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From Edwards website: Big Idea: Fair Trade
Why are the experts wrong so often about the impact of "free trade"?
What is wrong with "fair trade" agreements? Why is it that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was sold as a job creator but turned out to be a destroyer of jobs both North and South of the border?
Its very simple. The arguments for these so-called "free trade" agreements are about how the agreements work in a make-believe world. The make-believe world is different from the real world in very important ways. So when set loose in the real world, the predictions turn out to be false. Much more here: http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2006/4/17/125445/287Here is an excerpt from an interview with Edwards: Q: To me, one of the least mentioned yet most important facets of the 2006 campaign was the issue of trade. And there's a pretty clear within the Senate, which has traditionally been more free trade perhaps towards getting a fairer trade or not giving as much latitude towards the President. Sherrod Brown, being the leader against CAFTA in the House, Bernie Sanders, etc. Where do you see that balance?
Edwards: I think we've gotten caught in this... And even the language, free trade/fair trade. I think the answer is smart trade. We want trade that works for American workers, that works for other workers around the world. I think that there should be real environmental and labor standards in our trade agreements, international standards that are achievable but that are enforceable. I don't think that we should use trade agreements, the standards in them, as a ruse for protectionism. I don't think that's right. So the nuance of how you set the standards is really important. But they shouldn't be standardless. They ought to have real standards in them.
And then the other thing that we have to do that that we're doing a terrible job of right now is providing a safety net for people who are hit directly by trade. Communities, families, people who have lost their jobs - the safety net it pitiful. We've lost the social contract in America. It used to be that employers provided. But now because the employers are leaving, taking jobs to other places, there is not safety net. The only people who can provide is our government. So we have to take some serious steps to strengthen the safety net for people who are damaged by trade. Much more here: http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/2/7/12834/09259Here is an editorial by Phil Gailey with the St. Petersburg Times. It is not a particularly flattering editorial for Edwards and I cite it to show that even Edwards's critics agree that he's going further for fair trade than the other candidates. Edwards plants his flag out in left field: Caught up in March Madness - presidential campaigning, not basketball - I have begun to tune out Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama for the moment as I try to size up the one Southern Democrat in the race, former U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. While most of the other top-tier Democratic contenders are staying close to the political center, Edwards has swerved to the left. I find that interesting, because it occurred to me that three of the most prominent liberal voices in the Democratic Party these days are Southerners - former President Jimmy Carter, former Vice President Al Gore and now Edwards. Talk about a New South.
I use the word "liberal" loosely and only to suggest that the three Southerners have taken positions on issues that put them in favor with their party's left wing, from anti-war activists to Wal-Mart bashers. Of course, you don't have to be a liberal to hate the Iraq war or to resent corporate greed.... On the home front, Edwards has proposed a universal health-care plan that would cost as much as $120 billion a year, paid for with tax increases on the wealthiest Americans. According to The Washington Post, he tells audiences that his plan could lead to a government-run, single-payer health-care system, a position no other Democrat has taken so far.
You won't hear Edwards promising to reduce the federal deficit, either. He says investing more in education, alternative energy sources and antipoverty programs is more important than deficit reduction.
His domestic agenda is appealing. However, it remains to be seen how moderate and independent voters will react to the way Edwards has thrown himself prostrate at the feet of union bosses and liberal bloggers. He has joined union protesters on picket lines outside Wal-Mart stores, and his campaign manager is David Bonior, a former Michigan congressman who has close ties with organized labor. Edwards talks about "fair trade" to disguise his protectionist leanings....
More recently, Edwards refused to participate in a Democratic debate in Nevada after Net-roots activists urged candidates to boycott the debate because it was co-sponsored by Fox News. Edwards was the first to bail out, and the debate was canceled. At this rate, we shouldn't be surprised if Edwards invites Michael Moore to join him on the campaign trail. http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070325/OPINION/203250321/1030/OPINIONHere is yet another editorial (this one's from James Pethokoukis for US News & World Report) which is even more critical of Edwards for going too far in his support of fair trade. Edwards Raises the Protectionist Banner: Given the growing the skepticism of free trade within his own party–last month, House Democrats voted 94-90 against approving normal trade relations with Vietnam–he wondered aloud if there would be any "full-throated Sherrod Brown types" running for the Democratic nomination. Brown, the newly elected U.S. senator from Ohio, is a vocal free-trade opponent. As Podesta sees it, the "the big question is where Edwards comes out." Edwards ran a populist campaign during the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries, talking about how there were "two Americas"–though Edwards didn't get many votes from either.
This is where Bonior comes in. Before retiring from the House in 2002 and unsuccessfully running for governor of the Wolverine State, Bonior was one of the most protectionist members of Congress, not too surprising for a Michigan Democrat, of course. While in Congress, Bonior voted for withdrawing from the World Trade Organization, voted against presidential fast-track trade authority as well as giving China most-favored-nation trading status. His inclusion on Team Edwards leaves little doubt that the former trial lawyer will be the Sherrod Brown or Patrick Buchanan of the Dem primaries, bashing free trade and China all around the country. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/capitalcommerce/061205/election_08_edwards_raises_the.htm?s_cid=rss:site1 |
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