Backlash grows against free trade - by Mark Trumbull at Christian Science Monitor

[applegrove]

Backlash grows against free trade
In the Monitor
Friday, 02/16/07
by Mark Trumbull


A record US trade deficit is rekindling the globalization debate.
By Mark Trumbull | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Worries about the dark side of free trade are surfacing in the United States in ways that could affect the course of globalization worldwide.

Don't expect an outright retreat from global commerce just yet, but it is becoming more likely that the US will act to temper and manage its impact. The reason: Free-trade brush fires have recently erupted on economic and political fronts:

• This week, the Commerce Department said America's trade deficit rose to $764 billion in 2006, as imports outstripped exports by a record amount for a fifth straight year.

• Democrats are in control of Congress, with new lawmakers in their ranks who are especially eager to do something about what they see as unfair trade practices by China. Bipartisan bills introduced this week could result in retaliatory tariffs or revocation of China's trade status with the US.


...........SNIP"

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0216/p01s02-usec.html

[reprobate]

1. The word PROTECTIONISM once was a legitimate political stance.

I can remember (back in the paleolithic times) when protectionism - economic policies intended to protect our industries from the cheap labor of less industrialized countries - was recognized as a necessary to keep industry healthy in this nation.

Then at some point, the right wing corporate whores decided that by moving production to those countries, their cost went down, so their profits went up. That's when they turned "protectionism" into something more evil than murder, and organized labor into an obscenity.

That's when "Globalization became the one thing necessary for American Corporate Greed to succeed.

And that's when Thomas Friedman started pushing globalization with his "Fat Earth" meme.

Isn't it amazing how the pendulum swings? I think it won't be long until "protectionism" is once more a recognized positive political stance.

About time!

[applegrove]

2. The last few years have seen a ridiculous amount of jobs lost. To some point

the USA needs to specialize and pick a few areas to thrive in. With oil prices only to rise in the next century..makes sense to get out of manufacturing and encourage kids to study sciences instead. Problem is all the CEOs see is their profit and it has not translated to kick ass science programs in public schools. Until that happens (BUSH is out of power)there is no point to giving it all away to globalism forces.