December 04, 2006
All Talk And No Results on Trade
I had a rare opportunity yesterday to talk to the government officials who negotiate trade deals. Senator Baucus arranged for the negotiators for the Korea - US free trade agreement to be in Gallatin Gateway to actually meet the citizens.
This is highly unusual. These trade agreements are negotiated behind closed doors, on so-called 'fast track' terms, so that the elected officials of We the People have pretty much nothing to say about it.
So I got all dressed up and buzzed out to Gateway on a mission: avoid the Koreans, because I have no beef with them. Find the US negotiators and let them know what their work has done for my constituents.
First up was the assistant negotiator for this deal, a pleasant young lady who was more than happy to talk with me until I told her the truth. That 'free trade' deals have been a disaster for my community, my constituents, my state, and my country.
That the treaties exclusively benefit the 1% of Americans who invest for a living. That we can't get any factories built here because they've all been shipped to Asia.
And that even the white collar jobs are going now, meaning that prosperity through education is more and more of a mirage. That a previous deal, Nafta, destroyed the Mexican economy and produced 10 million economic refugees, who have now made their way north. That for my constituents, free trade means a lower standard of living and more and more debt.
She gave me the identical look I got from the Ivy Leaguers twenty years ago during my Wall Street days, when I tried to point out to them that the early versions of these exact same policies were going to produce exactly these results. It's like she was gazing at an insect before gluing it to the head of a pin. Interesting specimin, this look says. Silly idealist, to imagine that common people should actually benefit from the policies enacted by the elites.
So I moved on. Next up: Wendy Cutler, the chief negotiator. I gave her my most respectful and reasoned pitch about the results of free trade. To her credit, she listened, intently. But once I touched the live-wire issue - that only investors benefit from these policies, and that two thirds of Americans are moving backwards - my audience was over. I was dismissed.
Ms. Cutler told me it was too bad I hadn't heard the lecture earlier, because by golly, all of this is being addressed.
As if cutting wages and clobbering the American standard of living is not the plan, and hasn't been all along.
Well, that is the plan, and always has been. The corporate crowd has always been quite clear about this. Frankly, I'm over it. I believe it's time to start shouting from the rooftops. Free trade is a scam, and always has been. Flat earth, indeed.
There is an ironic conclusion to the tale. The next stop in my busy holiday season weekend was the cell phone store, because my cell phone won't turn on.
It turns out the the nice young folks manning the counter couldn't actually crack open the phone and fix it. If the phone won't turn on, they are meant to be thrown away. The only option for me, the lowly customer, was to pay the giant phone company more money, in one form or another.
So where was my less-than-a-year-old, high-tech, throwaway telephone made? You got it: Korea. It was Koreans who designed the phone, made its parts, assembled it, and tested it. All real jobs. Some of these folks were no doubt trained in US universities.
The well-meaning, enthusiastic, but ultimately helpless Americans just get to push the product across the counter, roll out the long-term, one-sided contract, and throw away the trash.
Posted by Brady Wiseman at 06:25 AM | Comments (0)