<P>Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association in Arlington, VA., is sharpening his battle ax for the likes of Lou Dobbs. Dobbs is chief among those believers and campaigners against many elements of free trade, at least as practiced around the world today. Dobbs asserts that FT is hollowing out our advanced civilization and replacing it with a third-world-like existence--a bad deal for America. Shapiro holds a far different view and offered it on Dobbs afternoon CNN television program a few months ago. The recalcitrant Dobbs left Shapiro appearing as a well-spoken but one-sided representative of a foreign constituency rather than a noble upholder of the truth. Shapiro is widely acknowledged as being a savvy, but shoot-from-the-hip operator, and one of the most effective lobbying forces in all Washington. Shapiro said recently in a confident statesman-like address to the Detroit Economic Club that contrary to popular thinking the benefits of Free Trade are many and permits an embrace of innovative and standardized digital consumer electronics that can be onboard the poducts of Detroit. "Detroit must and can compete in the new economy."
To beef up his Free Trade arguments for the following report was commissioned for (and released today) by the CEA. __Dale Cripps</P>
<em>U.S. Consumer Electronics Industry Indirectly Impacts One-Tenth of U.S. GDP and Supports 15.4 Million American Jobs in Related Industries</em>.
<strong>Arlington, Va., April 2, 2008</strong> - Fueled by international trade, the consumer electronics (CE) industry is poised to generate $1.4 trillion in direct business activity in 2008, while directly employing more than 4.4 million Americans, according to a new study released today by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®. Burgeoning international trade is helping grow the sector, driving 14 percent of the CE industry's total output and...
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