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Guest Editorial: Mitt Romney's Business Experience Will Help Him Take On China
By Jack Davis
info@americanjobsalliance.com
"We can't just sit back and let China run all over us. They're stealing our jobs." That's a direct quote from Mitt Romney, reported by the Wall Street Journal. I couldn't have said it better myself. My company, serving the manufacturing supply chain worldwide, has watched the number of manufacturers in this country steadily decrease. Product we used to ship to the Midwest we now send to the Far East.
Romney is the only major presidential candidate to tell it like it is when it comes to China's grand theft of our jobs, our industries and our children's future. Working men and women know that so-called "free trade" and "globalization" destroy our jobs, and China is the worst offender. Romney has promised to slap tariffs on Chinese products to counter the price advantage China gets by cheating on the value of its currency.
Romney correctly recognizes that China's currency manipulation and cheap labor is only part of the reason it's taking so many jobs from the U.S. He says it's time for Washington to address "all of China's abuses." That includes Beijing's theft of intellectual property, copyright piracy, cyber-espionage, forced technology transfer and discrimination against foreign companies. On this last point, the former Massachusetts governor says the U.S. government should stop buying from China until the Chinese government starts buying from the United States.
We need a determined leader in the White House who will put American jobs first -- and who understands the connection between jobs and our trade deficit with China. We won't have an economic recovery until we have balanced trade.
For too long, the occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. have deferred to Wall Street and global business interests. One reason is that recent presidents lacked substantial business experience of their own. They did what advisers from the corporate boardrooms told them to do.
The latest example is President Barack Obama, who chose GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt to head his jobs council. GE is invested in China up to the hilt, and recently transferred medical and aviation technology, therefore jobs, to Communist China. What's good for GE's stockholders and management is not good for American workers.
Romney has the business experience to know how to succeed.
Just as only Richard Nixon with his unassailable anti-Communist credentials could go to China, Romney's business background gives him the credibility to take on China -- and to explain to the business community why this is absolutely essential to our economic recovery.
Mitt Romney is the only major candidate talking about the jobs problem and has a plan to put American men and women back to work. That's why I am supporting him.
-- JACK DAVIS is the founder and owner of I Squared R Element Co. in Akron, N.Y., the largest U.S. manufacturer of silicon carbide heating elements. He is an engineer and has 54 years of experience in job creation, manufacturing and foreign commerce. Contact: info@americanjobsalliance.com.
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