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Today the millionaires in Congress passed not one, but THREE one-way-street trade agreements for wealthy Wall Street investors. They sold out the majority today. They couldn’t have been more clear if they shouted from the rooftops: F YOU AMERICA. That’s what the Republicans AND the Democrats in Congress did today with their trade agreements.
These one-way deals will make members of Congress richer and that is exactly why they passed these trade agreements and exactly why Obama sent George Bush’s Trade Agreement to them to sign. These trade Agreements will make Obama richer too. But as for the majority? Well, it will work out about as well as NAFTA has worked out for us multiplied by three.
To fully understand the criminal act against the majority today, and the fact that Congress and the Obama Administration knew what they were doing when pulling this heist, you need to know about H.R. 2832 -Trade Adjustment Assistance Extension Act of 2011. [source]
Apparently enough members of Congress were repulsed by what was about to be pulled off. So in order to ensure enough votes for the three hideously destructive trade agreements, the instigators in Congress floated a bill in early September: H.R. 2832 Trade Adjustment Assistance Extension Act of 2011.
You really need to read some of the amendments to see what they were doing: For example: #18 “To make the effective date of the amendments expanding the trade adjustment assistance program contingent on the enactment of the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, the United States-Columbia Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act, and the United States-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act. ”
#28 ”To limit eligibility for trade adjustment assistance to workers who are laid off because of an increase in imports from, or a shift in production to, a country with which the United States has a free trade agreement in effect.”
H.R. 2832 was introduced 9/2/2011 by Rep. Dave Camp from Michigan (like he ever gave a damn about the majority)
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Tell me, Mr. President, if these one-way trade agreements are bringing so many jobs to the America workers, why was it necessary to create a bill that will make sure our workers have unemployment when they are laid off by these trade agreements?
Is this the best you can do, Mr. President for the majority? If you then you should step down now. Don’t even wait until Nov 2012 and you can take Congress with you. We don’ want handouts sir. We want jobs.
H.R. 2832 was created to extend unemployment to workers who would be laid off by these trade agreements.
So if these trade agreements are going to create so many jobs for Americans, why was this bill necessary? That is the question that we should be asking our “representatives.
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What is the only solution? Kick all Democrats and Republican/Teaparty members out of the House of Representatives in 2012. Replace them with Independent, non Wall Street stock owning Americans from the majority.
Find out now what you need to do in your state to run as an Independent for U.S. Congress. Go for it!
ANY MEMBER OF THE MAJORITY WHO VOTES FOR EITHER A DEMOCRAT OR A REPUBLICAN IN 2012 IS A SELF-DESTRUCTIVE FOOL. Those from the majority who don’t realize that after today may not be educable.
25 Comments
Addendum
Those selfish jackasses in BOTH houses from BOTH parties did not believe for one second that these three trade agreements were going to create jobs for Americans.
Not for one second
Not from day one when George Bush drafted them. These people don’t give a damn about the majority.
A hard slap in the face to the 99%, especially so while Occupy is developing.
They are paying attention: This is their reply.
I received two emails yesterday from the AFL-CIO urging me to contact my representatives to tell them not to support this bullshit legistation. I didn’t bother. Come 2012 unions will stand with the twofaced bastards that supported this. Unions should end their blanket support of the Democratic Party.
Just posted this on the Panama diary :
http://blackagendareport.com/content/barack-obama-vs-those-craaaazy-republicans-he-lesser-evil-or-more-effective-evil
Hope the union leaders will stop smoking the Democratic party crack pipe.
It shows the insincerity of the “Jobs” Bill, that this travesty was pushed at the same time.
Thanks Liz for a great report!
I remember when NAFTA was passed in the early 90′s. I was driving a semi-truck for a living then. Hundreds of U.S. businesses packed up and moved across the borders. I remember going into factories that were almost ghost towns and wondering: where were all of the people?
The passage of these agreements is going to bury many more American’s and their families. Tragic!
I will never vote for those thieves and liars. Just the fact that they don’t work 2-3 jobs, don’t have to struggle to pay a doctor bill, aren’t thousands in educational debt, don’t have to choose between food for the kids or gas for the car to get to work…I’m sure you all see where I’m going with this. Most American’s live like this and they don’t get health care if they lose their jobs–unlike our senators and representatives who will get care for the rest of their lives…The don’t represent me or any one I know.
The Free Speech and Civil Liberties Piece that is up is a good one. We can yell and scream all we want and be labeled enemies of the state, arrested, tortured and executed!
By now Obama’s “Jobs” bill is no more a real job bill than his “health care” bill (Obamacare) delivered health care. This jobs bill is packed with tax cuts that will be used as a back door to chip away at social security and other revenue starved programs.
Can there be any doubt that this guy is a fucking Trojan horse?
None of us should be shocked anything Obama. the Dems and/or the GOP will do for money…taking the country back from the corrupt elite will take time…we are on a journey that will be up and down…we need to keep moving forward…
fantastic post Liz! I’m so fed up with being spoonfed bullshit from the Congress and being told it’s caviar. you’re right – these agreements will not bring jobs to america, won’t help american manufacturing, and in short, will only exacerbate the existing problems with our economy. The problem is that our “representatives” in government aren’t representative of the people, at all. and they just don’t give a shit about us.
My Democratic senator who plays a liberal on TV and always has words of sympathy for the unemployed voted for the trade deals.
At least the lobbyists made out pretty good:
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/185867-trade-deals-were-cash-cow-for-k-street
(T)he three countries’ Washington embassies, foreign ministries and trade agencies spent at least $15 million on lobbying, legal and PR work since the beginning of 2006 to press for passage of the free-trade agreements (FTA).
Excellent work as usual, Liz! Government for, by, and of the People, my ass. In actuality, Government for, by, and of the filthy lucre.
Liz,
I’m confused. Would you please clarify.
You wrote:
“H.R. 2832 was created to extend unemployment to workers who would be laid off by these trade agreements.”
But then you also wrote:
“#28 ”To limit eligibility for trade adjustment assistance to workers who are laid off because of an increase in imports from, or a shift in production to, a country with which the United States has a free trade agreement in effect.”
Which is it?
Did they pass a bill providing additional unemployment insurance protection for workers who will lose their jobs because of these free trade agreements(i.e., beyond the initial 26 week period that all newly unemployed workers are entitled to collect), or did they pass a bill limiting the amount of unemployment insurance that workers whose jobs are terminated by these bills can collect? Presumably, that would be no unemployment, wouldn’t it?
Or does it limit a general increase in unemployment insurance coverage to only those workers who can show that they lost their jobs because of these free trade bills? (I’m thinking this may be what happened)
Either way these bills are a g-normous kick in the groin to we the people and our Main Street economy. But if they actually limited or eliminated the amount of unemployment the terminated workers can collect, there might be blood in the streets over this.
Bottom line: Regardless of the answer to my question, Obama should be hounded, heckled, and shouted down wherever he goes by thousands of people demanding his immediate resignation, and everyone in Congress who voted for these pieces of shit should receive the same Bronx cheer.
Thanks for the comment Freerein
another thing about these awful trade agreements is that they displace citizens. Colombia has the second highest number of displaced citizens in the world (Somalia is #1). In Colombia the goon squads run the little farmers off their small plots so they can be consolidated by wealthy investors into plantations for US corporate agribusinesses like Cargill and ADM. Then these farmers and their families have no place to go so they migrate to large urban areas where the only occupation they are qualified for is begging. Begging is so bad in Colombia that the government gives out cards to tourists telling them how to treat beggars.
NAFTA totally decimated the Mexican corn farmers 2 million workers! They could not compete with the U.S, heavily government subsidized agribusinesses. And with their demise, all the little cottage industries that were linked to the Mexican corn farmer’s prosperity died too. With no jobs many Mexicans were displaced and had to migrate to the USA for work. Illegal immigrants in the USA prior to NAFTA had been stable for 10 years at about 2 million. After NAFTA and up to 2000 that number swelled to estimates between 12 and 20 million.
Now, of course it is tapering off as economic conditions worsen in the USA.
War. Unfair trade agreements. and Crop failure are the three main reasons for large migrations of human populations.
Where will Americans go? Well American citizens in El Paso are already migrating across the border to work in the Maquiladoras in Juarez for $65a week.
I have no doubt.
sorry for the confusion, but it is no wonder because congress is nothing if not purposeful obfuscation for the rich.
#28 is one of the amendments to the larger bill that only meant that they didn’t want the funds for this bill to apply to anyone but those specifically displaced by these latest three trade agreements. [God forbid that they should accidentally give unemployment to those who might need it even if their cause of unemployment couldn't be tied to any one of these three trade agreements.]
It is an amendment/qualification added to the larger bill.
Thank you nonplussed.
Thanks, Liz.
That was my best guess.
Sad day for all of us.
frang, if you haven’t looked up your elected officials to see how they voted. I posted an update/analysis of how the bastards voted today.
Interesting, both houses favored the trade agreement that I consider to be the most devastating of the three: the Korean Trade agreement for which we have hard core data that will put 169,000 americans out of work and will increase the trade deficit by $16 billion.
And some “liberal” Senators like Al Franken, voted for the Korean Trade Agreement and against the Colombian Trade Agreement.
Thank you and I hat the CCA too.
We all need to start forming committees right now in our US Congressional Districts to run Independents from the majority–non-millionaires.
We can’t expect to get a fair shake when 44% of our Congress are multimillionaire Wall Street investors.
Thanks. I checked and my pretend liberal senator voted for both the Panama and South Korea FTAs but against the Colombia FTA. I thought he had voted for all of them but I guess by voting against the Colombia FTA he can pretend that he supports union members in other countries.
Any MORE 0bamanible voters for the Baracketeer of ¢HAIN$?
We were sold out today just like every other day. We must end the one party (Corporate Republicrats) regime in Washington.
Thanks for this great report.