Mad in the USA

From:
(Fwd) Mad in the USA
Mad in the USA

By Stacy Mitchell, AlterNet
September 8, 2003

More than 1,000 people attended a rally a few weeks ago in
Connecticut
to demand fair trade and denounce the sweatshop buying habits of big
retailers like Wal-Mart. The speakers were passionate, the crowd
pumped. But this rally differed from the usual fair trade gatherings
in one key respect: It was not organized by labor, student, or
environmental groups. It was organized by an alliance of small and
mid-sized manufacturers.
"The major retailers and big manufacturers are doing us in,"
explained
rally-organizer Fred Tedesco, owner of Pa-Ted Spring Co. in Bristol.
"They're destroying small- and medium-sized businesses. They're
destroying jobs. They're destroying the middle class. . . That's the
dirty secret of this whole thing."

Giant retail chains like Wal-Mart, Target, and Home Depot, have been
muscling large manufacturers to move their factories overseas,
primarily to China. With more than nine percent of U.S. retail sales
and a third of the market for numerous products from dog food to
diapers, what Wal-Mart says, goes. The company does so much business
in China that it ranks as the country's 8th largest trading partner,
ahead of Britain and Russia.

The retailers' cost-cutting strategies have precipitated 34
consecutive months of U.S. manufacturing job losses and an
unprecedented crisis among thousands of small firms, like Tedesco's,
which make parts for large companies that have abandoned their
domestic operations. Tedesco believes job losses will accelerate over
the next year as corporate decisions made this year cascade through
the economy. Next on the chopping block, he says, are more
white-collar jobs in computer programming, insurance, and accounting.

The members of Tedesco's coalition are angry - the group's name is
Mad
in the U.S.A. - and they're not alone. The rally was backed by
prominent trade associations, including the Manufacturing Alliance of
Connecticut, and several local chambers of commerce. Organizers say
the turnout included both owners and employees. Several unions have
contacted Tedesco to get involved. He has also heard from disgruntled
small business owners across the country. Many are now organizing
locally and working to build a national network that will culminate
in
a march on Washington, D.C. - the "Million Manufacturers March."

None of this is good news for Bush and Party. Tedesco emphasizes that
Mad in the U.S.A. is nonpartisan. The coalition's policy agenda
includes trade reform and incentives for U.S. investment, and they
are
reaching out to Congresspeople on both sides of the aisle. Republican
House member Nancy Johnson spoke at the rally. But he also notes of
his fellow manufacturers, "I've never seen so many diehard
Republicans
say they are going to vote Democrat."

The Bush Administration has been using small business as cover to
push
a big business agenda of regressive tax cuts, deregulation, and
race-to-the-bottom trade. Just count the number of times Bush says
"small business" when defending his tax cut. Right-wing groups like
the Federation of Independent Businesses - which represents less than
five percent of all small business owners - have promoted the notion
that what's good for GM is good for small business.

But it's not. The notion of a single, unified business interest - as
in "a pro-business policy" or "business vs. labor" - is long gone, if
it ever existed. The natural allies of small business today are not
those advancing corporate interests, but those fighting consolidated
economic power: organized labor, environmental groups, and consumer
activists. These unfamiliar allies are beginning to work together.
And
when they do, the combination is potent.

Earlier this year in Taos, New Mexico, a coalition of more than 400
business owners and dozens of unionized grocery store employees
orchestrated a successful campaign to block a Wal-Mart supercenter.
For Fritz Hahn, owner of the Taos Herb Company, it was an obvious
partnership. "They're seeing their wages cut and their jobs thrust
out
of the country," he explained, "while small businesses are being
ground underfoot by the same corporations." Hahn's employees and
unionized grocery workers earn about double what Wal-Mart pays. The
coalition's message resonated with residents, who voted 61-to-39
percent against the supercenter in an advisory referendum before the
Town Council voted it down.

Coalitions of labor, environment, and small businesses are beating
Wal-Mart in other cities as well. The activity has opened rifts in
traditional business groups. While some chambers of commerce have
given heed to the plight of their independent members, many remain
mouthpieces for big business. In about a dozen cities, including
Austin and Salt Lake City, small businesses have broken ranks and
formed their own independent business alliances. They want city
officials to stop subsidizing big box stores and adopt land use
policies that favor small-scale enterprise. Back at Pa-Ted Spring in
Bristol, Fred Tedesco says the growing indignation of small
manufactures is causing a "bellyache" for the National Manufacturers
Association, which represents both small and large manufacturers.

Democrats in 2004 have a golden opportunity to reestablish themselves
as the champions of small business. They will have to prove
themselves. After all, many have had their hand in ruinous trade
policies and corporate giveaways. What's needed is enough backbone to
stand-up to corporate America and its campaign contributions, and a
strong small business platform.

Trade reform should be one plank, tax fairness another. Large
corporations receive lavish tax benefits unavailable to their smaller
rivals. Major retail chains are skirting billions in state corporate
income taxes through loopholes that allow them to move profits from
local stores to subsidiaries in tax-haven states like Delaware.
Federal policy exempts internet retailers from collecting sales tax,
giving companies like Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com a 4 to 8
percent price advantage over Main Street businesses.

Democrats should call for end to the state and local subsidies that
routinely flow to big box retailers. Billions in public dollars have
fueled chain store expansion and done little for employment - other
than trade jobs at shuttered small businesses for jobs at Wal-Mart
that typically pay less and offer fewer benefits.

We need to revive antitrust enforcement, especially in those
long-dormant areas that are of most concern to small businesses:
predatory pricing, an accusation commonly made against Wal-Mart, and
buyer power, i.e., big retailers pressuring manufacturers for
sweetheart deals that ultimately harm both small retailers and small
manufacturers.

These are just a few of the policy issues that could inspire small
business owners. Their vote is up for grabs to a degree it hasn't
been
for decades. It's an exceptional opportunity for Democrats, not only
to build a new constituency, but to offer an appealing economic plan
focused on spurring America's entrepreneurial energies rather than
enriching global corporations.

Stacy Mitchell is a researcher with the Institute for Local
Self-Reliance and author of "The Home Town Advantage: How to Defend
Your Main Street Against Chain Stores and Why It Matters."

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16685