(In 1961, one of the culprits looked like this)
The eternal trade deficit. Buying imports, manufacturing and outsourcing overseas, imports flooding the market, cheap labor, regulations, de-regulation, unions.
In 1961 it was the beginnings of The Common Market. In 2009 it's the European Union. Either one, it's been with us for longer than anyone cares to remember.
And in November 1961, CBS Radio tried to tackle the issue on their Sunday talk program Leading Question.
Guests were Oscar Strackbein and Charles P. Taft, who didn't agree on very much. Even the number of unemployed there were.
Oscar Strackbein: “Let me point out that the problem is not merely that of how many people lose their jobs because of import competition, it is also a question of who is not being employed because of imports. We have over a million new workers coming on the labor market every year. Not to mention a degree of unemployment that is constantly rising after each recession. After we’ve come out of each recession the last ten years we have been left at the peak of prosperity with a higher number of unemployed than before. So today we have what . . five and a half million unemployed . . “
Charles P. Taft: “Four million the last time.”
Strackbein: “Now, I say.”
Taft: “I’m talking about the last figures. Day before yesterday – four million”.
Strackbein: “All right. Then we have made some headway.”
2009 things seem no different . . except the numbers.
