A proposal currently under consideration in the U.S. Congress may soon charge visitors to the United States a $10 entry fee.

The basic idea behind the bill is that promoting tourism should not cost the U.S. taxpayer, something I completely disagree with.

The European Union is obviously against the concept, and given the hassles tourists already encounter before entering the U.S, I have to agree with them.

If implemented the $10 tourism sponsorship fee would be linked to the ESTA pre-registration system currently required for all visitors from visa waiver countries. A family of five will have to pay $50, just for the right to travel to the States, in addition to any new luggage fees imposed by the airlines.

Another thing to keep in mind is that this fee (if implemented through ESTA) will most likely require a debit or credit card, something not everyone abroad possesses. ESTA itself is a horrible system, because it requires a computer to access, locking out anyone without Internet access. Now the penalty could be double – you’ll need Internet access and a credit card if you want to visit the US of A.

For more details about the proposal bill can be found here: Travel promotion act of 2009.

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I read the other day that Disney Corporation is buying Marvel Comics for something over US$4 billion. This has caused me to think about what’s wrong with America today. It’s that the American economy is phony; style and not substance, sizzle and not steak.

It seems to me that “producers” in an economy can choose to output real goods or services (that is, products or services that take on their own economic life and/or have high usefulness), that only kill and destroy (weapons and other outputs of the military-industrial conflict), or simply project image but add no value to anything (such as designer logos). The USA has decided to become a producer in the latter two categories, disdainfully leaving most industrial goods production to what it terms the “developing economies”.

Now Disney will reap enormous profits by licensing Marvel images to be woven into, stamped onto, painted on (presumably some with lead-based paint), etc. all sorts of everyday goods like children’s pajamas, mugs, sneakers and the like by Asian sweatshops and sold to Americans in WalMart and other big-box (i.e.; low-wage/no employee benefit) stores.

It’s been going on for about a generation now. Ralph Lauren licenses its name/logo to just about anything, adding no value but jacking up the price but – and this is important – adding no tangible value whatsoever. I’ve seen Ralph Lauren paintbrushes and color selections at a big-box store and Ralph Lauren eyeglass frames at an optical shop.

An even more egregious example is Donna Karan of New York, whoever she is. Is there a Donna Karan? There never was a Betty Crocker, after all. All that company puts out are baseball caps, t-shirts and sweatshirts and handbags emblazoned with “DKNY” in simple block letters. For that, people pay a premium price! In the process they give DKNY free advertising. The jobs and the money flow from the pockets of Americans (mostly the poor) into corporate coffers and out of the USA through the trade imbalance.

America pays heretofore unimaginable riches to entertainment and sports figures while failing to properly reward those who work and even more shamefully, those who first educate themselves. It compounds the error by providing the wrong example to American children, who then abandon education.

A bit over 30 years ago my wife and I met an Australian living very, very well in the USA. His business: He would follow American buyers around in Asia and after working hours, ply them with liquor to learn at which sweatshops they’d made arrangements to have millions of “label” blue jeans produced. Then he’s go to that producer and arrange for about 10 percent more production of the same thing to secretly be made and sold to him. He’s then import to the US and Europe and sell what was the identical product for a substantial discount (but still a very nice profit, thanks to the huge “designer label” markups normally applied).

Take it from me substance matters more than style. Fashion exists to allow us to laugh at ourselves in 30-year-old photos. Who won last year’s sports championships are the answers to trivia questions. Yes, art and entertainment have aesthetic worth, but the worth must be kept in proper perspective. The USA has failed to do so. I hope Dominica learns from the example.

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My wife, daughter and I (our entire family) voted for Barak Obama for President of the United States.

We’re still glad we did, but not because of any accomplishments – there have been no major ones – but because the alternative was really scary. It is important to understand that Obama never had a constituency: American always turn to the Democratic Party in hard economic times, people were sick of the war in Iraq, and yes, he captured bloc ethnic votes. Before you argue that point take a look at the returns from, say, North Carolina or Virginia.

But his presidency is doomed. He will serve one term, that’s all. Here are the reasons why:

• Americans have no patience. They’re accustomed to solutions in half-hour or hour intervals, as on TV.
• Americans have no historical perspective: Remember, the Great Depression began 90 years ago. I’m 68 and only heard about it from my parents. Even WWII was over before I turned 5.
• A President’s powers are limited and most American’s would fail a civics test about them. And, Barak Obama does not walk on water.
• As Commander-in-Chief he could accelerate withdrawal from Iraq. And the war in Afghanistan is futile and destructive both to the economy and his presidency.

It takes an “opposite” to make momentous changes in America. People forget that FDR was an avowed fiscal conservative when elected. That it took a war-hero general to win election by promising to end the Korean War – any Democrat trying that would have been labeled soft on communism. That the Republican who claimed that Truman and Democrats “lost China” and who won election in 1968 decrying Robert Kennedy’s promise to support admitting “Red” China into the UN – Richard Nixon – also won by claiming to have “a secret plan to end the war in Vietnam”. Nixon was able to open a dialog with the People’s Republic of China. Democrats wanted to do that but could never have survived the political fallout.

Has anyone noticed that it was a Republican governor who got a universal health care plan passed in Massachusetts? It will be a Republican President who gets US universal health care passed: For the wrong reasons, of course. It will pass because hospitals, doctors, and insurance companies are feeling the pain, not because the people need it.

I still support Obama, except for Afghanistan and his political gifts to homosexuals. I’d like him to win a 2nd term and to get a health care plan, a good one, though, and turn this wretched economy around. But I believe I’ll be disappointed.

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