Back in the 1990’s, I wrote several pieces about what the proposed free trade acts would do to the economy in this country…I believed then that they would do NOTHING good and on the contrary would cost American jobs and loss of industry…of course, in those days I was called a commie for NOT wanting to see a free trade act….not much has changed……….I am still called a commie more likely a socialist but not many know the difference……why do I rehash the past?
Well, guess what? The Obama admin is proposing a…..wait for it……a free trade act……that is right…yet another free trade agreement……
This time it is agreement with Panama, Columbia and South Korea and the White House has said that it will create American jobs…..really? Is that not what NAFTA was suppose to do? Don’t hurt yourself…..that was the promise. Now if anyone recalls, candidate Obama said that reforming NAFTA to make it more worker friendly would be a priority for his admin…..that was pretty much a lie…there has been NO reform of NAFTA. It seems that the Obama admin has allowed corporate America to write up these newest proposals….and guess what? It will put millions of Americans back to work……REALLY?
If that is true why would they say this?
The Obama administration said on Monday that it would not seek Congressional approval of free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea until Republicans agree to expand assistance for American workers who might lose jobs as a result… The announcement puts the White House in line with Congressional Democrats who have made expanded benefits a condition of their support for the trade deals. (Quoted from the NY Times)…
Let me see if I have this right? The trade agreements will create jobs but before it goes into effect the Congress must make provisions for any job loss that is created by the agreement……..”The administration is simultaneously selling the trade deals as engines of job growth while admitting that the deals will likely kill so many American jobs that Congress must preemptively cough up money to clean up the corresponding economic wreckage.” (Quoted David Sirota in Salon.com)….
You still do not think it is all one big game in Washington? Just once I would like for the American people to get all the info before they go off half cocked….I know….a silly notion!
Of course it’s a game, but (in my opinion) so-called free trade – real free trade makes a great deal of sense and is TOTALLY right.
I know it’s a cliche, but that doesn’t make it any less true – the world is getting smaller by the day and “protectionist” policies on trade are in my view not only pretty disgusting, but also utterly counterproductive. The US is no longer big enough to take its customary insular stance with respect to the rest of the world.
However, it is essential that there is ALSO an equal and effective “free movement of labour” agreement in force at the same time rather than the “tax at home AND tax abroad” policy which the US operates and the EU is desperately trying to instigate as well.
IF you guys (and we) are as good as we all kid ourselves we are, we should be able to go anywhere in the world and work and be taxed only according to local rules and THAT will ultimately produce HIGHER wages and better conditions than we currently have… Of course, that’s the big catch though, isn’t it? IF we’re AS GOOD as we THINK we are!!!!!
Think on – the US these days makes little that the rest of the world doesn’t also make – often cheaper and (more importantly in my opinion) better (and that applies to the UK too). The real only exception to that is high tech weaponry – and places like China are starting (as you know) to produce much lower tech and vastly cheaper versions that are just as good, if not better because they’re consequently easier to operate and less “fragile”.
Great comment! Free trade is much more desirable….and it will never happen as long as we have this crap of the corporations running things…..all so-called free trade pacts do nothing but help certain industries…..capitalism is a good thing unfortunately its days are not looking good…it is bastardized beyond all reality….