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'Wealth Managers' by permission of Anthony Freda, www.anthonyfreda.com
During a July 8 press conference in the Rose Garden just after the disastrous June jobs numbers were made public, our President went on the Jobs Offensive. Among other things he said…worst recession…8 million jobs lost…ups and downs…control the deficits for stability..yada…yada…mumble…then:
“Today, Congress can advance trade agreements that will help businesses sell more American-made goods and services to Asia and South America, supporting thousands of jobs here at home. That could be done right now.”
Remember that Candidate Obama declared he would re-write NAFTA to more fair standards, then got busted winking to Canada that he didn’t really mean it; ouch. He did survive the mini-scandal, but you probably noticed that, didn’t you? ;o) And he said these three agreements would happen ‘over his dead body’. But that was then, and this is now…tra la la…we should put that phrase to music, eh?
Beltway theatrics reporting is calling the Red/Blue ‘Showdown’ a matter of a few million bucks’ worth of Trade Adjustment Assistance included in KORUS, refunding an old program for training workers who have been downsized because of the sterling trade deals for jobs in…for jobs in…hamburger-flipping at McDogfood.
Now Mr. Libertarian Dylan Ratigan has teamed up with Huffpo (yeah; I know) to throw light on the trade deals with Korea, Panama and Colombia that have been languishing since 2006 under Bush, and never ratified by Congress once Democrats regained the balance of power. What they have found, in a word, is that they suck. They suck for American workers, for the workers in the three nations, for the trade balance, and they suck because they will create even more opacity and eventual corruption, indemnify American corporations from harm caused by poor working conditions, and will prevent foreign workers from bargaining for higher wages.
But now President Obama is fast-tracking the three deals, and has apparently combined them into one package at the urging of Congressional Republicans. Looks like for The Money Party , the banks, and the multinationals, the deals don’t suck.
In the case of Panama, Wikileaks from 2006 revealed memos that amply demonstrated that the US is fully aware that Panamanian laws concerning finance are even more secretive than Switzerland’s, and will allow off-shored money to be even more rigorously defended from prying eyes and protected from legal judgments. Ratigan’s piece here is damning to the Powers pushing the deal: it’s all about financial secrecy, not ‘trade’.
He says:
“The key question we have to face as a country is how we want to govern ourselves. From World War II until NAFTA, our trading policies were based on geopolitical needs and what would increase prosperity for America. Since NAFTA, however, the mantra of free trade has been warped to generate rights for international capital and nothing else. The agreements Congress and the President are pushing continue this unfortunate trend. What unfettered capital wants is to avoid taxes, regulations, or any state power whatsoever. And that’s what this Panama deal is really about.”
In Colombia, over 3,000 union members have been murdered over the past twenty-five years; the Obama administration likes to say that it has negotiated a deal in which Colombia promises there will be no more murders at the urging of the AFL-CIO. Please allow me to believe that is a crock of alligator crap. Also, Colombian citizens have already voted in the past that their government not make the deal, which in the past might have been a deal-breaker for many Dems.
Lori Wallach of Public Citizen’s Trade Watch adds this on KORUS:
“Finally, we get to South Korea. This deal is a weird one, because there are apparently provisions in there that allow the use of North Korean labor to make products and ship them our way, and then use the hard currency generated to help their nuclear program.”
But here’s today’s Ratigan segment on ‘Trading Our Future?’. The Ross Perot cameo is a treat for your ears. Or not. ;o) Wallach and Hindery have the facts about what the deals will cost us.
Call your members of Congress! Call ‘Bullsh*t on these deals!’ I haven’t found the schedule, but it seems the vote is imminent.
33 Comments
Been emailing my Senators and Rep about this for a coupe of months; what I can’t get over is the Obama Admin keeping up the fallacy about jobs when all the analyses say otherwise.
Deception is common in politics; flip-flops are common; becoming so totally enthralled to the Corporate Elites? (Just censored myself, Ubetcha.)
And good on you; I confess I haven’t even called on this issue; it will go through; too many Americans are focused on other issues, sadly.
Inch by inch and row by row…they’re gonna make the richest grow…
It’s been a full inching since ’80, thru 5 presidents.
The model was established under Rayguns Reign as Gov of CA.
N the presidents are mere pawns, fully culpable but pawns.
Their jobs are to enable . . . n they have done well for their fascist corporate overlords. All of them.
Rcc’d. Nicely sculpted and scripted ma’am.
I’ve come to expect no less from the duplicitous sociopath-in-chief.
What still upsets me are all the so-called liberals that support and make excuse for the lying rat. Give me some time and I’ll feel flat about that also. Seven stages and all that, you know.
Thanks, Wendy. Recommended.
Ta, Larue. My blood has been fair’ boilin’ over it all; such perfidy; and I wonder where the Unions have been? Shhh…not supposed to ask, methinks.
But yeppers; Clinton got nailed for opposing the Colombian deal (ostensibly) while Mark Penn was meeting with Colombia’s US Ambassador…ouch, again.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/04/05/us-usa-politics-clinton-idUSN3143245420080405
Which side are you on? THE MONEY/POWER SIDE! GET USED TO IT! ;o)
Welcome, ID. It takes a lot more lying rats to pull these cons than just Obama, sadly. The fix is in; too few left who aren’t a part of it to make a difference (Bernie and a couple others). It’s (oh, lawdy!) up to us to knock them back a notch.
And we may not have the wherewithall until things deteriorate much further; I know all I can do by now is clack my keys. Dammit.
Keep clacking, friend. Recommended.
Emptywheel has a Bloomberg link that says O-ba-ma will wait until after the August recess to send the trade bill to Congress; Daley says by then maybe the ‘slimmed-down’ TAA will be okey-dokey-ed.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-20/free-trade-agreements-said-to-be-delayed-by-obama-amid-worker-aid-dispute.html
Ta, Watt; how are you and yours?
‘She walks…she clacks…she’s almost human!’ ;o)
We are well, thanks. Been clacking a bit myself, though perhaps in ways that will make you wonder if I’ve lost my mind.
You may not have the time or inclination to weigh in on the debt limit debate. But I’ve become a bit obsessed with the topic, and have found something that looks interesting. I’d be obliged for your feedback, if the spirit moves you. And I completely understand if you are otherwise occupied with important stuff.
http://my.firedoglake.com/wattchildress/2011/07/21/cut-cap-and-balance-act-worth-a-closer-look/
Candidate Obama said he was gonna re-negotiate NAFTA. Instead we get new jobs exportation bills crammed down our throats. Lying sonofabitch.
Last week I bought new bags for my Kirby vacuum. Previously they had been made in USA, now they say Made in China with American made materials. I have sent several emails to Kirby asking for an explanation. No response.
Hey wendydavis, good post, rec’d.
From opencongress.org :
H.Res.266 – Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the President should, without any further delay, submit the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement to Congress for its consideration and immediate approval under fast track procedures pursuant to the Bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority of 2002.view all titles (1)
Introduced on May 10th, no further action to date.
S.Res.218 – A resolution encouraging the United States Trade Representative to establish and articulate a strategy for initiating negotiations for a free trade agreement between the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.view all titles (1)
Introduced on June 28th, no further action to date.
S.Res.20 – A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should immediately approve the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement, the United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, and the United States-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement.
Introduced on January 24th, no further action to date.
‘American-made materials’; ha! Paper, aren’t they? ‘Made by workers living in dorms with suicide awnings’?
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=images+chines+factory+dormitories&view=detail&id=D352D2343BC708D053594ABA4E00299F958AC9C8&first=31&qpvt=images+chines+factory+dormitories&FORM=IDFRIR
(Smacks head) OpenCongress! Kee-ripes! Wish I had a memory. Seriously, I kept googling to find info on when the Crap Bill would go to Congress.
Guess that’s what they pay you the big bucks for… ;o)
Thanks for stopping by to read, Robear.
@Watt Childress July 21st, 2011 at 10:51 pm
Whaaaaat??? Have you lost your mind??? Hangin’ out at Red State too long looking for places of agreement???
Seriously, though, Watt. Deficit spending is exceedingly important during recessions, and some economists seem to think that it’s important in general. 18% of GDP is goof-ball thinking, IMO. And the thing about cuts is that cutting spending leads to more contraction of the economy. If Obama and the MOTUs had even half a brain, they would be funding works programs massively; it’s the only way out of this depression.
Without jobs, employees aren’t paying taxes, or into SS or Medicare. Without jobs, people aren’t buying things, and there is so much excess capacity now it’s not funny. People are losing skills, kids can’t afford college, people are hungry…and government (and the President) want cuts, and no new revenues. It’s crazy time.
The Constitution is very hard to amend, and in this case, thank God. Please know that the cuts these folks have in mind are for programs they find ‘wasteful’, like regulatory bodies, scientific and medical research, climate change mitigation and preparedness, education, etc.
Can’t spend time on the PDF, so I don’t understand the caveats for ‘War on Terror’, but I think they don’t imagine cutting much defense. And regardless, future Congresses would be hamstrung, and with the direction we are going, social saftey nets (I know what they say NOW, but…), anything to do with Labor and bargaining, public infrastructure, etc. would be strangled.
And it’s brought to you by the ‘shrink government small enough to drown it in a goldfish bowl’ folks. I spent an hour poking around, that’s about enough for a biased snap judgement, eh? ;o)
And it looks as though this bogus Democratic Prez believes that government should get out of the way of business, too, more’s the tragedy; like these folks:
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/270837/cut-cap-and-balance-tim-phillips
Obama appears now to favor three trillion worth of spending cuts with NO new revenues. It.Is.Madness. (I know I missed some big thoughts here, but hell; it’s early.)
Sorry, Watt; I’m not intending to harsh your mellow, and I did try to stay away from your diary….)
Update: Watt, I thought you might want to drop this New Obama Deficit Crap Thinking piece into the ‘In the News’ section at dagblog for folks there to peruse; it’s $3 trillion in cuts, no revenues, or the Obama bersion of ‘All hat, no cattle’…er something. ;o) I am persona non grata there, or I’d do it.
Yes, exactly wendydavis,
Even though I am still getting my ass handed to me every Saturday mornin’ on the quizes at billy blog, here:
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/
One of the points that I think I have learned from Selise and Letsgetitdone, is that annual deficits are “necessary” to a healthy economy; provided that A.) that economy possesses sovereign currency and B.) that economy is “growing” in real terms.
The second thing that has stood out to me most in my attempts to understand what they are trying to teach us is that an honest, clear eyed, objective assessment of the economic situation is preemminent to taking effective action to remedy perceived problems, that flexibility is required ( thus dogma, or arbitrary rules are to be avoided ). So, yes a mark set arbitrarily at 18% of GDP by law has nothing whatsoever to do with reality, either now or in the future.
They have a whole other agenda; and if their lips are moving…….
I typed some about some graphs I had seen recently that seemed to prove that the economy does better when the G runs deficits, but then I couldn’t remember enough, so I deleted it. I don’t have enough understand of ordinary monetary policy to be able to grasp MMT, though lets and a few others have offered help.
I’m glad Bill found some of the caveats and twists on War on Terror spending…curious, too. Or rather deceptive.
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=15328 (thanks for the link, Robear.)
I had looked early this morning at the CCB website, and it looks like former carnival barkers created it; not very serious thinking or presentation, IMO.
For Watt: the other thought I had was that this would all force more spending onto the states, just when they are seriously negatively impacted by this depression; it would mean more waivers for providing health care, more layoffs of government workers, less $ for infrastructure and state regulatory agencies, etc.
I ain’t the least bit mellow about what’s happening, sister, and I welcome the feedback. Please don’t stay away from my post on this, unless you don’t have the time.
I understand your objections to the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act as it is written. Here are some points.
1) If my read is correct, and the Act protects Social Security and Medicare from cuts, then progressives should at least point out that in that House Republicans are more progressive than Obama on that count. Give credit where credit is due, if only to emphasis how far he has strayed from progressive values.
2) Just because the Republican cap on spending is not acceptable in the form it is written doesn’t mean that progressives should shun control of government spending. Is there no cap we could live with?
3) I’m convinced that today’s progressives will become a barely legible footnote in history if we brand ourselves as intransigent on deficit spending. If our placards read “Pro Deficits or Die” then our values will indeed die after we’ve lost the high ground.
I rarely visit redstate and haven’t been blogging much anywhere in the past few months. But I do see much of same positioning over the debt limit that I’ve seen with other major decisions in the past (like the bailout and the deal to extend the Bush Democrat tax cuts). And if progressives don’t figure out a way to counter the regressive Dems in the Senate and White House, we might as well admit that we are mostly talking to ourselves and that our political umph continues to shrink.
From Politico Breaking News a few minutes ago:
“The Senate has blocked the conservative version of a deficit reduction plan known as “Cut, Cap and Balance” on a party line 51-46 vote. The procedural vote was to “table” the bill, meaning a “yes” vote would yank the bill from the Senate floor. The House passed the same plan earlier this week, and the Senate rejection comes as House Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama have already moved on to negotiations on a different deficit reduction plan.”
Ah; I’d love to have the time now to er…weigh in on a few of your points there. But my largest two points would be:
Deficits don’t matter NOW! Not if we have any hope (we don’t) of saving ourselves from the economy; the worst thing we can do is give in to ‘deficits are THE, or A MAIN problem. Later, maybe…but only in defense and corporate welfare. They don’t want that.
The other is that while that document may SAY no Medicare, SS cuts, it’s a ruse to get the Democratic votes they needed in the House (they got 9 I think; 2 R’s voted no.)
Ah, I was spoofin’ ya a bit about RedState. And yeppers, we need to focus on Class Divisions, not Red/Blue; that will.should be the Common Ground. Educate about the rest.
Activist progressives will need more than talk or withholding contributions now; the only group that’s worked for so far is gays (glad about it), but it’s hard to name a dozen Congress-critters who aren’t first and last corporate Dems now, regardless of their theatrics. Bottom line is voting for us, filling re-election coffers for them, of course.
I respectfully submit that ceding ground NOW, especially, on OUR part is wrong; THEY (those in power in our names) have already ‘compromised’ (sold US out)far too much.
Oh–and believe it when I say that there is NO WAY those same folks will not force draconian cuts to the social saftey net. Seriously. It just wasn’t in that particular bill. I think that is just realistic, Watt.
Ta, Robear; even Obama said he’d veto it if it sneaked by in the Senate. ;o) Yikes!
Didja see the Tom Tomorrow cartoon about all this? (Too bad he’s at KOS now…) Ah luvs ‘em…
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/18/995602/-Middle-Man-and-the-Debt-Ceiling Debacle?via=blog_792316
I hear you. The bill passed the House, and I’m not suggesting that progressives should pick it up in its current form in the Senate.
But as Obama and Republican leaders embark on a grand deal that includes cuts to SS and Medicare, wouldn’t it be wise to craft some counter that enables progressives to reclaim the high ground?
How about redrafting the bill to require cuts in 2012 while exempting SS and Medicare. Realistically, it looks like we’re going to get a final bill that exchanges cuts in spending for raising the debt limit, one way or the other. Make sure there is an clear opening for cuts in the military that doesn’t provide a lot of wiggle room for the war on terror. Nix the cap and balance part.
Seems like we should be exploring that option.
And sorry, Wendy, for the diversion from this post’s topic. Surely the debt limit debate relates to shitty trade deals, somehow.
LOL! Yeppers; the link is how we are getting screwed by the Oligarchs at every turn. Looks like they may have a truly scary deal agreed upon; but at least it IS cowardly can-kicking-road stuff.
Read with a barf-bag nearby. Astounding if we hadn’t thought we’d seen it coming like a freight train. Will this turn the Obama-love tide? Or can they hide the truth of it well enough?
http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/07/22/reports-affordable-care-act-part-of-debt-limit-deal/#Respond
(See below, Watt.)
We need to lose more money in trade deals so there is a trade surplus overseas so they have to invest the dollars they have in U.S. Treasuries.
If we didn’t have a debt, they would probably use the cash to buy all the land in the country – except the Hamptons and Palm Beach, of course.
Remember that Candidate Obama declared he would re-write NAFTA to more fair standards, then got busted winking to Canada that he didn’t really mean it; ouch. He did survive the mini-scandal, but you probably noticed that, didn’t you? ;o)
Back in those days I thought Obama was lying to the Right about not killing NAFTA to get elected the Right certainly thought so. But that brings up another point Obama won because we gave him the benefit of the doubt last time he has no such reserve of good will now after 2 years of hippy punching.
Never mind 2 years of no jobs which his economic policies including trade deals have fixed. Who cares if he created thousands of jobs when we need millions of jobs?
Who cares about the low wage jobs that are all he seems to have created? A few thousand good paying jobs is a drop in the bucket.
To be fair a trade deal with Columbia I will admit will create jobs for drug dealers if 10 ships from Columbia come to America with coke on them and only 5 get searched America gets coke.
If 100 ships from Columbia with coke thanks to this new trade deal come to America and only 5 get searched or even less if Obama and Ryan cut the customs budget then the streets get filled with much purer coke at cheaper prices if coke was hard to quit before imagine how much harder it will be to quit in the future.
“Today, Congress can advance trade agreements that will help businesses sell more American-made goods and services to Asia and South America, supporting thousands of jobs here at home. That could be done right now.”
Imagine how many more jobs could be created if every ipod sold in America was made in America Apple could still make a profit and the value of all those jobs and consumers buying stuff would provide more benefit to America than any trade deal.
Opportunity costs what could you buy with your money instead of buying what you buy comparing the opportunity costs of a trade deal vs tariffs is a no brainer.
Just imagine, Things.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b7qaSxuZUg
With the pressures of our immediate needs, and the dearth of people in power to understand or honor them…we forget to imagine other ways, other value systems…and alternate realms of consciousness, don’t we?
Greed and avarice and lust for power are…baffling…to those of us who don’t share those particular addictions.
Some states ARE selling off their publicly owned infrastructure to foreign investors; Ratigan covers it a lot in his ‘Selling Our Future?” programs.
I’ve posted the following remarks once before at FDL, but they definitely belong in this important diary’s thread. They’re by Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, and I want to highlight one portion first, out of order, because of the chilling implications for democratic self-government it describes – a consequence of these deals that doesn’t get enough attention, given the understandable primary focus on the outsourcing of good American jobs, in the name of shareholder/bondholder profit, that results from and is encouraged by these deals.
Senator Casey, speaking about the proposed South Korea, Columbia, & Panama trade deals on July 7:
And, from the same speech, the bulk of Senator Casey’s 7/7 floor remarks, focusing on the South Korea trade deal, in the order in which they were delivered:
Holy Crow, powwow; that is an astounding indictment of KORUS; I had no idea Casey was so involved and tuned in. Thank you so much for posting that.
I just saw a piece at The Hill; a few Republicans are saying they’ll support the TAA in a separate bill, yada, yada…and still the focus is on THAT horse race, rather than the vile nature of the deals. Maddening. I wish Casey could grab a mike on the Capitol steps everyday from now until.
Where are the unions, powwow?
Here’s another way of communicating their relationship.
Free-trading neoliberals like Obama and Clinton export American jobs overseas. Then they argue for subsidies to create new jobs here to replace the old ones they helped to export with their trade policies. All of which costs us more money, and makes us more dependent on debt.
The link you share here replays the same basic sell out we’ve seen for some time with Democratic leadership — embodied to the fullest in Obama’s Washington. Those who buy into it claim bi-partisanship as cover. Frustration with this status quo moves me to look for ways to counter it with left-right transpartisanship.
I’m adding a link to your comment thread here from my post about Cut, Cap, and Balance (which quickly slipped off the page with zero comments). You know, that was the first post I’ve ever considered erasing from existence. Then I thought — nah, it’s an honest response to a real problem that will lead to more developed thoughts about cutting military spending and corporate welfare with a Balanced People’s Budget.
Sometimes one must to be willing to be the fool as society starts stepping off the heights of peak oil and peak debt. Perhaps what looks like utter foolishness will help us think of creative ways to climb down.
@Watt Childress July 22nd, 2011 at 2:51 pm
Your good will is apparent, Watt; I admire that. The flaw in your thinking, IMO, is that the ruling classes and their Congressional minions are in any way honest about their portrayals of fiscal and monetary economics. Or by now, that any more than a handful give a ding-dong about American’s: jobs, health, justice, fairness, futures, safety (many categories there to choose from), security…any of it.
It’s a harsh truth, but one we must increasingly face. Who among us would have imagined that this far into Prez Hope/Change’s term we would be at FDL fighting for the crumbs from the MOTU’s feast table; begging for no more cuts to Medicaid, not raising the retirement age, all that?
Come to think of it: One. From the Cafe: Rutabaga Ridgepole. He had it right; what instincts! (Got an email from him on his way to DC to record abject venality, the dear.) ;o)
Anyway, hate to shout but: They Don’t Want to Solve Any of It! Dah! My memory; I just read a piece somewhere in which the author was mirroring my beliefs that none of the signers-on to Cap, Cut, Balance have any intention of not stealing our safety net. And showed the dark side of the bill; if I remember, I’ll post it or send it to you.
God; I hate the cynicism all this is bringing to me! I’m sitting here shaking my head in dismay for the hundredth time today. And wondering for the umpteenth time how you fix an essentially spiritual/psychological mass malaise through fricking politics? I do not know, Watt.
And you ain’t no fool; just a bit credulous and very well-meaning. Sorry I didn’t make it to your diary; I have been loaded with stuff today. ;o)
Hello – Can you say VAT? Hello – VAT WAKE UP! – VAT
Sorry, I did not know you were sleeping. Poor Booboo. Maybe one day he won’t be sleeping in the White House.