Related Articles and Links:

Campaign Finance Reform

related articles

Reform Party In The News

related articles and links

Regarding China

related articles

Free Trade And The Corporations

related atricles

Links to important websites

back to home page

press release
 For Immediate Publication                                                           
                December 22, 1997
 
 While the American media was caught up in a frenzy of pre-holiday ^Ógood news^Ô
 about the new top dog in the White House and a public opinion poll about
 Santa^Òs political affiliation, the U.S. Commerce Department quietly released
 the trade figures for 1997, which show our trade losses soaring to a new high
 of more than $200 billion for the first ten months of the year.
 
 Though the losses are concentrated in categories such as automobiles, oil,
 clothing, toys and games and footwear, they also show alarming increases in
 ADP equipment, office machines, electrical machinery, television/VCR,
 photographic equipment, optical goods, airplane parts and other high-
 tech/high-skill employment categories in which the federal government has been
 telling American workers they can expect to see job growth. 
 
 Upon seeing the new figures, released last Thursday, Pat Choate, 1996 Reform
 Party Vice Presidential candidate, said, ^ÓIt^Òs not a pretty picture.^Ô  The
 prominent Washington economist added, ^ÓWhat^Òs it going to take for our
 government to acknowledge that our current trade policies have failed our
 country and its people? I know they hate to admit that Ross [Perot] was right,
 but the proof is in their own numbers.^Ô 
 
Reform Party Chairman Russ Verney said of the report, ^Ó What we^Òre seeing is
 the mass exodus of wealth out of this country,^Ô Explaining that the only two
 ways for a country to make money are through savings and by exporting more
 than it imports, he added, ^ÓAnd now, we don^Òt do either.^Ô
 
 Choate and Verney agreed that leading 
ators portend a worsening of the
 situation, unless radical measures are taken. ^ÓWe currently have the lowest
 productivity growth rate since the Carter years,^Ô said Choate, ^Ócombined with
 a virtual epidemic of upcoming layoffs^Ö6600 at Kodak, 12,000 at Boeing, 1500
 at Polaroid, 600 at Cabletron, 2900 at Fruit of the Loom...shall I go on? The
 American people stopped fast track once, and we have to do it again. What^Òs
 more, our bigger challenge is to reverse and re-negotiate these trade pacts
 which are causing American job losses.^Ô
 
 Bad foreign policy on top of bad trade negotiating, according to Verney, will
 drive the trade deficit sharply upward, precipitating a full-blown crisis
 soon. ^ÓA terrible situation will become horrible due to the IMF bailout of
 corrupt banks in foreign countries,^Ô he explained. ^ÓHow are these Asian
 countries going to pay back those loans? By massively increasing exports to
 the U.S., of course.^Ô 
 
Expressing faith in the American people^Òs ability to solve our economic
 problems and make a better future, Verney urged the media, ^ÓGive the people
 the facts...not feelgood stories about dogs and Santa Claus.^Ô Finally ending
 the speculation fostered by the widely reported poll about whether Santa Claus
 is a Republican or Democrat, Verney announced, ^ÓAfter returning from his
 latest shopping trip, unable to find anything made in U.S.A., Santa signed on
 with the Reform Party.^Ô  
 
 ###
 
 For information:      
 Russell J. Verney, National Chairman            972-450-8821
 Dr. Pat Choate                                  202-966-6505
 Donna Donovan, Public Relations Chairman        860-659-9487