Free Republic

Playing China Rules and The Illusions Of "Free Trade" November 22, 2008 by Dennis Sevakis My Fellow Americans, Included below is the entire "Executive Summary" of the 2008 USCC Report that was excerpted and reformatted from the complete, original "pdf" document available at the uscc.gov link. This executive summary consists of document pages 1 - 18 of the 393 page document. The Washington Post managed to publish a short Reuters piece at the time of the USCC report's release that did not include any direct reference to it, and was titled, "Cybercrime as destructive as credit crisis: experts." In this...

Latin jitters over Obama's free-trade policies Business elites and conservative governments worry about his opposition to free-trade deals. By Sibylla Brodzinsky Bogotá, Colombia; and Mexico City - As a "citizen of the world," Munir Rodriguez says he was thrilled to see Barack Obama win the US presidency. But as a consultant for Colombia's fresh-cut-flower industry, which has been counting on the approval of a free-trade deal between the two counties, the election outcome means uncertainty for the future of his clients. "With Obama, everything is up in the air," says Mr. Rodriguez. Throughout his campaign – which received significant support...

Pelosi's ties to Chavez have real consequences

President Bush is unhappy the conversation between him and President-elect Barack Obama has been cast as a trade-off between Bush signing a second stimulus package in exchange for congressional passage of the Colombia Free Trade Deal, administration officials told FOX News on Tuesday.

MEXICO CITY Following President-elect Barack Obama’s triumph in the U.S. elections, the Mexican government hopes to enter a new stage in the country’s relations with its northern neighbour. But it will be no easy task, especially considering that Obama has said he is interested in renegotiating NAFTA in order to improve its labour and environmental standards. He also voted for the 2006 Secure Fence Act...although since then he has softened his support for the barrier. As soon as Obama’s victory was confirmed, Mexican President Felipe Calderón invited him to visit the country in the near future....the conservative Calderón also expressed...

Many of us Europeans wish to see McCain as the next president of the United States of America, even though we who do may not constitute a majority. While electing the next president itself, naturally, is a solely American business, I think it's worth pointing out that many aware and well educated Europeans DO NOT support Obama even though he, undeniably, is the the favourite candidate of most PC European politicians and journalists - and most of our politicians and journalists are appallingly PC. The article by Swedish politician Mathias Sundin: "As Americans everywhere prepare to go to the polls,...

<p>In Wednesday night's debate with John McCain, Barack Obama defended his opposition to the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement this way: "The history in Colombia right now is that labor leaders have been targeted for assassination, on a fairly consistent basis, and there have not been any prosecutions." Among the many falsehoods in this Presidential campaign, this is one of the worst.</p>

Ian Fletcher is an economics consultant in private practice in San Francisco.  He was previously head of government relations for the American Engineering Association.  Fletcher outlines an analysis of a Natural Strategic Tariff as a corollary to the Gomory-Baumol multiple equilibrium model of international trade. Yes.  Yes.  I know.  Econo-speak.  Gomory-Baumol probably have replaced, on the merits, Ricardo's more simplistic ideas about trade.  Of course, Ricardo is cited by the pseudo-academics that like to avoid thought.The Natural Strategic Tariff is a controversial idea that would certainly be shouted down with "protectionist" accusations.  But take a look and feel free to...

By now you would think that diplomats, analysts, and military planners in Washington would understand that China, a nation that was the world’s sole superpower for centuries, today is preparing to regain that role — in other words, to first make itself a peer competitor of the United States and then push us aside. It cannot attain these goals without a military that is better than America’s, especially on the sea, in the air, and in space. Why do we turn a naive and blind eye to Beijing's massive military build-up?....

Melamine Found in Chocolate Products From China South Korea's food watchdog has detected quantities of melamine, an industrial chemical, in chocolate products from foodstuff giants Nestle SA, Mars Inc. and South Korea's Lotte that were manufactured in China, Yonhap News reported Saturday. The Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) said 2.38 parts per million (ppm) and 1.78 ppm of the toxic substance was discovered in samples of M&M's Milk and Peanut Snickers Fun Size products, respectively, from Mars Korea. A Kit Kat bar from Nestle Korea was also found to contain 2.89 ppm of melamine, the agency said. The...

The American military faces a growing threat of potentially fatal equipment failure—and even foreign espionage—because of counterfeit computer components used in warplanes, ships, and communication networks. Fake microchips flow from unruly bazaars in rural China to dubious kitchen-table brokers in the U.S. and into complex weapons. Senior Pentagon officials publicly play down the danger, but government documents, as well as interviews with insiders, suggest possible connections between phony parts and breakdowns. In November 2005, a confidential Pentagon-industry program that tracks counterfeits issued an alert that "BAE Systems experienced field failures," meaning military equipment malfunctions, which the large defense contractor traced...

It is sad what has happened to the United States. For years, as editor of Manufacturing & Technology News, I have heard dozens of domestic manufacturing company CEOs talk about an impending "collapse" of the U.S. economy. These were the men who were in the unenviable position of having to close their companies or shut down factories and watch as most all of their competitors did the same thing. These were the men who implemented Six Sigma, lean, ISO 9000, and the Baldrige National Quality and Shingo Prize criteria. They were leaders who agonized over having to move the world's...

If the National Retail Federation (NRF) has its way, selling goods online will soon become far less anonymous and significantly more onerous for any online auction or discount website. The NRF has announced its support and testified in favor of three bills: H.R. 6713, known as the E-fencing Enforcement Act; H.R. 6491, aka Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008; and S.3434, the "Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008." As the titles suggest, all of these bills are (supposedly) aimed at fighting organized crime rings, but don't worry—the burdens the NRF would impose upon you are for your own good....

I need help with the philosophy of International Trade. What is the conservative view of International Trade? Thank you, Jonathan

We've all met Barack "Neville Chamberlain" Obama and Barack "Rev. God Damn America" Obama, so now let me introduce you to a third face: Barack "Herbert Hoover" Obama. Just as Sen. Obama learned nothing from Chamberlain and his talks with Hitler, and so proposes to talk without preconditions to Amadinejad, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and the rest of the axis of evil, by like token, he's learned nothing from the lessons of Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression. Hoover was long the great nemesis of the Democratic Party, but that was perhaps before Sen. Obama's time. But Hoover is credited...

Nearly 53,000 children in China have been sickened by milk powder contaminated by an industrial chemical, the government said Monday, dramatically ramping up its previous figures. Earlier the health ministry said 12,892 infants were in hospital with 104 babies in serious condition, according to the official Xinhua news agency. As the World Health Organization questioned Beijing's handling of the crisis, premier Wen Jiabao appeared on state television promising to head off further incidents. But a Hong Kong toddler also became the first child affected outside the mainland and more countries moved to bar Chinese milk products. The scandal stems from...

It started in 1961 with chicken. Trying to stop a surge of chicken imports into Germany, the European Common Market bowed to the European poultry lobby and almost tripled the tariff on frozen chicken from the United States. Washington, of course, struck back. In 1963, it raised tariffs on a range of European products: brandy to hit the French; dextrine, a food and glue component, to hit the Dutch. To target Germany, the Johnson administration imposed a 25 percent tariff on light-truck imports, a barrier that fell on Volkswagen, which exported vans to the United States. “Why should we be...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryAugust 30, 2008 President's Radio Address   President's Radio Address  Audio  En Español       In Focus: EconomyTHE PRESIDENT:  Good morning.  This weekend, millions of Americans will celebrate Labor Day.  This holiday marks the traditional end of the summer season.  It is also an opportunity to reflect on the contributions of hardworking Americans all across our country - from teachers, farmers, and health care professionals, to firefighters, police officers, small business owners, and workers on the assembly line.   The American workforce continues to be the marvel of the world.  Yet many working families have been weathering tough...

The Not-So-Omnipotent China by: Daniel Smith, August 07, 2008 As the world’s attention and conspiracy theorists turn to Beijing this August, Western nations should not forget China’s role in “The Collapse of the [World Trade Organization (WTO)] Doha Round Trade Talks” in Geneva on July 29. The facts of the failed negotiations reveal a more impotent China than Americans would expect. Frank Vargo, chief spokesman on trade issues for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), viewed the collapse of the seven-year Doha Rounds as a “watershed.” He was one of several distinguished panelists who addressed a crowd at the American...

Connecting Shoes, the Poor, and China by: Daniel Smith, August 06, 2008 A small, unknown congressional bill, currently committee-stalled in both houses of Congress, illustrates the difficulty in passing any legislation, even if it is supported by both sides of the aisle. Case in point— Affordable Footwear Act of 2007 (AFA), a “bipartisan effort” also known as H.R. 3934. It’s companion bill in the Senate is S. 2372. Notable Republicans, an Independent, and Democrats have signed on: Representatives Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Henry Waxman (D-CA), as well as Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), Joe Lieberman(ID-CT), and John Sununu (R-NH). A Democrat...

The demise of the Doha trade round is another blow to the struggling world economy, and there's plenty of blame to go around. But the crucial question going forward is whether this is merely a temporary setback, or if it marks the end of the post-World War II free-trade era that has done so much to spread prosperity. We tend by nature and history toward optimism, but no one should sugar-coat Doha's collapse. For the first time since the multilateral trading rounds began after World War II, a trade expansion effort has ended in failure. In 1990, trade represented about...

In any partnership, the coin of the realm is trust and responsibility - in other words, saying what you mean and doing what you say. In the dramatic rescue on July 2 of 15 hostages, including three Americans, held captive for many years by guerrillas and terrorists, deep in the Colombian jungles, we saw a powerful reminder that the United States has no better partner in South America than the government and people of Colombia. Colombia's leaders, especially President Uribe, had promised us that our three abducted citizens would be treated no differently than the many Colombian men and women...

To CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" host, we live in a world of absolutes - because the potential of a government bailout of two publicly traded government-sponsored enterprises condemns the entire concept of free market capitalism. On the July 22 broadcast of Dobbs' show, he attacked proponents of free-market capitalism because of the potential trouble of the two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE). "Well the - it's a, it's quite a mess, quite a mess indeed," Dobbs said. "And I love the idea that all these free traders, free marketeers now got to have the government...

Let's suppose that people do decide to "buy local" with the goal of saving the world and reducing their carbon footprint. This will increase the demand for locally grown foods, but it will also have an unintended and likely deleterious consequence; it will increase the demand for farm implements and labor. Since the decision to buy locally is essentially the decision to forsake comparative advantage, every unit of agricultural output will be more resource intensive than it would be under specialization, division of labor, and trade. In other words, each additional unit of output will require more resources than it...

China's devastating pollution problems aren't just taking a toll on China -- they're also affecting the rest of the world, says New Republic. For example: Acid rain partly caused by Chinese sulfur emissions, pours down on Japan and South Korea. On some days, one-third of California's background air pollution -- consisting of dust, sulfur and trace metals -- can be traced back to China. Some 80 percent of the East China Sea, one of the world's largest fisheries, has become toxic, due to sewage dumps from the mainland. Even if the Chinese government does spruce up Beijing in time for...

Quo Vadis TPA? by: Emily Miller, July 11, 2008 Congressional leadership resistance and election year politics are to blame for stalling the passage of the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA), said Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade Christopher A. Padilla last week at the Heritage Foundation. The TPA, previously called the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, was signed by the U.S. and Colombia two years ago in November of 2006, yet it still awaits congressional approval needed for final passage. Padilla, frustrated with Congress’ inaction, points the finger at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for thwarting the TPA’s progress. The Bush administration...

Yesterday, Barack Obama’s camp released a statement trying to slam John McCain’s current trip to South America. It read: “Senator McCain’s trip to Mexico and Colombia just underscores his insistence on continuing George Bush’s failed economic policies that have left nearly 2.5 million more workers unemployed, including unfair trade deals that have been written by lobbyists.” Well, the crusty old warhorse may be gaining on Mr. International in the global community, after all. Contrary to what Obama wants you to believe, McCain got a healthy burst of support from Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe yesterday. Uribe, who’s made admirable progress on...

It is a steel and concrete corridor that will run right through the Old Pueblo, connecting Mexico City to Edmonton, Alberta. Its purpose is to facilitate trade among the three countries and minimize traffic and congestion for residents. Or is it evidence of a move afoot to intertwine the three North American countries and blur the lines of sovereignty? That's a matter of opinion.

It is rare when a government official actually blames himself for his mistakes. That straight talk occurred in the June 4 issue of Foreign Policy in Focus when Robert Cassidy, President Clinton's Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Asia and China, took himself to task for the trade agreement he negotiated with China. He began: "As the principal negotiator for the landmark market access agreement that led to China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), I have reflected on whether the agreements we negotiated really lived up to our expectations. A sober reflection has led me to conclude that those...

OTTAWA - Republican presidential candidate John McCain will give a speech next week in Canada about free trade, which could pull the country into the presidential debate once again. His presence and subject matter is bound to revive the controversy over NAFTA that embarrassed his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, earlier this year. McCain, an avowed free-trader, is to speak to the Economic Club of Canada in Ottawa on June 20, the club announced Wednesday. Obama's sincerity was called into question last March after the leak of a Canadian diplomatic memo, which summarized a meeting between senior Obama adviser Austan Goulsbee...

By James A. Barnes, National Journal © National Journal Group Inc. Monday, March 31, 2008 If potential presidents can be judged by how they run their campaigns, then how they staff those efforts may provide important clues to the kinds of talent they would recruit for their administrations. Because Democratic front-runner Barack Obama is a relative newcomer to national politics, an examination of his inner circle of political and policy advisers offers new windows into his thinking, leadership style, and sources of expertise. The Democratic front-runner's team has a relatively shallow bench, but its political achievements thus far are quite...

I rarely write a column that receives more criticism from my conservative readers than from my liberal ones. And it is even rarer when the column in question approaches a topic from what is supposed to be a “conservative” perspective, as it usually does. Yet this is precisely what happened recently when I wrote a column titled “Memo to the Democrats: We Need Free Trade with China.” It targeted the leading anti-trade voices in the Democratic Party, particularly Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and continued by explaining why free trade with China does indeed benefit the United States, at least...

Ford Motor Co. plans to conduct involuntary layoffs of salaried employees by August as part of a restructuring in the face of slumping sales and record-high gas prices, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The U.S.-Japan alliance has been the indispensable anchor of peace, prosperity and freedom in the Asia-Pacific for more than 60 years, and its importance will only grow in the years ahead. Deepening cooperation, consultation and coordination between Washington and Tokyo is the key to meeting the collective challenges that both of our nations face--from nuclear proliferation to climate change--and to advancing our common interest in building a safer, better world for all of our citizens. In many respects, the U.S.-Japan alliance has never been stronger. Polls consistently show deep support for the alliance among Americans and Japanese alike. Our security...

Those of us who support globalisation, who celebrate the way it has raised living standards and reduced poverty around the world, are forever worrying that there may soon be a backlash, a revival of protectionism and economic nationalism. We mutter angrily whenever politicians make nationalist noises. With Barack Obama emerging victorious as the Democratic candidate for America's November election, the muttering is going to resume - for against all his virtues, one of his vices is that he has been talking tough about trade. But on current evidence the muttering will be misplaced. The surprise is how nice he has...

Much of Barack Obama’s foreign policy doctrine hinges on the notion that he will be able to “repair” the image other nations now have of America. This line, which his supporters continue to iterate, is that a “new face“–one that looks different, and behind which sits a brain with a great understanding of others–will allow America to fix its PR problems abroad. However, if recent newspaper articles from outside the U.S. are any indication, Obama’s platform on trade signals that his presidency might not successfully accomplish this much-vaunted task.

Congress: What, exactly, does House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's latest junket to Iraq have to do with her official duties? Her inability to keep her amateur fingers out of the foreign policy pie suggests a political power grab.Pelosi went to Iraq uninvited Saturday, and her reception was less than warm. Iraq's democratically elected Nouri al-Maliki government wanted nothing to do with her until she admitted the truth about Iraq's progress as a nation and quit braying that U.S. troops must be immediately pulled out, a proposal so naive that even radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr opposes it. Message through, Pelosi admitted that...

House Democrats recently inflicted a near-mortal blow to free trade. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, using her considerable procedural power, delayed indefinitely an up-or-down congressional vote on approving the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. True, scuttling this particular deal will neither crush the international trading system nor immediately inaugurate a new era of protectionist policies. Blocking a trade agreement with Colombia is not the 21st-century version of the Smoot-Hawley tariff bill. But the absence of more full-throated public support and effective response from free-trade advocates underscores a broader and more fundamental weakness in the way open-market proponents participate in the electoral process and...

There are "seven meals between civilization and anarchy," says Josette Sheeran, executive director of United Nation's World Food Program. What takes those meals away, driving citizens to base needs and destabilizing countries? Growing demand, changing diets, weather disruption and, sadly enough, restricted trade. There has been little good news for food relief. A forecast today from Goldman Sachs said oil prices could rise to $150 to $200 per barrel in the next two years--dramatically driving up the price of producing and transporting food for the foreseeable future. The rising price of oil makes ethanol and other biofuels more viable, furthering...

In a region beset by runaway food costs, the socialist government of Hugo Chávez's Venezuela and its leftist allies appear to have found fertile ground to plant the seeds of revolutionary discourse. At an emergency food-security summit held Wednesday in Managua, Nicaragua, 14 Latin American and Caribbean nations convened under the umbrella of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), the leftist trade bloc founded in 2004 by Cuba and Venezuela as an alternative to United States free-trade agreements. The summit was supposed to focus on how the countries can prevent food shortages and unrest as the global food crisis...

WASHINGTON—In March, inspectors checking Chinese seafood arriving at U.S. ports made some unsettling discoveries: fish infected with salmonella in Baltimore and Seattle, and shrimp with banned veterinary drugs in Florida. Meanwhile, a shipment intercepted in Los Angeles on March 19 and labeled "channel catfish" wasn't catfish at all, though records don't say what it was. "A lot of those products coming in from overseas, you have no clue as to what is in them," said Paul Hitchens, an aquaculture specialist in Southern Illinois, where cut-rate Chinese catfish are threatening the livelihood of fish farmers. China rapidly has become the leading...

Each day, I make the dreaded drive down Interstate 35 to go to work in Fort Worth. Each day, I slug through the snarl and sludge of ceaseless traffic, which intensifies my growing desire to commit hari-kari, or at least incites a vehement curse of the highway gods. Certainly, we in Texas need more lanes, more roads, more rails, more something to deal with the ever-expanding urban population and growing international commerce. Yet how do we solve our transportation needs without carving up the countryside like some congratulatory cake? Or should the construction of a superhighway-rail-utility corridor even concern us?...

History has taught us that other than raising taxes, nothing can be more damaging to the United States than assuming a protectionist posture during a time of economic downturn.  But that’s exactly the situation after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi decided to bar a vote on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Colombia Free Trade It is important the United States gains equitable access to the markets of fast-growing developing nations like Colombia.  Colombian-produced goods already enter the United States duty free, but American-manufactured goods exported to that country face stiff tariffs, ranging from eight percent to...

Critics ask: Is Schaffer going soft on abortions? By Lynn Bartels Originally published 06:56 p.m., April 21, 2008 Updated 06:56 p.m., April 21, 2008 Republican Bob Schaffer, an ardent pro-life advocate in the state legislature and Congress, now faces critics who question whether he really opposes abortion. The criticism, which comes as Schaffer campaigns for the U.S. Senate, has upset some of his backers. "Of all the Colorado politicians that we have, this is one of the few where I would not question his commitment to pro life," said state Rep. Kevin Lundberg, a fellow Larimer County Republican. In recent...

It is amazing how some presidential candidates are blaming the North American Free Trade Agreement for U.S. job losses. They seem to believe that a substantial part of the three million manufacturing jobs lost since 2000 resulted from Nafta, and that outsourcing of manufacturing production to Mexico and Canada resulted in a huge trade deficit. ...What the antitrade advocates have been hiding from the candidates (or maybe don't know themselves) is that almost all of the increase in our Nafta deficit since 2000 has been in increased U.S. imports of energy from Canada and Mexico. In fact, $58 billion of...

Huckabee & The Club friends at last? TRIBUNE-REVIEW By: Salena Zito When former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was running for the Republcian nomination for president, no one attacked him more often and with more conservative muscle than the uber-economic conservatives from The Club for Growth. Pat Tommey, chairman of The Club, wrote last October in The National Review that a flirtation with Huckabee even as a vice presidential candidate did a "great disservice to the conservative movement if it overlooks Huckabee’s stunning record of big-government liberalism.” So, it came as a bit of surprise to receive a blast e-mail from...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryApril 19, 2008 President's Radio Address   President's Radio Address  Audio  En Español       In Focus: International Trade THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Next week, I will be hosting the North American Leaders' Summit in New Orleans. This event will give me an opportunity to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calder n to discuss some of the most significant issues facing our hemisphere and the world. One of the issues that I'll be discussing with these leaders is the importance of expanding trade in our hemisphere. Recently I sent Congress an...

There is little doubt that our reputation and motivations are under siege by demagogues around the world. Only a few work as diligently at undermining the United States and threatening neighboring democracies as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Chavez’s recent efforts to destabilize Latin America by amassing troops on the Colombian border in response to the killing of a terrorist leader cannot be ignored. Nor can we look the other way after a captured computer reveals Chavez’s direct funding of the notorious terrorist group FARC. Ecuador, where the strike on the FARC camp took place, has frozen relations with Colombia. Meanwhile,...

Yesterday, the House faced a decision to vote for or against reducing government-imposed barriers to the international exchange of goods and services. Most Democrats, and six Republicans voted with the protectionists. ______________________________________________________ H.RES.1092.EH Relating to the consideration of the bill (H.R. 5724) to implement the United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement. Resolved, That section 151(e)(1) and section 151(f)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974 shall not apply in the case of the bill (H.R. 5724) to implement the United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement.

Most economists agree free trade is a boon to the U.S. and a pact with valued ally Colombia is vital. “There’s perhaps no more important free-trade agreement in recent memory,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned at a White House briefing Wednesday that included six Bush Cabinet members. News of Pelosi’s threat to change the House rules to block any vote at all on Colombia’s pact drew them into the swiftly arranged appearance because this is urgent. But as bad as Pelosi’s maneuver is, it signals she probably is afraid. On Monday, President Bush forced the treaty to a congressional...