Jim Mannion – 3/5/06

This page was last updated on March 5, 2006.

Selling out our country; Jim Mannion; Beaver County Times; March 5, 2006.

In his last letter, Mr. Mannion claimed President Bush was responsible for high oil prices. This letter displays an equal grasp of the facts.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“The apparent sale of control of our shipping ports is another sign of our federal government selling out our country.”

[RWC] This sentence is wrong about everything in it.

First, the federal government isn’t selling anything. A UAE company is buying a U.K.-based company that operates some cargo terminals in some U.S. ports.

Second, foreign-owned companies have operated cargo terminals in our ports for many years. As noted above, a foreign company (U.K.-based P&O) already operates the cargo terminals in question.

Third, “control of our shipping ports” remains with the corresponding port authorities, like the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Port security remains in the hands of the U.S. Coast Guard and Customs Service.

“When is the selling of our country going to stop? We now get many items needed for defense from foreign countries, diminishing our ability to defend ourselves.”

[RWC] Is there something wrong with doing defense business with our allies? If we didn’t, they wouldn’t be our allies for long.

“All the better paying jobs have been exported, lowering our tax base.”

[RWC] If “all the better paying jobs have been exported,” what is Mr. Mannion’s definition of “better paying?” If this is true, how can it be that a greater percentage of Americans own homes than ever before?

“America, wake up before your standard of living is lowered to Third World standards.”

[RWC] I hate – no I don’t – to burst Mr. Mannion’s bubble, but the disposable income (in constant dollars) of Americans has been increasing. I wonder what Mr. Mannion considers “Third World standards.”