Related Articles

By Ed Hill, International President

So much for "Made in America."

When President George W. Bush appeared at a St. Louis warehouse and distribution facility on January 22 to tout his economic program, featuring a massive tax cut for the elite, even the White House spin doctors couldnt hide the hypocrisy.

Associated Press

For the cameras, it appeared that the President was speaking in front of a stack of boxes labeled "Made in America." Upon closer inspection, it was just a screen. In front of the President was a stack of real boxes, all with white or brown tape carefully placed over one strip of type. And what were these offending words that were blocked out?

"Made in China" (or Taiwan in some cases).

Has there ever been a better or clearer example of a politician shooting himself in the foot? Here is the leader of the nation saying how much his so-called economic stimulus program will help American business, and he cant even find an American-made product to use as a prop. Bush is so worried about giving away more and more of Middle Americas tax dollars to his high roller friends and contributors that he doesnt even appreciate the irony. This administration, like previous ones, has been busy sending American manufacturing jobs overseas, thus accelerating the destruction of the middle class tax base. There may be jobs in the warehouse and shipping facility where Bush appeared, but had he cared to walk down the block in St. Louis or any town of any size in the United States, he would have seen a shuttered factory that once provided a living for working families and a base for the community. And each plant closed means fewer jobs in maintenance and other support services and fewer customers for local businesses.

And think about what an admission the President and his handlers are making. By taping over the country of origin, they acknowledge that there is value to making things in America. They acknowledge that the American people care about having a domestic industrial base.

This is the dirty little secret that the President doesnt want you to hear. If you make a couple hundred thousand in your household, youll get some crumbs from the tax cut. Make more and youll get lots more. But if you are muddling along trying to make ends meet and worried about your job, theres nothing left over for you.

The media rightly has devoted a lot of air time and column inches to the issues of war and terrorism. But what about the even more insidious threats from within? What about the slow but steady economic cancer that is eating away from inside our nation? Within the last ten years we had an economy that was providing opportunity for a much broader segment of our population and giving real hope to all. Now, we are in danger of a new segregation the dividing of the rich and the upper middle class from the rest.

President Bush would call this class warfare. But it is he who has declared the war. It is he and his allies who have created the kind of segmented class structure that we always prided ourselves on not having in America. And the fiasco in St. Louis is the perfect example of what this Administration stands for.

Tear off the tape, Mr. President, and for once in your political life tell the American people the truth.