[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 111 (Wednesday, July 22, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H8557-H8558]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE HEALTH OF OUR ECONOMY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, our whole economy has been in trouble for a 
long time. We can no longer look at foreclosure rates but ignore our 
trade deficit, or discuss high gas prices without mentioning the 
billions spent on Wall Street and the growing U.S. debt that results 
from an economy not in charge of itself.
  Mr. Speaker, the health of our economy is not just one number, like 
Wall Street profits. It's not just our budget deficit. There are so 
many more aspects to our economy that weigh heavily on how prosperous 
America could be. Those aspects include having grown more dependent 
year after year on foreign products.
  This first chart shows since the 1970s how deeply into debt we have 
fallen in terms of more imports coming into our country than exports 
year after year for so much of what drives this economy. Three quarters 
of a trillion dollars more imports in here than our exports out. More 
foreign imports into the United States means less U.S. jobs. More of 
our exports out means more jobs here.
  Our trade deficit has been driven up to nearly 5 percent of what's 
called the gross domestic product--a shocking number by any measure--by 
this growing dependence on foreign goods starting with oil, which 
consumes over half of this deficit, and bad trade deals. In fact, when 
you look at this chart, it's hard to imagine that almost half a 
trillion dollars is related to imports of energy.
  With high gas prices and bad trade deals have come growing legions of 
the unemployed with climbing rates higher and higher. There's been a 
steady pattern of this deepening crisis over the last several years. In 
fact, it's interesting to look at this chart which shows the 
relationship between unemployment, rising oil prices, and unemployment.
  And going back to the 1970s, with the first embargo of oil from the 
Middle East, we saw a huge peak in price and then a huge peak in 
unemployment. And the same is true in every succeeding decade in the 
1980s, in the 1990s, and certainly now. There has been a steady pattern 
of this deepening crisis over the last 20 years.
  In 1993, when NAFTA was rammed through this Congress, they said it 
would create jobs. It did just the reverse. There's been a huge net job 
loss for our country.
  In the late 1990s, when they passed PNTR for China, they said, Oh, 
that will create more jobs here. Well, no. It did exactly the reverse 
net; more jobs were outsourced.
  At home, in places like Toledo, Ohio, 15.6 percent of our people are 
officially unemployed as foreclosures continue, deep, huge payouts to 
Wall Street continue, and now 12 percent of our housing stock 
foreclosed. The gap between the super-super rich and the rest of us is 
getting wider all the time, and those numbers threaten the future of 
our Republic.
  At a recent job fair in Toledo, unemployed workers were able to post 
video resumes courtesy of local television stations. One man, a CVL 
licensed truck driver in his early sixties, said he was looking for 
anything, ``even something in fast food.''
  We don't lack for a work ethic in our area, we lack for jobs. But 
with so

[[Page H8558]]

many outsourced jobs, from televisions to clothing to automotive to 
call centers, for heaven's sake, American consumers are abdicating 
their buying power abroad and losing millions of jobs. Unemployment 
benefits are starting to run out. Food pantries are seeing record 
increases, and people are getting desperate. The wealth disparity grows 
larger every day.
  Don Monkerud wrote in the Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin, the 
400 richest Americans, who now own more than the bottom 150 million 
Americans, increased their net worth by $700 billion during the 8 years 
of the Bush administration. I think one can ask, isn't that enough? Are 
they filled up yet?
  In 2005, the top 1 percent claimed a quarter of our national income 
and the top 10 percent of earners in this country took fully half of 
the entire national income. It's even worse now. The super rich taking 
the largest share of our national income since--are you ready for 
this?--since 1928, the year before the Great Depression started, the 
wealth gap.
  And yet we're listening to the super-super rich whining because they 
want them to help pay for a health care system that will help make our 
Nation competitive in the global marketplace so we can help recapture 
some of the lost jobs.
  We can't fix our country by simply fixing things on Wall Street for 
those who are super rich or pandering to the complaints of the richest 
of the rich or the Wall Street bankers that have outsourced so many of 
our jobs. That's how we got here in the first place.
  We need to fix this country by reducing our trade deficit, cutting 
our dependence on foreign oil, helping hardworking Americans who are 
doing their best to make ends meet and who want to work and putting our 
accounts back in order.
  Listen to the over 250 million Americans, not just the top few, who 
are asking us to make America, all of us, rich again as a result of our 
hard work. It's time. Our people have earned it.

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