The Democrats Trade Messaging

I was looking at a past post by Josh Kahn regarding our message problems, in which he pointed out that our message is actually worse off than our image.  What also struck me as I was reading the supporting NPR survey, though, was how much we have let the Democrats get away with putting forward popular slogans repeated over and over again that are not only factually inaccurate but also somewhat destructive.

A good example is trade.  Since at least 2004, Democrats have frequently railed against giving “tax breaks to companies that send jobs overseas”.  The mantra was repeated so often during the Democratic primaries that it became stuck in everyone’s head like a bad song played too many times on the radio.  In fact, Barack Obama’s second television advertisement explicitly referenced this too: “As president, he’ll end tax breaks for companies that export jobs, reward those that create jobs in America.”  I believe this is, in fact, the first policy proposal he has given in a general election ad.

But for all the outrage against the Republicans this has caused (especially in the Rust Belt), does ending these “tax breaks” make any sense?  The tax breaks that Obama and other Democrats are talking about refer to the long-time practice of not taxing company profits that are earned and remain overseas for further investment.  Forcing companies to pay the exorbitant U.S. tax rate would do nothing to stop outsourcing (considering that labor costs are much lower in India and China), but it will help cripple those companies in the face of foreign competitors whose governments don’t have to pander to the protectionist crowd.  

Its similar with Colombia. Democrats oppose a free trade agreement with Colombia that is disapproved by their union masters. This is in spite of the fact that only U.S. based companies would benefit from the agreement  because we already import the vast majority of Colombian goods duty-free.

If Republicans are serious about countering this issue, they should be constantly pointing out that the real problem with our tax code is that it imposes the second highest rate of taxation on corporations in the world, and thus it reduces our competitiveness.  The GOP has been defensive about trade for too long, and if they don’t fight back the Rust Belt will be gone for a long time.