Written by Cliffard Stijl   

I can't help but think of baseball as I watch our economy tank, and tank some more, and then tank some more.

I was managing a baseball team. My rich friend Charlie offered me $50,000 to let him be the pitcher. Now one thing Charlie ain't, it's a pitcher. Against my better judgment I accepted the money.

The first game we lost 8-1. That was our best game in the last 12 years. We got better hitters, sent them to batting coaches and our run production tripled.

We lost all our games last year by an average score of 14-3.

We got even better hitters, gave them steroids and paid off the umps. We doubled our run output yet again.

This year we lost each game by an average score of 22-6.

You see, the problem wasn't our hitting. As we got better hitters, so did the other teams, and though their hitters weren't quite as good as ours, they kept beating us - No!! - The problem was Charlie.

Now don't get me wrong, he had improved greatly as a pitcher. When we first started he walked every other batter. He hardly walks anyone any more. Almost every pitch is perfect. A 60 mph fastball right down the middle of the plate. Even I could hit that.

Our economy is much the same way. Our score is kept by a little statistic called the balance of trade. We keep changing things so that we can hit better (Free trade agreements) - the problem is our pitcher sucks.

Our trade deficit over the last 20 or so years is over $7 TRILLION - for the economists reading this that means we SPENT $7 TRILLION more than we received.

So what, what does this mean?

1. It means that jobs follow the money. You want to know where our jobs went - follow the money.

2. It means we have a hard time keeping tax revenues up because there are less jobs to tax - unless of course we start taxing the foreign workers (hold that thought)

3. It means we have huge deficits because not only are revenues down but the needs for social services are up as a result of the "no jobs"

4. It means we can't compete, because the playing field is nowhere near level. A family of four can exist in China and other counties for 10% of what a family of four under the poverty line needs here. Try to find an apartment for $30 a month, plus they have free health-care.

5. It means that corporate profits are up. If you pay less in wages, some does come back in price reduction, but mostly it goes to upper management and investors (Ever wonder why they don't care about jobs?)

So what can we do? Remember that thought you are holding - taxing the foreign workers.

Can we do that? YES, WE CAN. It is called Tariffs and trade policy. We can go back to the policies we had for over 200 years. Policies that let America be EXCEPTIONAL, The policies that let our economy be the Greatest the world has ever seen. The policies that CHINA has now in their effort to surpass us as the dominant economy in the world.

Yes, the problem isn't our hitters, It's that our rich Friend Charlie, who is getting all those increased corporate profits, is paying everybody off so that he can remain the pitcher