Working Life

   Change has to begin with the transformation of the economy: a rejection of the marketing phrase of the "free market". The president has made some very strong proposals in this area. A large group of Members of Congress is now pushing him to declare a new era in trade.   I just received the […]

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  When many people voted for "change", they embraced the idea that the parameters and language of our policy debate had to be altered. Nowhere is that more evident than on the topic of trade. Now, there is legitimate concern that the president may not live up to his rhetoric when it comes to so-called […]

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   If policy was constructed by the people, not the wishes of the lobbyists and corporate interests, we would never see a so-called "free trade" deal pass Congress again. That’s pretty much the upshot of the 2008 elections–though, believe me, this fight ain’t over yet.     I would argue that the issue of trade […]

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Yesterday, Sen. Obama made comments to a business reporter that leave the impression that he is already shifting his stated position on NAFTA and, by extension, so-called “free trade”. It is worth looking at as a sign where Sen. Obama really intends to lead us on trade if he wins the White House.   A […]

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I almost broke my pledge of sanity not to blog on the weekends when I read Roger Lowenstein’s monumentally stupid article on trade in the Sunday Times Magazine. The piece was so moronic as to…well, let’s go to the text.   Lowenstein starts out by setting the terms of debate thus: According to Political Science […]

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Yesterday, I highlighted the rolling out of a very important piece of legislation: the Trade Reform, Accountability, Development, and Employment Act of 2008 (cleverly, the TRADE Act). So far, the only Senate co-sponsors, who have joined the bill’s sponsor Sherrod Brown, are Byron Dorgan, Russ Feingold, Bob Casey and Sheldon Whitehouse. So, today, it’s worth […]

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   Over the never-ending primary season (I recently picked up a not-so-old old New Yorker issue that had a New Hampshire primary and realized that wasn’t so long ago and it seems like ancient history), I’ve pointed numerous times that on the question of so-called "free trade" I wasn’t entirely sure that there would be a […]

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    One of the very under-the-radar things that happened when the Democrats took the seat in Mississippi was that the newly-elected Congresscritter, Travis Childers is a "fair trade" proponent and won’t support any so-called "free trade" deals: Childers has signed a pledge not to approve any international trade agreements if he’s elected, saying that deals […]

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  Right now, the so-called "free trade" deal with Colombia is floating dead in the water. But, once the sniping goes away over process, the horse-trading will begin. And the Democratic freshmen in the House may end up being key votes.   By now, we know that Speaker Pelosi is blocking a vote right now, […]

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   Virtually every time a so-called "free trade" agreement comes before Congress, you can almost predict what happens: the elites rally to figure out a way to push through these deals, pouring in huge resources to buy votes and pushing a propaganda campaign that is far-reaching. And it is no different with the push to […]

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