuses to allow drilling on most federal lands for oil. Despite this lack of support, the United States actually has a surplus of crude oil and natural gas. Domestic production is way up to the point where gas prices at the pump have started to come down. There’s even talk of exporting gas and oil, something that has been restricted since the 1973 OPEC embargo. The... Read More

US Oil Production Will Help Us Regain International Prestige

President Obama has made it clear that he is no advocate of fossil fuels. He has gone to war against coal and refuses to allow drilling on most federal lands for oil. Despite this lack of support, the United States actually has a surplus of crude oil and natural gas. Domestic production is way up — to the point that gas prices at the pump has started to come down. There’s even talk of exporting gas and oil — something that has been restricted since the 1973 OPEC... Read More

Take Away the Government’s Checkbook

I run a successful manufacturing and export business. My success depends on our ability to accurately cost the materials and services we consume. If my estimates are wrong, I won’t stay in business very long. Our government has no such apparent obligation. Our tax dollars are being wasted on projects that are so out of sync with accepted norms that one wonders who is involved in these decisions. I think we have to look at President Obama’s advisers, who have almost... Read More

Shutting Down Future US Jobs

As usual, President Obama fails to think about long-term solutions to our economy. His role in the shutdown is one example, but a far more dangerous decision was his willingness to cancel his trip to Indonesia for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit (APEC). The outcome of this decision could stop the creation of millions of good-paying American jobs. According to data from APEC, its members — including the United States and China, Russia, Mexico, Canada and 16... Read More

China: It’s Complicated

China’s relationship with the United States is increasingly complex and competitive, and it’s bound to get even more complex as China pursues an aggressive growth strategy. As Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Obama met last weekend in California to try and mend their often tenuous relationship, it was clear that China had its own agenda and this meeting was more show than a sincere desire for the two leaders to work together. While Obama resolved to address... Read More