Opposing view: Don't buy 'free-trade hype' (Korea deal could put 1000's of US jobs at risk)

[Omaha Steve]

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2010/02/opposing-view-dont-buy-freetrade-hype.html

Korea deal could put thousands of manufacturing jobs at risk.
By Richard Trumka

Our country is mired in a deep recession and a jobs crisis of historic proportions. This is a moment for our policymakers to take bold action to create millions of good jobs to put hardworking Americans back to work.

This is not the moment to dust off George W. Bush's failed trade agreements and ram them through Congress — certainly not under the false premise that they will help solve our jobs problem.

The trade agreements that President Bush negotiated with Colombia, South Korea and Panama are unlikely to generate significant jobs in the United States. Nor will they promote democratic and broadly shared economic development abroad, or deepen our friendships with those countries.

Haven't we learned yet to distinguish between the "free-trade hype" of Econ 101 — and the hard, cold reality that our current trade policy has become a vehicle for offshoring and outsourcing good jobs?

Even the U.S. International Trade Commission has concluded that the likely economic impact of the Colombia and Panama deals is no more than a rounding error in the U.S. economy. The ongoing threats against, and murders of, trade unionists in Colombia should also place this agreement out of consideration any time soon.

FULL story at link.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

1. Korea deal COULD put 1000's of US jobs at risk????

...And walking in a rainstorm without rain-gear COULD make you WET :silly:

Instead, we need to support high-value and high-tech manufacturing in the USA. The single most important thing our government can do to help is to challenge other countries' currency manipulation — especially the Chinese government's. The U.S. cannot successfully export to countries that intervene systematically to keep their goods artificially cheap relative to ours. We also need to effectively enforce our trade laws; invest in research, development, modern infrastructure and skills; and end tax practices that disadvantage our own producers.Then we can begin to talk about a pro-jobs, pro-worker trade policy for the 21st century.


Richard Trumka is president of the AFL-CIO.

If you ask the average worker who Richard Trumka is, most wouldn't have a FUCKING CLUE who he is, yet he is the one person who supports them. Carlin (RIP) said it best IMO:

" ....NOBODY seems to notice....NOBODY seems to care..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acLW1vFO-2Q

KNR

[Bitwit1234]

2. Free Trade is NEVER going to work

The US might will let other countries sell their goods here, but you can see for yourself that NONE of the other countries are buying our goods, or even allowing them in the country. The only way to stop this is to take the tax breaks away from the US companies that went overseas.

And no matter what people think, a tariff should be imposed on all and any goods coming into this country that would make the price compatible to the same goods we manufacture and sell here. No matter what the butt republicans say.