DUMP NAFTA!

NAFTA foes hope Dems' words turn into action ( C )

GOOD MORNING FLINT!

BY Terry Bankert 3/25/08
http://attorneybankert.com/
You are invited to join me at Face Book http://www.facebook.com/people/Terry_Bankert/645845362 ___________________________
Full article at http://goodmorningflint.blogspot.com/
SUMMARY ON Flint Talk http://flinttalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=26508#26508
_____

When the nation gets a cold Flint MI USA get phenomena. If NAFTA hurt your working men and women a little it devastated us. So we have a right to complain. Now I understand macro economics but trade policy should be challenged and open to modification at all times. To cry protectionism now simply will fuel a debate and resulting in reasonable modification to or elimination of NAFTA which has devastated the working men and women of this country. I guess I have an opinion.[trb)

TAPS FOR NAFTA

Is the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) dying? Both Hillary Clinton or Barrack Obama have made campaign promises to “renegotiate” the 14-year-old trade agreement that generally has resulted in a boom for U.S. trucking and railroad interests.(T)

ANOTHER STAIN ON BILLS RECORD

Since NAFTA was adopted in 1994 under the first Clinton administration, it basically created open trade, free of duties and tariffs, among the U.S. Mexico and Canada. But both Democratic candidates have sounded a protectionist tone during their campaign, threatening to renegotiate NAFTA and other free trade agreements to make them more favorable on labor and environmental grounds.(T)

NAFTA INTENDED TO KILL ORGANIZED LABOR IN THE USA

Sen. Bernie Sanders believes the country is ready to join his fight to overhaul American trade policy. He wants to believeBarrack Obama and Hillary Clinton are too.©)

A LIBERAL VIEWPOINT (FINALLY WE CAN BE SEEN IN PUBLIC AGAIN)

Sanders, a liberal Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, is a leader in the growing group of lawmakers who blame expanded trade for lost manufacturing jobs and stagnant wages for American workers. The campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination would appear to promise them a crowning achievement: Both Obama and Clinton say they'll renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and push for a more worker-friendly trade model if elected.©)

A POLICY THAT FORCED LOWER WAGES ON YOUR FAMILY!

Opponents of NAFTA take a starker position.Thea M. Lee is policy director for the AFL-CIO, which opposes NAFTA and lobbies against other free trade agreements as unfair to U.S. workers and corporations unless they include provisions that require signatory countries to raise labor and environmental standards. Lee argues one of the main upshots of the deal has been to "force workers into more direct competition with each other, while assuring them fewer rights and protections." The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning research organization, says in a policy paper on NAFTA that the deal's trade agenda has served to widen U.S. trade deficits and has indirectly pushed some U.S. workers into lower-paying jobs. (w)

WE ARE AT ECONOMIC WAR WITH THE COUNTRIES THAT HAVE OIL OR CHEAP LABOR.

But many in the "fair trade" crowd aren't celebrating yet, and free-traders, particularly among Democrats, don't look worried. They have heard this before, and many of them doubt Obama or Clinton would make good on their tough talk.©)

WE HAVE TO MAKE THEM SERIOUS

"I don't know if they're really serious about going back and redoing NAFTA," said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the House majority leader. Hoyer supports increased trade, as does Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), the House Democratic Caucus chairman. Emanuel notes that both Clinton and Obama backed a recent trade deal with Peru. "That's all I have to say," he said.©)

What is NAFTA?(W) NAFTA is a trilateral free trade deal that came into force in January 1994, signed by Democratic President Bill Clinton. The central thrust of the agreement is to eliminate the vast majority of tariffs on products traded among the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The terms of the agreement called for these tariffs to be phased out gradually, and the final aspects of the deal weren't fully implemented until January 1, 2008. The deal swept away export tariffs in several industries: agriculture has been a major focus, but tariffs have also been reduced on items like textiles and automobiles. NAFTA also implemented intellectual-property protections, established dispute-resolution mechanisms, and put into place regional labor and environmental safeguards, though some critics now lobby for stronger measures on this front. (W)

NEEDED: A NAFTA MAKE OVER

"I don't know if they're really serious about going back and redoing NAFTA," said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the House majority leader. Hoyer supports increased trade, as does Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), the House Democratic Caucus chairman. Emanuel notes that both Clinton and Obama backed a recent trade deal with Peru. "That's all I have to say," he said.©)

WHY ARE WE BUYING CHINESE JUNK PRODUCTS? ARE YOU AN ECONOMIC TRAITOR TO SHOP IN A DOLLAR STORE?

Sanders seems cautiously optimistic at best. "It doesn't take a PhD in economics to see when you go shopping the only products you can afford are made in China," he said. "The American people know it, and I hope our candidates learn it."©)

Some of his allies are more hopeful: "The winner, Hillary or Barrack, will come to Congress [as president] with a different trade policy," said Sen.©)Sherrod Brown (D- Ohio). "They'll follow through." A winning issue?©)

Brown, Sanders and other Senate and House candidates ran on trade reform in their winning 2006 campaigns. Clinton and Obama began to pound the issue in the run-up to Ohio's March 4 presidential primary. They denounced "job-killing" trade deals and promised to crack down on companies that ship factory work overseas, drawing cheers in a state where dwindling manufacturing employment and soaring foreclosure rates have ratcheted up voters' anxieties.©)

VOTERS THINK THESE TRADE DEALS HAVE COST AMERICA ITS JOBS

Exit polls showed 4 of 5 voters in Ohio's Democratic primary believe trade deals with other countries take jobs from their state. The numbers figure to look similar in Pennsylvania, which is one state east of Ohio in the Rust Belt and holds its primary April 22. Nationwide, a Wall Street Journal poll last fall found 6 in 10 Republicans say trade deals have been bad for the U.S. economy.©)

Before the Ohio primary, which Clinton won by 10 percentage points, each Democrat accused the other of saying one thing on trade but meaning another. Those criticisms persist.©)

SOME ECONOMISTS DISAGREE

A paper from three prominent trade experts, C. Parr Rosson, III, C. Ford Runge, and Kirby S. Moulton, notes that the idea of trade blocs is relatively new in North America, but argues that similar arrangements elsewhere in the world have shown consistent gains when viewed from a long-term perspective. The report outlines different forms of "preferential trading arrangements," from free trade deals like NAFTA to more limited customs unions and economic unions, which have been successful in parts of Europe. The report notes that preferential trading arrangements can actually divert trade in the short term -- and can cause labor-market disruptions that are painful to some workers -- but also "can be expected to have major long-term benefits." (w)

SIDE DEALS WITH CANADA

Clinton's campaign cites news reports that Obama's top economic adviser met with Canadian officials to reassure them over not wanting to change NAFTA. Obama's campaign says Clinton advocated for NAFTA when her husband, then- President Bill Clinton, was pushing the deal through Congress. Each candidate denies the other's charge.©)

Both Clinton and Obama voted for a trade deal with Oman in 2006. They both supported the Peru agreement last year, though they missed the Senate's vote to approve it while campaigning. Both voted against the signature trade deal of the Bush administration, the Central American Free Trade Agreement.©)

THE RUSTIES SHOULD NOT BLAME THE NAFTEES

Experts disagree on how trade has affected the nation. Liberal economists, for example, blame NAFTA alone for the loss of tens of thousands of Ohio jobs. More conservative economists say Ohio's increased exports due to trade agreements have created more than enough jobs to make up for those lost to outsourcing. A wealth of data suggest the deepest sources of Rust Belt decline are a lack of educated residents and marketable ideas.©)

'A stark difference' Analysts expect trade to factor heavily in swing manufacturing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan this fall. The differences will be clear: Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, has a pro-trade voting record. He extolled its benefits during the Ohio primary campaign.©)

MC CAIN: LET THEM EAT CAKE

"There will be a stark difference" on trade in the general election, said Scott Paul, director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, which supports revamping trade deals to benefit domestic workers. "John McCain has made it clear that he is philosophically disinclined to do anything on this issue."©)

MC CAIN: I’M STUPID ON ECONOMIC POLICY, REMEMBER 911....PLEASE!

McCain has acknowledged in the past that he knows less about economics than he does about national security and foreign policy, and Democrats have seized on such remarks to argue that the Republican is a novice on bread-and-butter issues that voters care about most.(a)

BOYCOTT ANYTHING MADE IN CHINA

Still, Paul said this week he hasn't heard the detail he'd like from Obama or Clinton on how they would change America's trading relationship with China, which ranked as the chief concern among those who attended a series of trade "town halls" his group had in the past six months. Asked if he believes either Democrat would fundamentally alter trade policy, Paul said, "It's too early to tell."©)

The Democrats' rhetoric has jarred some trade proponents. But for the most part, it hasn't worried them.©)

A GRAIN OF SALT OR ECONOMIC REVOLUTION?

"There obviously has been a lot of rhetoric and discussion on the campaign trail," said Christopher Wenk, the senior director for international policy of the pro-trade U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "You talk to anybody in Washington; I think there are concerns there about what's being said. But many of us, myself included, are taking this with a grain of salt. ... Bashing NAFTA plays well with Ohio voters."©)

FREE MARKETS OR EXPLOITATION

Decades of bipartisan consensus on free trade are "under pressure" in Washington, said Peter Orszag, a former Clinton administration adviser who now directs the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. Economic uncertainty, he said, is causing many voters to consider "throwing sand in the wheels of markets."©)

"My experience suggests," he continued, "when perceptions shift, policy proposals are not far behind."©)

NO TO NAFTA...NO TO NAFTA....NO TO NAFTA!!!!

Posted here by Terry Bankert ... http://attorneybankert.com/
Join my political party of preference, http://www.michigandems.com/join.html

--- WHERE DID THIS STUFF COME FROM---

©) The Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-trade25mar25,0,3452426.story
(TRB) Comments of Terry Bankert and BLOCK headlines http://attorneybankert.com/
(T) The Truth About Trade http://www.truthabouttrade.org/content/view/11349/54/ (A) Associated press http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iNxTApa2sQRu0Xx99P3jt2bEXw7gD8VKAI080
(W) The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/24/AR2008032401562.html
(g) The Gazette http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/letters/story.html?id=82f25aee-d8e7-4235-8491-6f5b762e81f4

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