Open letter to North Carolina senator Kay Hagan…

Dear Ms. Hagan,

Last evening in an interview with CNBC’s Larry Kudlow you voiced your support for the so-called China Currency Bill that looks to be receiving overwhelming support in the U.S. Senate. You accuse China of manipulating its currency in a manner that makes its goods cheaper in the U.S. and U.S. goods more expensive in China. You confessed that yours is a manufacturing state and has lost some 100,000 jobs over the past few years… You assign zero blame to the unions, to stifling regulations or to the U.S. corporate tax structure… China is the sole culprit, by your estimation… Am I wrong?

Therefore you support this bill that, by imposing import tariffs, would serve [you believe] to reverse the trend – i.e., make Chinese goods more expensive to U.S. consumers and U.S. goods cheaper to Chinese consumers… Let me get this straight, you honestly believe that we, as a nation, would in some way benefit from legislation that would, as you say, have a direct negative impact on the U.S. consumer’s net spendable income? Or are you saying that you’re willing to sacrifice the consumer-at-large in what will surely turn out to be a vain attempt to aid manufacturers in your home state? Or is it the obvious – a feeble attempt to distract the voter from the more pressing issue; you and your colleagues’ (both sides of the aisle) unbridled misuse of public funds?

Sincerely and Frustratedly Yours,
Martin L. Mazorra, Consumer-at-large…