Raymond Richman       -       Jesse Richman       -       Howard Richman

 Richmans' Trade and Taxes Blog

McCotter Moving Up (a bit) in Polls
Jesse Richman, 8/18/2011

It is a small step, but it may signal a transition toward a viable national campaign.  In the most recent poll to examine support for Republican primary candidates, Thaddeus McCotter achieved his first non-zero showing of the polling season so far, earning the support of one percent of the respondents in a recent Fox News pollonce the pool of candidates was restricted to those who had announced their candidacies.  McCotter is the only declared GOP candidate who has partially broken with party orthodoxy on free trade.  His record in Congress includes support for the (inadequate) Currency reform bills in the 111th Congress (H.R.2378 & S.1027) and support for many but not all free trade agreements. 

Writing on REDSTATE, "heartlander" makes these points concerning McCotter's candidacy: 

He has thought through, and deeply cares about, some hugely important issues that I don’t see anyone else in the GOP addressing:

1. the very real challenges posed by globalization (jobs go to where labor is cheapest, even if that means prison and slave labor);

2. the fact that Communist China is really and truly Communist, can not be trusted, and indeed is taking hostile action against us politically, economically, technologically and militarily;

3. the fact that both for economic and for military security, we need a manufacturing base in this country

Writing in Tuesday's issue of National Review, McCotter outlines his views on trade and the economy.

Panicking amid this crisis, Washington got it wrong. Instead of reining in government spending, requiring banks to reduce their indebtedness, and providing a plan to help struggling homeowners cope with their debt, Washington made matters worse by:

... 

4. Ignoring our trade deficit with Communist China and its predatory, mercantilist trade practices — including selling us subsidized manufactured goods and, instead of buying our goods, hoarding our money and lending it to our government and our banks.

With our stagnant economy burdened by Washington’s failed responses to the Great Deflation, we must immediately commence rectifying these mistakes:

...

4. We need to comprehensively combat Communist China’s predatory trade practices, including its currency manipulation, which unfairly enables its manufacturers to undercut our manufacturers and allows the PRC to accumulate savings that fuel debt in our financial system.

For Republican primary voters who care about balanced trade, McCotter seems the best choice in the field of currently declared candidates. 

Comment by Robert Cairns, 8/20/2011:

I agree that McCotter is the only GOP candidate addressing the China trade/monetary issue, and has the clearest picture of how to address our deficit and national debt problems.

Comment by Nancy Nichols, 8/20/2011:

Thanks for this article about Rep. McCotter. I feel he has ideas that are viable for turning our country around.

Response to this comment by dataentryso, 6/15/2012:
I found this post to be very educational. Thank you for broadening my knowledge of this subject. No doubt its a great piece of writing as well. Thanks marble polishing  

Comment by Ted Birnbaum, 8/28/2011:

He may be better than some of the other candidates but I think most of his stances are lip service. He is against steel tariffs because it adversely affects his manufacturing district...need low cost foreign steel to build cars & other things. He is not a creative thinker but relies upon age old Republican mantra....he should be calling for country wide tarriffs, instead of hand picking the products to be protected or not protected. He voted for the phony debt limit increase....that is a telling point. He's for staying in Iraq and Afghanistan...by now any astute person should realize the shortcomings of Nation building...we can't afford the human or economic costs...and certainly not in corrupt and fragmented countries like Iraq and Afghanistan....we should pull out and promise to kill them from afar as often as necessary...when we are attacked or seriously threatenned. His private investment plans for Social Security don't appeal to me. Social Security should be recognized for what it is...an obligation from generation to generation...limited by younger generation income...and made voluntary with the warning that the social safety net will be lost for those who don't join.