Posted on 06/14/2015 9:58:19 AM PDT by VitacoreVision
Establishment Republicans, working closely with the White House, have been pushing a triad of trade agreements that, if enacted into law, are supposed to create jobs. Yet even proponents of the agreements acknowledge they will also cost many Americans their jobs. The content of the agreements — the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Trade in Service Agreement (TISA), and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) — has been kept hidden from the American people.
In fact, even members of Congress have been able to view only the TPP thus far — if they go to a secret room to view it and agree not to divulge the content. Concurrent with the secrecy involved is a level of dishonesty and subterfuge that is beyond even that which Americans have come to expect from their government.
It has been said that in America we have the stupid party and the evil party. Sometimes they get together and do something both stupid and evil. This, we call bipartisanship. The bipartisan support for the trade agreements collectively referred to ObamaTrade could be viewed as a fitting examples of that adage. That's assuming of course that trying to enact sovereignty-destroying agreements by keeping them hidden from the American people may properly be classified as "evil." And "selling" these agreements to the public by claiming they will create jobs, while also claiming that government assistance must be provided to offset all of the jobs these agreements will cost, may be classified as "stupid."
In a glaring example of Orwellian double-think, ObamaTrade advocates are simultaneously pushing for Trade Promotion Authority (TPA, aka "Fast Track") to get the supposedly jobs-creating trade agreements through Congress, and Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) for U.S. workers who lose their jobs because of the agreements. So which is it? Is ObamaTrade going to lose jobs or create jobs? The answer, according to House Ways and Means Committee chairman Paul Ryan and others who support ObamaTrade, is yes — both.
Apparently they believe (or expect voters to believe) that jobs must be lost in order for jobs to be created. Moreover, without government intervention in the marketplace jobs will be lost and created as a result of innovation and consumer preferences. (How many workers make typewriters these days compared to computers?) But does it make sense for the U.S. government to sign treaties that will destroy jobs and then increase government spending to help the displaced workers? How can such an approach end any way but badly?
Remember NAFTA, which was going to create prosperity and jobs for Americans according to its propoents, but which resulted instead in the exportation of jobs? Is it stupidity — or evil, or both — to ignore this lesson from the past while pursuing ObamaTrade?
On May 22, the Senate passed the Trade Promotion Authority bill, which also included the Trade Adjustment Assistance provisions to assist U.S. workers who will be displaced. But GOP House leaders decided to have the House vote on Trade Promotion Authority and Trade Adjustment Assistance separately, assuming there was a better chance of passing both separately than passing them together in a single vote. But the strategy backfired. Though the House passed Trade Promotion Authority Friday, it rejected Trade Adjusmtent Assistance. This made the TPA vote a hollow "victory," since the legislation cannot be cleared by Congress and sent to the president for his signature unless both the House and Senate pass identical versions of the legislation.
Consequently, for the TPA and TAA to move forward, either the House has to take another go at it or the Senate must revisit it. (You have to appreciate the separation of powers our Founding Fathers put in place!) Ironically, the TAA was torpedoed on Friday by Democrats who support the trade adjustment assistance but who (in the words of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi) "want a better deal for America's workers."
As it stands now, the House may vote on Trade Assistance Authority again as early as next Tuesday. Thus, despite initial news reports in the wake of Friday's votes suggesting that ObamaTrade may have been dealt a deathblow, the political reality is that Mark Twain's famous quote "The report of my death was an exaggeration" may turn out to be very appropos. Much more arm-twisting and back-room deals are expected over the weekend as President Obama and establishment Republicans push for passage in an effort to avoid having the bill go back to the Senate.
Now if only the federal legislators who are forced to acknowledge the separation of powers given to us by the Founding Fathers would abide by the economic and foreign policies they gave us as well. That would be real recovery.
Proponents of these agreements know they’re lying about job creation. Earlier agreements back to NAFTA, and probably before, have contained worker retraining programs and displacement programs.
Why are pols forcing a theory on us? Free Trade is a theory that has proven to be a disaster.
Follow the money.
It hasn't failed yet. Boehner has called for a 'do-over'.
I've asked myself that same question, and believe some pols and others who support so-called FT are just pushing a theory they had crammed into their head in college, or that they picked up from some think tank position paper. They think they possess some profound wisdom that trumps all other considerations, so they push it no matter the results for this nation when their theories are partially implemented.
And, then, some pols really are bought and paid for and await their next instructions from major donors.
And I think the transnational corporations just look at the international business situation and try to fashion the trading arrangement that benefits them the most, whether or not it really is free trade. They'd close the US market to all competition if they could get away with it.
And I think most presidents and all the "Masters of the Universe" who are constantly trying to arrange the world to fit their favored theories use trade to influence and win over other nations. I think that's why we end up with many bad deals, and our government tolerates so much cheating by our trading 'partners'. Fair trading arrangements are often not the top government priority. For many of them trade is a major foreign policy strategy and, for the great humanitarians, a way to fight poverty in poor nations. GWB was super-proud of his policies that had helped India so much and created jobs and raise living standards. (Probably mostly outsourcing) - I have heard the occasional pol or think tanker brag how trade has alleviated poverty in poor nations.
I've read how we purposely opened the US markets to Japan in the '50s and '60s to help rebuild them after the war into a strong Cold War ally. Up until the mid-'60s, most all electronics sold in the US were produced in the US, and within about fifteen years, all were coming from Japan.
But I do think many are just theory bound to something they picked up in college, or in the think tank/DC alternate universe. And they are so convinced not much will dissuade them. Their egos need to push their profound wisdom more than they need to assess the actual results.
Absolutely right. If there has to be a provision for displaced American workers, then it has to be pretty bad.
Our Pols think we(normal Americans) are as cutthroat as they are. They think we would be willing to displace American workers to save 5 cents on a purchase of a plastic laundry basket.
the massive influx of illegal aliens is related to NAFTA as well. Among other things, NAFTA destroyed farming jobs in Mexico. Millions of Mexicans were impoverished as a result and millions of those impoverished Mexicans then moved across the border in search of greener pastures. I think a lot the 2008 economic recession can be attributed to NAFTA as well. It’s hard to make your house payment when your job has been outsourced. Granted, there was more than just that to blame of course. Anyways, I’m sure not interested in repeating that disaster. Kill it before it grows.
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