Giant sucking sound

Last updated

The "giant sucking sound" was a phrase used by United States presidential candidate Ross Perot, to describe what he believed would be the negative effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he opposed.

Contents

First usage and context

The phrase, which Perot coined during the 1992 US presidential campaign, referred to the sound of US jobs heading south for Mexico should the free-trade agreement go into effect.

In the second 1992 Presidential Debate, Ross Perot argued:

We have got to stop sending jobs overseas. It's pretty simple: If you're paying $12, $13, $14 an hour for factory workers and you can move your factory South of the border, pay a dollar an hour for labor, ... have no health care—that's the most expensive single element in making a car— have no environmental controls, no pollution controls and no retirement, and you don't care about anything but making money, there will be a giant sucking sound going south.
   ... when [Mexico's] jobs come up from a dollar an hour to six dollars an hour, and ours go down to six dollars an hour, and then it's leveled again. But in the meantime, you've wrecked the country with these kinds of deals. [1]

Perot ultimately lost the election, and the winner, Bill Clinton, supported NAFTA, which went into effect on January 1, 1994.

Legacy

The phrase has since come into general use to describe any situation involving loss of jobs, or fear of a loss of jobs, particularly by one nation to a rival. Examples include:

See also

Notes

The Commission on Presidential Debates and PBS Archived 2012-11-23 at the Wayback Machine transcribed "job-sucking sound".

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North American Free Trade Agreement</span> Agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States

The North American Free Trade Agreement was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that created a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994, and superseded the 1988 Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement between the United States and Canada. The NAFTA trade bloc formed one of the largest trade blocs in the world by gross domestic product.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1996 United States presidential election</span> 53rd quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1996 United States presidential election was the 53rd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1996. Incumbent Democratic President Bill Clinton defeated former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, the Republican nominee, and Ross Perot, the Reform Party nominee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1992 United States presidential election</span> 52nd quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1992 United States presidential election was the 52nd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1992. Democratic Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas defeated incumbent Republican President George H. W. Bush, independent businessman Ross Perot of Texas, and a number of minor candidates. The election marked the end of a period of Republican dominance in American presidential politics that began in 1968, and also marked the end of 12 years of Republican rule of the White House, as well as the end of the Greatest Generation's 32-year American rule and the beginning of the Baby boomers 28-year dominance until 2020. It was the last time the incumbent president failed to win a second term until 2020, when Donald Trump lost the election to Joe Biden; it was the first such occurrence since 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ross Perot</span> American businessman and politician (1930–2019)

Henry Ross Perot was an American business magnate, billionaire, politician and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. He ran an independent campaign in the 1992 U.S. presidential election and a third-party campaign in the 1996 U.S. presidential election as the nominee of the Reform Party, which was formed by grassroots supporters of Perot's 1992 campaign. Although he failed to carry a single state in either election, both campaigns were among the strongest presidential showings by a third party or independent candidate in U.S. history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Clinton 1992 presidential campaign</span> Political campaign

The 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton, then the governor of Arkansas, was announced on October 3, 1991, at the Old State House in Little Rock, Arkansas. After winning a majority of delegates in the Democratic primaries of 1992, the campaign announced that then-junior Senator from Tennessee, Al Gore, would be Clinton's running mate. The Clinton-Gore ticket went on to defeat Republican incumbent President George H. W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle in the presidential election on November 3, 1992, and took office as the 42nd president and 45th vice president, respectively, on January 20, 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1992 Democratic National Convention</span> Political convention

The 1992 Democratic National Convention nominated Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas for president and Senator Al Gore from Tennessee for vice president; Clinton announced Gore as his running-mate on July 9, 1992. The convention was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York from July 13 to July 16, 1992. The Clinton-Gore ticket then faced and defeated their Republican opponents, President George H. W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle as well as the independent ticket of Ross Perot and James Stockdale in the 1992 presidential election.

United We Stand America was the name selected by Texas businessman H. Ross Perot for his citizen action organization after his 1992 independent political campaign for President of the United States. Perot's 19% showing in the 1992 election was sufficient to entitle him to federal matching funds for the 1996 campaign. After the campaign, Perot announced, on January 11, 1993, the formation of a non-profit watchdog organization named United We Stand America.

The economic policies of Bill Clinton administration, referred to by some as Clintonomics, encapsulates the economic policies of United States President Bill Clinton that were implemented during his presidency, which lasted from January 1993 to January 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ross Perot 1992 presidential campaign</span> United States presidential campaign

In 1992, Ross Perot ran unsuccessfully as an independent candidate for President of the United States. Perot was a Texas industrialist who had never served as a public official, but he had experience as the head of several successful corporations and had been involved in public affairs for the previous three decades. Grass-root organizations sprang up in every state to help Perot achieve ballot access following his announcement on the February 20, 1992 edition of Larry King Live. James Stockdale, a retired Navy vice admiral, was Perot's running mate.

North American Free Trade Agreement's impact on United States employment has been the object of ongoing debate since the 1994 inception of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico. NAFTA's proponents believe that more jobs were ultimately created in the USA. Opponents see the agreements as having been costly to well-paying American jobs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russ Verney</span>

Russell J. Verney is a political advisor, who served as chairman of the Reform Party of the United States from 1995 to 1999. He worked on the presidential campaigns of Ross Perot and Bob Barr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1992 United States presidential election in Colorado</span> Election in Colorado

The 1992 United States presidential election in Colorado took place on November 3, 1992, as part of the 1992 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1992 United States presidential election in Maine</span> Election in Maine

The 1992 United States presidential election in Maine took place on November 3, 1992, as part of the 1992 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1992 United States presidential election in Minnesota</span>

The 1992 United States presidential election in Minnesota took place on November 3, 1992, as part of the 1992 United States presidential election. Voters chose ten representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

This article lists running mates considered by Ross Perot during his 1996 candidacy for President of the United States. Following his 1992 independent candidacy, which attracted nearly 20% of the popular vote, Perot announced the formation of the Reform Party in 1995. Perot ran for president in 1996, and defeated former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm in the Reform Party primaries. On September 11, 1996, Perot announced his choice of economics professor Pat Choate as his running mate. Perot and Choate had previously co-authored the book Save Your Job, Save Our Country, which argued against the ratification of NAFTA. The Perot–Choate ticket took 8.4% of the popular vote in the 1996 election.

The United States presidential election debates were held during the 1996 presidential election. Two debates were held between Republican candidate, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and Democratic incumbent President Bill Clinton, the major candidates. One debate was held with their vice presidential running mates, Jack Kemp and Al Gore. All three debates were sponsored by the non-profit Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), which has organized presidential debates since its establishment in 1987.

After it went into effect on January 1, 1994, public opinion in the United States on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) varied over time. In 2020, NAFTA was superseded by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement

The 1992 United States presidential debates were a series of debates held for the presidential election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George H. W. Bush 1992 presidential campaign</span> 1992 presidential campaign of President George H. W. Bush

The 1992 presidential campaign of George H. W. Bush was an unsuccessful re-election campaign for 1992 United States presidential election by incumbent president George H. W. Bush, who had taken office on January 20, 1989. Bush and incumbent vice president Dan Quayle were defeated by Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton and vice presidential nominee Al Gore. Bush, a Republican president and former vice president under Ronald Reagan, launched his presidential bid on October 11, 1991 and secured nomination for his re-election on August 20, 1992. He was challenged in the Republican primaries by former White House Communications Director Pat Buchanan, who received less than one percent of the delegates in the Convention.

References

  1. "THE 1992 CAMPAIGN; Transcript of 2d TV Debate Between Bush, Clinton and Perot". The New York Times. 16 October 1992. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  2. Landler, Mark (2004), Hungary Eager and Uneasy Over New Status , The New York Times, March 5, 2004, Business, p. 1
  3. Friedman, Thomas L (2004), What's That Sound?, The New York Times, April 1, 2004, editorial section, p. 23
  4. Sharkey, Joe (June 28, 2005). "That Giant Sucking Sound". The New York Times. p. B8. In a stark reminder of the harsh personal toll of the airline industry's slump, the government released figures showing that employment at the major carriers has fallen 34 percent during the last four years ...
  5. "Steve LaTourette blames D.C. sucking sound on politicians' sphincters | Openers Archive Site - cleveland.com". Blog.cleveland.com. 2009-03-19. Archived from the original on 2018-09-26. Retrieved 2010-05-04.