Extent Of Job Loss Problem

The following information came from a January 9, 2012 press release from the office of Texas Workforce Commission. The extent of the problem is outlined as follows:"From 2001 through 2010, we lost one-third of

our U.S. manufacturing base – that’s five and a half million U.S. jobs that were shipped overseas, outsourced, or

simply went away. Moreover, The Wall Street Journal reported that, from 2000 to 2009, U.S.-based

multinational companies (which account for 20 percent of private sector employment in the United States)

eliminated 2.9 million jobs in the U.S. while creating 2.4 million jobs in other countries. As Austin businessman

David Hartman has noted, the U.S. manufacturing trade deficit in goods totaled $5.4 trillion from 2000 to 2008. We should implement a proposal known as the Hartman Plan in which the U.S. corporate tax system

would be replaced by a revenue-neutral, 8 percent business-consumption tax that would be border-adjusted. All

goods and services coming into the United States would pay the 8 percent tax while all exports would receive a

comparable tax credit or tax abatement as an offset to its company's business-consumption tax. This new

approach to taxing business would raise just as much in revenue as, if not more than, the current system of

taxation."

This past year the U.S. ran trade deficits with nearly 100 nations. " This press release also had a suggestion for a change in the tax laws to address this problem as follow: "