When the ‘Evil Empire’ collapsed Communism lost a battle, not the war

By Dave Stancliff

We won the Cold War. Right? Democracy faced down the Godless Communists and we declared victory after 46 years (from September 2, 1945 to December 1991) of protracted conflict and constant tension.

The “Evil Empire” - as president Ronald Reagan once called the Soviet Union - collapsed under a rigid and unworkable system called Communism in 1991.

We stood up to those evil Russian Communists and showed them our political system was superior to theirs. Right? Yes, and no. The Russian version of Communism wasn’t flexible enough to stand the test of time. However, the Chinese version of Communism is another matter.

In case you haven’t noticed, Communist China practically owns us. According to the Treasury Department‘s December 2009 report, Communist China holds $894.8 billion in U.S. Securities.

It doesn’t stop there. Every time we buy a product made in Communist China (and other Communist countries) another U.S. worker loses his/her job. Think I’m being flippant here? We’re at the tipping point when it comes to off-shoring American jobs. How can our economy ever recover if there’s no work here?

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and ten colleagues (both Republicans and Democrats) sent a letter to President Obama in August urging him to do more on behalf of U.S. businesses and the workers upon which they rely. We need jobs to recover from this recession.

Communist China’s overall trade surplus rose to 28.7 billion in July, its highest level in 18 months. Its surplus with the U.S. was about 26 billion, an unbelievable 90 per cent of the total, according to an article by Leo Hindery Jr., Chairman U.S. Economy/Smart Globalization Initiative at the New America Foundation.

His article titled “U.S. China Trade: How long will the U.S. be China’s doormat?” is a revealing look at how unfair our trade arrangements are with Communist China. Something needs to be done quickly to protect American manufacturers and workers against unfair subsidized imports.

The Commerce Department says the overall shortfall in the exchange of goods and services jumped to $46.3 billion — with more than half of that coming from China. A record monthly trade deficit with China helped send the overall U.S. trade imbalance surging unexpectedly in August. The Commerce Department says the overall shortfall in the exchange of goods and services jumped to $46.3 billion.

How can this be happening? Communist China is crippling our capitalistic society. They’ve proven to be far more economically clever and adaptable than the Russians were. We may have won the cold war against the Russian Communists, but we’re losing to the Chinese Communists.

While our economy is struggles to survive, Communist China’s is thriving. Recently, it passed Japan and now has the world’s second largest economy behind the United States. Communist China passed Germany last year to become the world’s biggest exporter.

I’d like to remind President Obama of a speech he gave to the United Steelworkers on July 2, 2008. He talked about standing up to countries that are manipulate their currency or flood markets with subsidized goods. I’m still waiting, Mr. President.

The trouble is that China has never genuinely accepted the basic rules governing the world economy. China follows those rules when they suit its interests and rejects, modifies, or ignores them when they don't.

They continue to send us faulty products from contaminated drywall to children’s toys containing lead, and we keep buying them. A bill allowing tariffs against currency manipulators has cleared the House. Experts warn that retaliation is possible if the legislation becomes law.

As It Stands, our country is struggling economically and our political system is polarized while China is showing the world Communism works.