Dems Had Better Listen to the Public's Anger Over Our Failed Trade Policy

[yurbud]

Published on Friday, February 9, 2007 by CommonDreams.org
Dems Had Better Listen to the Public's Anger Over Our Failed Trade Policy
by Deborah James and Todd Tucker


After long, frustrating years of republican-lite economics, many Democrats have finally found the ability -- and the language -- to connect with average Americans. They talk of "two Americas," of the economic pain -- the "squeeze" -- felt by the middle class and of inequality that's reached heights not seen since the era of the robber-barons.

One of the most potent issues in the 2006 elections was trade. Candidates across the United States won races by standing in opposition to more trade deals based on the NAFTA-WTO model and in favor of fair trade policies that can uplift the middle class and safeguard the environment. But despite the fact that the world is moving away from the kind of corporate-written trade deals that has marked the Clinton-Bush era, there remains a group within the Democratic establishment that appears to be unmoved both by public opinion against our current trade policy and hard data that reveal its failure.

A recent intervention from the Democrat-aligned Center for American Progress provides a case in point. In a recent CAP publication, Daniel K. Tarullo, a Clinton administration official who had previously advised the Mexican government on NAFTA, tried to make "The Case for Reviving the Doha Trade Round" of the WTO. In the past, CAP produced top-notch work on a wide range of domestic economic policies, as well as reports critical of CAFTA and the U.S. trade deficit. But the group seems out of step with the majority of the Democratic base and with progressive thinking worldwide on the WTO, with a 2005 report even calling WTO escalation "critical to our future prosperity and security."


snip

Yet a review of the actual agenda now under negotiation in the Doha Round WTO talks belies Tarullo's back-to-basics claim. For instance, the service sector negotiations include proposals to deepen WTO jurisdiction over U.S. immigration policy. Demands from India and other countries in the Doha Round go even further, calling for a global guest worker program that is opposed by both immigrant advocates and critics alike. And developing country opposition to WTO escalation goes far beyond agricultural tariffs and subsidies. In fact, development groups like Oxfam have termed the Doha Round's proposals for manufacturing a threat to "developing countries' right to a future."

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0209-24.htm

[Erika]

1. So we should pay a $1.25 mimimum wage to our workers

The Bushbots would love it. Not a decent wage, no health care, but maximum global profits. That's why W is where he is. His buds wanted it and paid for it and sold out America.

[yurbud]

2. and on trade, Dems have been the amen choir too often

with the exception of folks like Byron Dorgan.

[antigop]

3. add Bernie Sanders, Kucinich, Sherrod Brown, Webb to your list

All of them have been outspoken critics of outsourcing and "free trade".