I tuned into the CNBC business channel this morning as I got ready for work.  I watched as the CNBC anchor pumped yet another all-too-willing corporate interview shill to recite how the government should “get out of the way” of small business, how all economic ills would be cured if only the government would provide incentives for small business and eliminate burdensome regulations.

Not once, in this interview or any other I have seen, does anyone specify what amount of regulation would be acceptable, what particular incentives would be useful, or what rate of taxation would be more fair.  This is because (do you need to be told this?) the answers to the above questions would be: none, everything and zero.  That’s their answer and they’re  sticking to it.

The Republican (aka Wall Street) narrative is and will always be: businesses simply cannot  operate in the US under these chafing regulations, onerous taxation and uncertain future.  The alternative is always left unspoken but we all know it is “or else we move overseas”.

If only this were true.  If only we, as a nation, could buy off the Republican/Wall Street cabal “simply” by setting corporate taxes to zero, eliminating all regulation, banning unions and paying tax credits (bribes) to businesses to hire people who live in the United States.  If we economic hostages (excuse me, US citizens) agreed to this, what would change?  Would the next “good-paying manufacturing job” go to you, or would it go to someone in China where “good-paying” equals $2250 a year?  (With this overly-generous wage, the Chinese have become the third-highest paid workers in Asia — alert business-owners will take note and consider moving to Myanmar, where an average worker makes $400 a year, what a killer opportunity!)

It really has come down to what Americans want.  Do we want cheap LCD TVs more than we want jobs and some prospect of economic vitality for our children and their children?  Millions of people are casting their vote for “Cheap TVs” every year at their local Wal-Mart and every two years at their local precinct, by voting for the Republican/Wall Street cabal.

Like Wal-Mart, Republicans are excellent marketers — they prey on our fears and they play to our childhood sense of right-and-wrong by presenting black-and-white choices: “Business good, regulation bad”.  Frankenstein has the brains to understand that one.

We will never be able to satisfy them, the Republican/Wall Street cabal.  They will not be creating US jobs, whatever concessions are made.  On the contrary, the values they profess compel them to let jobs migrate to wherever the pay-scale is lowest.  No one, Democrat or Republican, seems willing to speak to this structural problem.  Instead, they pay lip service to American hard work and ingenuity, as if to invoke the spirits of Thomas Edison and Ronald Reagan, who will rise and team up like Power Rangers to lead us to a new century of American Splendor.  (As you can see, I never metaphor I didn’t like.)

You might think the outcome is inevitable, that we are destined to become a nation of minimum-wagers in a race to the bottom vs the lowest-wage workers available to exploit. Maybe it doesn’t have to be this way.  Maybe we simply lack politicians who have the courage to say, enough, we need to support, promote and, yes, protect US manufacturing.  For instance, Congress could base our corporate tax rate on the percentage of domestic vs foreign operations — domestic good, foreign bad.  Even Frankenstein CFOs would get this.  Congress could also fix our “fair trade” agreements to reflect labor and environmental standards, rather than allow trading partners to exploit them for short-term advantage.  The point is, things could be done that don’t follow a “race to the bottom” narrative.

Do I hear proposals like this on CNBC?  No, I don’t.  CNBC is a channel for day-traders.  Most of the business advocates appearing on CNBC seem willing to day-trade our future.  It is what they do.  They are hammers looking for nails.  We get nailed, they get bonuses.

I wish I could end this essay on the upbeat, with some aspirations for a brighter future.  Personally I don’t see it coming.  So, I guess I’ll see you at Wal-Mart.  Until tomorrow.