Jim met Congressman McCotter in Hollywood at a dinner of a secret society, the name of which Jim is not at liberty to disclose. Jim recognized the Congressman from his many appearances on Fox News, and said he was the smartest guy on tv. McCotter said that isn’t saying much.

Jim offered McCotter a role in his movie, THE TAXMAN COMETH, as sleazy Congressman “Les Moore.” McCotter accepted the offer, thinking playing a sleazy congressman wasn’t too big a stretch. Jim admits the reason he offered him the role was because he thought the Congressman could raise $10 million to make the movie.

Corruption at DOJ/FBI to rig 2016 election is biggest scandal in U.S. history.

Jim supports free trade.

McCotter: There is no free trade.

Jim: Flaw in Trump’s thinking: if we have trade imbalance it means we’re losing money.

McCotter: That isn’t Trump’s thinking. Trump is trying to level playing field to stop China & other countries from dumping products here.

Jim: No, Trump has said many times that if we buy more than we sell, we are losing money. This is wrong. Trump criticizes Nafta because it caused the trade imbalance to increase. But the level of trade has gone up ten fold because of Nafta. This is good.

McCotter: China exports goods to Canada, then labels them as Canadian to export to U.S.

Jim: We can’t have perfect trade balance with every country. If the U.S. pays unskilled workers $20/hour we can’t compete with factories in Indonesia that pay 75 cents/hour. If they can produce goods cheaper, we should let them in so Americans can buy cheap goods.

McCotter: Communist China doesn’t allow workers to unionize & bargain for wages. We shouldn’t subsidize their police-state practices.

Jim: We can’t solve other countries’ problems.

McCotter: But we shouldn’t exacerbate their problems and enrich a totalitarian communist regime.

Jim: China isn’t really a communist economy anymore or they wouldn’t be growing. Communism doesn’t work. China’s economy is growing fast because they privatized much of their industry.

McCotter: No, China is run by the Communist Party. China’s expansion comes from western investment. This has enabled them to become militarily aggressive.

Jim: China’s theft of intellectual property & American technology has to be stopped. For other countries, U.S. tariffs are ok if they’re part of a poker strategy to force the other guys to back down and open their markets, but bad if intended to protect American companies from competition.

Congressman McCotter, who retired from Congress, says he won’t run for office again, and is unwilling and unsuited for lobbying.

Serving all humanity, but mainly serving myself, this is Jim Greenfield.

Special Guest: Congressman Thaddeus McCotter.