Should America Boycott the Beijing Olympics This Summer?
Recent stories of harsh crackdowns by the Chinese government on Tibetan protesters have raised the ire of human rights advocates and led to renewed calls for a boycott of the summer games. The question for Americans to ask seems to be is this as bad as Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1980 and if it is why the current administration refuses to entertain any notion of a U.S. led boycott as was led in 1980 by the U.S. against the Moscow games of that year?
Some have speculated that the U.S. is too deeply indebted to China for the administration to take any action that might rouse the anger of the Chinese government. With the United States in a multi-billion dollar annual trade deficit with China the economic impact of a boycott of the games could go far beyond the games themselves. If China were to decide to impose a trade embargo with the United States it could effectively cripple the U.S. economy. The American economy has become so dependent on Chinese made goods that there are virtually no types of retail products that are not predominately manufactured at least in part in China. Chinese goods dominate the store shelf landscape of retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target and are even cracking the higher end market in some cases. The only major areas where China has not dominated the market have been in the automotive and oil industries.
With the U.S. being in such a dependent situation with regard to China it seems imprudent to call for a boycott of the Beijing games. President Bush has tried to deflect calls for a boycott saying that he feels that the games should be about sport and not politics despite the long history of the games as an international political arena. From the raising of fists of American athletes to salute black power to the tragedy of Munich, the games have been often politicized and rarely without some level of discord. The games have even been the site of unintentional political statements such as the 1936 games when Jesse Owens, an African American athlete beat the best of Hitler’s Aryan runners at the Berlin games making a mockery of the “master race” idea. It seems oddly ironic that our President who has so often had the go-it-alone mentality when it comes to international relations and shown a total disregard for the opinions of other nations would suddenly become collective minded in his approach to international relations.
So where should average Americans stand on this issue? It’s difficult to say with any certainty where we should stand but if sales are any indicator it seems we are going to stick with our Chinese made goods and support the Beijing games at some level. Wal-Mart can’t keep the cheap stuff in stock for long and Americans are showing no signs of an interest in voting with their wallets on human rights. It seems that the people of Tibet will have to continue to suffer because we really need cheap toys and electronics here in America.
The Realist - Patriot at Large | Give your feedback on this article.
Who's FICA and what's he doing with all my money?
Originally posted 3/18/07
Taxes suck! Nobody wants to pay them. But we all have to. Sure we lie to reduce them. We'll pay someone else to prepare them 'cause most of us don't understand them. If a mistake is made, it doesn't matter who made it, you have to pay for it, usually with interest. So, except for the very few Americans who can afford great tax accountants and lawyers, every year the government will take roughly a quarter to half of your income.
Everyone has had trouble with the IRS, if you haven't yet, don't worry you will. You got too much of a refund, didn't pay enough, shouldn't have claimed all of Bolivia as dependants, forgot to file for six years...doesn't matter. They may be slow, but in the end the government will get their money. Don't take my word for it, just ask Willie Nelson. They didn't just take his money, they took his house.
Everyone pays taxes. Illegal immigrants, they pay. They have to if they ever want resident status. No excuse, there are programs in place so that they can pay their taxes. Lost your job, on government assistance, your broke government-cheese-eating-self is still required to pay taxes. And it's not just the Federal government, the state and city or county you live in get their share of your money as well. Buy a beer, fill up the gas tank, you paid a tax to somebody. Hell, most of the time you are paying taxes with money that has already been taxed. Win the lotto, have a long shot come in at the race track, the government will take their cut. You win ten thousand on a game show, you come home with about four and change, guess who gets the rest. That's right, doesn't matter if it borrowed, found, earned or stolen, some how, some way you will give the government your money.
So why the hell don't people vote!?! You wouldn't contribute half your paycheck to the family grocery fund, then not have a say in what kind of cereal gets bought. Yet year after year, millions of Americans pay billions in taxes and don't say a damn thing about where the money goes, or even worse who has to pay what next time. You want to keep more of your money? Get off your ass and vote. Otherwise we'll keep paying Halliburton to build Burger Kings in Baghdad while Katrina victims get evicted from their trailer park refugee camps because there's no more relief funding to rebuild America.
Kyle Pesonen - Staff Writer | Give your feedback on this article.
 Get Involved Do you sit and yell at the TV when politicians come on? Do you shake your head sadly whenever you see a homeless veteran? Is that all you tend to do? It's time to put up or shut up America. We all love to talk about how we could do things better or how we would do it if we were in charge. Well, it's time to put your money where your mouth is. If you can think of it, you can write it down. If you can write it down, you can type it. If you can type it, you can e-mail it and if you can e-mail it, you can send it here. We at Reform America are committed to giving voice to anyone who wants to put their ideas out there to make our nation a better place. As the readership grows, we are able to take those views to a wider and wider audience. Grassroots campaigns begin with voices speaking out. You have opinions. Voice them. We aren't about conservative or liberal. We aren't about pro-this or anti-that. We're about Americans and the First Amendment. Reform America is about politics by, for and of the people. You are the people. You only need to speak up. America is listening. Send your article to: stories@reform-america.net |
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