Dear Uncle Sam,
Happy Birthday. Hugs and kisses. You are, after all, our BFF. As Barack Obama said in March 2016, when he had the Trudeaus over for dinner, “What’s not to like?”
Well, friendship takes two.
From our perspective, Uncle Sam, we’re concerned about your state of mind. The words weird and freaky are apropos. You’re doing stuff that’s starting to bug us. (I originally wrote, “pissed off,” but that would be out of character.)
We have learned over the decades to be ignored. You’ve got the big mansion in the neighborhood and we live in the tiny bungalow at the end of the cul-de-sac.
But it’s important to remind you that America buys a lot of oil from us to run your cars and trucks, lumber to build your homes and nickel to make your steel. The list of goods we sell each other is long, very long. In fact we have the largest trading relationship of goods and services the world has ever seen.
Who knew? Apparently not Donald Trump.
So why is he screwing with it? Michelle Goldberg wrote in the New York Times last week, Trump “is an authoritarian President of dubious legitimacy and depraved character …”
Why are so many of you applauding and encouraging his flagitious diplomacy?
Uncle Sam, do you remember the history of NAFTA? It began in 1985 as a Canadian initiative to stem a growing wave of protectionism in the US. To make a deal, President Reagan wanted one big thing and he got it, a secure supply of oil and gas from Canada. America at the time, was being yanked on a chain by oil sheiks and despots.
Today, North America is essentially self sufficient in energy. It’s a policy success that Canada and the U.S. have achieved together.
We can take the abuse President Trump is dumping on Canada right now, although it’s starting to erode 151 years of common effort to improve the neighborhood.
You know that we are nice and humble folk up here in the north. We don’t brag much. In fact, when our Snowbirds go south there is an unwritten rule that we are not to engage you in political discussions.
But maybe we should. Perhaps, if we gave you a piece of our mind, a straight-up unvarnished earful, you might accept the possibility that snake-oil salesmen do nothing but leave a reptilian stain. They do nothing to better your lives.
Why, for example, is your life expectancy three years shorter than ours (and falling)? Why are your crime rates and your murder rates so much higher than ours? Why is your income disparity between rich and poor so much greater than ours? Why are we fitter and healthier than you?
But we Canadians shouldn’t get too uppity about all of this. The fact is we’re a very lucky country.
Our greatest luck, indeed our greatest fortune, Uncle Sam, comes from living beside you.
That’s right, you have been good for us and good to us.
Sure, we’ve had differences over the years. JFK detested John Diefenbaker and LBJ told Mike Pearson, when Canada criticized Vietnam War policies, “Don’t piss on my rug.”
These are important issues that neighbors argue about. But they are minuscule beside the tens of thousands of days we have worked together for prosperity and freedom. On the D-Day beaches you had Omaha and we had Juno. We fought and died beside you in Korea, the Gulf War and Afghanistan. And as conflicts come and go, it’s no small achievement that we maintain the longest undefended border in the world.
How can that happen? Simply because we trust each other.
Isn’t our relationship a model for the world; a shining example for those who constantly fight with their neighbours? China. India. Iran. Saudi Arabia. Russia. Venezuela.
So Uncle Sam, on your birthday, know that we have your back. Do you still have ours?
Robert Hurst was CTV’s Washington Bureau Chief between 1988 and 1991.
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You are correct in noting that, while the U.S. is indeed the wealthiest country on the planet, there is an extremely wide divide in how that wealth is shared.
The U.S. is ruled by the mega-wealthy. But then, that has been increasingly so since the Federal Reserve Act was passed in 1913, along with the Internal Revenue Act (they work hand-in-hand). The founders of the U.S. were in dread that the U.S. would ever have a European-style central bank and resisted it for many decades. ALL of the U.S. debt has been accumulated since 1913. Look up Andrew Jackson’s fight against the international bankers as well as Abraham Lincoln’s. It has been said that, had Lincoln gone for the usurious rates of interest demanded by the international bankers during the U.S. Civil War, that the U.S. would still be paying that debt today.
A bit of history is in order. The Pennsylvania Colony was a model of prosperity and financial responsibility. But (and this is key) they had no central bank (each colony was more or less autonomous–at first). When Europeans would come to visit Benjamin Franklin, they would remark to Franklin on the happiness, industry and prosperity of the Pennsylvanians. They would then contrast it with the desperate financial conditions of most ordinary Europeans and wonder why the difference. Franklin told them that it was simple–Pennsylvania had no central bank which siphoned great amounts of wealth from the people. He, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams detested the idea that the financial forces would ever get their hooks into America. The colonial scrip used by the Pennsylvanians was based on an estimate of the total value of land, in the colony, along with the goods and services produced by the colonial people. They had no inflation and no deflation. This lasted for about 50 years of financial stability. Then, under much pressure from the Bank of England, the British Parliament forced the American colonies to use the British pound as their currency. Pennsylvania went into an immediate depression with huge job losses. Franklin always maintained that this one act of the British Parliament was the REAL reason for the American Revolution. He insisted that the colonists would have reluctantly paid the increase in the tax on tea but they could not accept the financial rule of the British banks. Central banks around the world are the real reason why we see the huge disparity of wealth that we have today. When anyone dares to stand up against the banks, they are destroyed by the forces of international banking. The U.S. is the most productive economy on earth–it is quite logical that the international bankers would want to make debt slaves of the American people and all others like them (such as the Canadians). If you look into it, you will see that I am correct. Read up on “inverted totalitarianism”–it will explain much that has occurred during the last thirty years.
The Democrats are totally owned by the financial forces of the global elite. Without the policies of the globalist elites, the Democrats would not have any policies at all. They hoodwink their constituents into believing that the Democrats are “on the side of the little guy” when nothing could be further from the truth. The cities (and now, even states) ruled by the Democrats are among the worst ruled jurisdictions.
BJ, you have given an extraordinarily informed and concise analysis (unlike Hurst’s globalist-inspired Trump-bashing). We are being lied to by our national media in their attempt to follow the globalist plan of bringing the Western nations to their knees (particularly the middle class of those nations) so that they will be forced to accept world government. George Soros has said that the only thing standing in the way of world government is the sovereignty of the United States (and to a lesser extent, the sovereignty of all Western nations). He has used his money and political power to that end. Soros owns a huge number of Western politicians. All of the radical “activist” groups like BLM and Anti-fa have financial ties to him.
The USA has many problems and most are self-imposed. The following puts key factors in perspective.
USA Germany Canada Japan Russia Mexico China
GDP $US billions $20,415 $4,211 $1,798 $5,167 $1,719 $1,212 $14,092
GDP $ US per capita $62,152 $52,801 $49,775 $44,426 $28,958 $20,612 $18,066
Equality
(Rich 10% / Poor 10%) 18.5 6.9 9.4 4.5 12.7 21.6 21.6
Trade surplus/deficit $b -$8.03 $274.00 -$11.70 -$1.10 $161.00 -$14.50 $600.00
Trade +/- as % of GDP -3.90% 6.50% -0.65% -0.02% 9.36% -1.19% 4.26%
Military $US billion 700 47 21 59 66 8 228
Military % of GDP 3.31% 1.19% 1.30% 1.43% 4.30% 0.60% 1.90%
Debt / GDP 108% 64% 89% 236% 17% 58% 66%
Lifespan (years) 79.3 81 82.2 83.7 70.5 76.7 76.1
The US does not have an income problem. They have the highest GDP per capita in the G20 (the world’s 20 largest economies). The US also has the 3rd largest income inequality problem in the G20. But for Trump, everything is a deal. He is not satisfied with the largest GDP per capita of any G20 country. Just like his real estate deals, he seems to think that he and the USA should have all of the money and leave nothing for anyone else. The US cannot realistically expect to sustain the relative economic advantage they have had since WW2. Thanks to the satellite TV and the Internet (invented by the USA), developing countries are more than ever aware of economic differences and are working to improve their capabilities, economies, and quality of life.
The US has a trade deficit of $803 billion in goods (mainly blue collar jobs) that is partially offset by a surplus of $244 billion is services (mainly white collar jobs) for an overall net deficit of $566. To put that in perspective, the US trade deficit is 3.9% of GDP, not the highest and not the lowest. The US trade deficit accumulated from zero in 1976 to $10 trillion by 2016, or about $25 billion per year as US companies (including Trump’s companies) moved jobs to lower wage countries to further enrich their owners and shareholders.
In addition to the $10 trillion accumulated trade deficit, the US is running a current budget deficit of $1 trillion per year due to Trump’s increase of military spending to $700 billion and tax cuts that benefit mostly the wealthy and, according to the Congressional Budget Office, do not increase government revenues proportionately.
Middle East wars have added $3 trillion to US debt and resulted in a more de-stabilized Middle East, leading to mass migrations affecting many countries. US military expenditures are 3 times China and 10 times Russia. Russia’s main strength is their nuclear weapons. China and Russia escalate because the US and NATO escalate. If the strongest player does not show restraint, then who will? Fair reciprocal trade usually replaces shooting with talking and helps to reduce the need for military expenditures.
US trade, war, and current account deficits accumulate to $22 trillion or 108% of GDP, higher than all other G20 countries except Japan. Currently, nobody is paying for the US deficit and debt. The poor cannot pay and the rich are not paying. The shrinking of the US middle class occurred gradually over 40 years and the “bold” actions of the Trump Administration are more likely to exacerbate the problem than to solve it. Unfortunately they could drag their traditional allies (like Canada) down with them. Trump is misleading US voters to think that he can force trading partners to pay for US debt when the wealthiest US citizens (like him) are not paying their fair share.
Robert Hurst – I attempt to respond to points you make in “Dear Uncle Sam…”
Talking about having the backs of Canadians? Our concern should be that our prime minister, Justin Trudeau, clearly does not have our backs and is clearly abusive to us and working against us. We have to face the fact that our Prime Minister is more loyal to foreign, undemocratic countries than he is to Canada. His elitist, globalist agenda puts Canada at risk, and weakens us from the inside. Never mind President Trump who is most certainly not dumping on Canada.
Trudeau got what he wanted from Trump.
Trump offered a trade deal with a five-year sunset clause, and Trudeau rejected it.
Trump proposed a bilateral Canada-US trade deal, as opposed to one that includes Mexico, and Trudeau rejected it.
Trump threatened tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium exports if we didn’t eliminate our supply management dairy cartel, but Trudeau decided to protect a racket that raises prices on consumers.The press conference he did was a total lie.
It is apparent that, in reality, Trudeau wants NAFTA to fail. It makes him look good on the world stage. And he gets the ‘Hate Trump’ vote. Trudeau and his advisors see this as an opportunity to distract from the weakening Canadian economy, and reverse his growing unpopularity – regardless of the damage it does to the Canadian people.
Consider too that the end of NAFTA would give Trudeau the excuse he’s been waiting for in order to “pivot” away from the U.S. and towards China. Of course, we know that so-called “free trade” with China will accelerate the destruction of Canadian manufacturing and will decimate the middle class and working class, but Trudeau doesn’t care about that. The deal would make his globalist buddies far richer and far more powerful, and that’s all he really cares about.
Trudeau’s anti-western social justice warrior mentality causes him to disdain the greatness of western civilization, and elevate foreign countries above our own and above the cultural principles we share with allies like the United States, Britain, Australia, and others.
So, as we watch Trudeau’s handling of NAFTA, we can see that while some of what he does may be incompetence, there’s a very good chance he wants the deal to fall apart in order to fulfill his true political agenda – an agenda he has never, and will never honestly share with the Canadian people.
From the beginning of NAFTA negotiations Trudeau and his inept, former journalist, Chrystia Freeland, both close confidants and friends of Globlaist George Soros focused on irrelevant trade issues such as gender, feminist rights, although Justin has shown repeatedly that he is anything but a feminist.
There was a lot not to like about the Obama-Trudeau collusion of leftist Globalists against patriotism.
You direct your letter to Uncle Sam aka President Trump and discuss concern for his state of mind when in fact Canadians should be extremely concerned about the state of mindlessness of Justin Trudeau whose actions are not carried out to bug us but to replace our country with his vision of a Post national region.
Using the unethical propaganda rag, The NYTimes’s analysis of the character of President Trump lacks substance. Rather look at the distaste for Justin Trudeau that astute Canadians are finally seeing rear its ugly head. Certainly authoritarian, dubious legitimacy, inept, and definitely an unaccountable character without conscience. Perhaps look into President Trump’s multiple achievements on behalf of the American people and contrast those to Justin’s works of art against the Canadian people.
NAFTA is most certainly about more than oil and you seem to have bypassed the fact that our prime minister aims to bring our oil and gas sector to its knees. He has done everything possible to prevent our oil from getting to international markets making us not, as you say, self sufficient in energy. He was completely unresponsive to the fires in Fort McMurray, the cause of which has been silenced.
We import one third of our oil by tanker ships from Saudi Arabia when we are an oil rich country. Trudeau is exempting foreign oil from the emissions regulations they impose on oil made right here in Canada. This means the government is purposely giving an advantage to oil from countries like Saudi…Trudeau has said that he wishes he could phase out the oil industry in Canada tomorrow. He has financially supported radical anti pipeline groups.
Nice and humble folk or compliant and passive will not interfere with Justin as he methodically and without any conscience decimates our country under the direction of his Globalist pals like the sinister George Soros.
Crime rates in the sanctuary city Toronto now exceed those in NY city. And, I think you should check on your facts regarding income disparity as the Liberals in Canada work against middle income Canadians.
The longest undefended border between America and Canada should no longer be undefended given the welcome mat Justin has extended to immigrants at the expense of his own people. Most are unaccounted for after they cross our border. America’s president is quite correct when he states that Canada presents a security threat to America given the terrorists that Trudeau welcomes back and the terrorist organizations that he donates millions to world wide. Never mind Trudeau’s refusal to fulfill our commitment to NATO ( we rank 2nd from the bottom of all countries in the NATO alliance).
Despite warnings against the deal from the Department of Defence and CSIS, the Liberal government has let China take control of a Canadian company with close links to our national security. ITF Technologies is described as a world leader in laser technology, which can be used for directed-energy weapons. ITF Technologies had worked closely with Canada’s Department of National Defence, and was closely linked with the National Security of our country. Thanks to Justin China now has control of ITF Technologies. The approval of the sale of ITF Technologies to China’s O-Net Communications was incredibly dangerous. It will make Taiwan, Japan, and China’s other neighbours less safe. It will strengthen China in the South China Sea, as directed energy weapon technology could give China the capability to cripple American aircraft carriers in the area. This is yet another reason that President Trump feels that we are a security threat. NATO should feel the same.
Your Justin Trudeau is damaging the model relationship between our country and America as he has damaged our relationship with India, Indonesia, pretty much any democratic country he has visited. Justin Trudeau has shown a disturbing obsession with China. Even before he was elected he said he admired China’s “Basic Dictatorship.” He held Cash-For-Access events where he was lobbied by Chinese billionaires. He let China buy the biggest assisted-living provider in BC. While Trudeau distances us from our traditional allies, he moves us closer to the Iranian regime. Iran is one of the biggest state sponsors of terror, and it’s people are oppressed by a brutal Islamist regime with values diametrically opposed to Canada.
You mention the D Day beaches. The Canadians that fought on those beaches would be appalled at what Justin Trudeau is doing to our democracy and freedom, our sovereignty and nationalism that they sacrificed to save. If Canadians do not show their patriotism and stand against him, they are failing to honor those warriors.
Erin
Exceptional response written with total accuracy.
I wouldn’t worry too much about it, Robert. Canada and the U.S. will always be brothers and friends. But sometimes a brother might feel that his little brother has taken advantage of his big brother’s generosity. Labour unions in the U.S. have complained about NAFTA for some time. The rank-and-file of those unions were a segment of the U.S. population that put Donald Trump in the White House. He owes them to “get a better deal”. You are at risk of becoming an irrelevancy–like all the rest of your globalist clan in the media. Repeating the slander of Michelle Goldberg of the very partisan New York Times while ignoring the truths of what has happened to the status of the U.S. over the last thirty years as a result of globalist policies is what the media always does–to the detriment of the people on both sides of the border. But the media serves their super-wealthy owners–not the interests of the ordinary Joes and Janes who have to struggle to maintain their living standards in a world that is increasingly hostile to those interests. Is it any wonder that Donald Trump is the champion they are looking to to protect those interests? When you insult him, you are insulting the many millions who support him. Media figures like you just encourage Americans to embrace a “Fortress America” stance.