Bloomberg Shamelessly Defends "Free Trade"

There's a reason that many New Yorkers think Mayor Bloomberg is out of touch with the average working American. That antipathy he harbors was in full effect yesterday for the cameras when he called us losers for not wanting our government to stand up for fair trade and not free trade. He thinks we need to be more competitive (btw, how did your education initiative in NYC go Mr. Mayor?) Then he calls us losers and schools us on what unabated "free" trade does to the world economy. He accepts the concept that workers will work for less and less, but as a man with over $20 billion to his name, he could care less what happens to the 6.6 or 6.7 billion people below him.

Clinton Stumped By Colombian Trade Deal Question

The conflict of interest is readily apparent here between her claims of being against the Colombian trade deal yet her husband has made money speaking in favor of it. Yet when a reporter asks her about it, her only answer is to laugh nervously in front of the press.



I don't care how many angels dance on the head of a pin (um, wtf does that mean?), I want to know why or why not you think that conflicts with your position. Why was that so hard Senator?

Pelosi Stands Up For Fair Trade And Against Republicans

Today in Washington Congressional Republicans and the White House are whining that Speaker Nancy Pelosi played unfair by blocking a vote on a trade deal between the United States and Colombia. As usual when it comes to Republican tears and the truth, neither were anywhere near each other. What Pelosi did today was stop an unfair trade deal from going through that would have helped the pockets of the Colombian government and American corporations while screwing the workers of both countries.

From the AP:

"The president took action" in submitting the Colombia free trade agreement to Congress on Tuesday, she said. "I will take mine tomorrow." Pelosi said that Bush called her Monday to tell her he was sending the agreement to Congress.

The White House has aggressively pushed Congress to approve the trade deal with Colombia, arguing that helping a key ally in South America is in the political and security interests of the United States.

But most Democrats, backed by organized labor and some human rights groups, are against it. They have cited violence against union organizers in Colombia and have also made clear they won't consider further free trade agreements until legislation is passed to expand current programs to help American workers displaced by foreign trade.

Pelosi, at a news conference, said that if legislation approving the trade deal were taken up now, it would be defeated, "and what message would that send" to the Colombian people?

She denied that the rule change doomed action on the agreement this year, saying that "depends on the good faith in which we conduct these negotiations." The administration has been talking to Democrats about ways to help American workers. The House last year passed legislation to expand the Trade Adjustment Assistance program that provides financial aid and training to people who lose jobs as a result of trade, but the White House threatened a presidential veto and the Senate never took it up.

Trading with our friends around the globe is certainly important, but how we trade should come first. Before George Bush became President our country was looked up at as a symbol of freedom and equality. We should demand that of our international trading practices as well as what goes on internally here at home. As Representatives Hale and Michaud said yesterday, they would be dead in Colombia for doing what they do with labor here in America. That needs to change before we agree to anything.

GOP Voters Starting To Come Around....And Against "Free Trade"

There really is nothing free about "free trade." It is a phrase used by Republican strategists and pundits to make people believe they want a level playing field and to let people pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. However, that happy feeling for those that love and adore capitalism is not how things happen reality. After trying it Bush's way for the last six years, moderate and conservative Republicans are starting to see the folly of their ways.

From The Wall Street Journal:

WASHINGTON -- By a nearly two-to-one margin, Republican voters believe free trade is bad for the U.S. economy, a shift in opinion that mirrors Democratic views and suggests trade deals could face high hurdles under a new president.

The sign of broadening resistance to globalization came in a new Wall Street Journal-NBC News Poll that showed a fraying of Republican Party orthodoxy on the economy. While 60% of respondents said they want the next president and Congress to continue cutting taxes, 32% said it's time for some tax increases on the wealthiest Americans to reduce the budget deficit and pay for health care.

Six in 10 Republicans in the poll agreed with a statement that free trade has been bad for the U.S. and said they would agree with a Republican candidate who favored tougher regulations to limit foreign imports. That represents a challenge for Republican candidates who generally echo Mr. Bush's calls for continued trade expansion, and reflects a substantial shift in sentiment from eight years ago.

Although it is great that they see a problem with what is going on, these party faithful just do not get that any one of their candidates will never go against the fiscal policies of George Bush and the reasoning is simple. The cronyism that has gone on in the last few years has been spectacular for the large donors of the GOP. All of his potential GOP successors will only continue or strengthen the current fiscal climate. Unchecked globalization is good for business, and the people that get screwed in the wake of their path be damned.