Working Life

Because we need to celebrate in these dark political days, give a listen to how YOU, and thousands of people like you, helped kill (hopefully, forever), the dastardly Trans Pacific Partnership. After a short primer on so-called “free trade”, Jonathan speaks with two key people who organized the opposition, Lori Wallach, the director of Global […]

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Going back to NAFTA more than two decades ago (wow, time flies when Administration after Administration screws workers year after year, eh?), deals have been made by presidents to buy votes. With Bill Clinton and Robert Reich promising a whole host of goodies, NAFTA passed narrowly–my favorite deal struck in memory was Clinton’s promise to establish a North American Development Bank with $3 billion…which bought the votes of a few Democrats like Rep. Esteban Torres (D-CA) and Rep. Ed Pastor (D-AZ). The bank? Ooooopppppssss…didn’t happen beyond a trickle.

You see, the sale of one’s soul–and the livelihoods of millions of people–for a piddling appropriation turns out to be a bad deal just on the narrow merits of what’s promised:

Most deals are broken.

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Back in March, Wikileaks got a hold of an advanced draft of the TPP and leaked it. Today, the organization has done it again.

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The gloves are off, the sides have been clearly drawn. It’s the president, the Republican Party and business versus the people, workers, labor and most of the Democratic Party. And a top House Democrat, who is at the forefront whipping the votes against fast track and the Trans Pacific Partnership, is making it clear: the president stands with multi-national corporations against workers.

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I meant to write this up a couple of weeks ago when Elizabeth Warren released a report called, “Broken Promises: Decades of Failure to Enforce Labor Standards in Free Trade Agreements” but, well, stuff got in the way. But, here’s a hint: there will always be a spineless Democrat who gives you a chance to come back to an important topic. And that topic is: trade enforcement never works, it’s a scam and should not be allowed to be used as a reason to vote for fast track or any of these so-called “free trade” deals.

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Oh, seriously. Democrats are whining about, heaven forbid, a bit of pressure from unions to actually vote correctly on fast track and the Trans Pacific Partnership. Grow up–and if you can’t cast a vote for workers, go be a lobbyist.

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I’ve previously written that the president is a coward, hiding behind Nike and a whole host of other corporate sponsors in his pitch to pass the Trans Pacific Partnership. Probably the lowest he’s gone is accusing people of “making stuff up”, specifically when it comes to the view that, oh, pshaw, the TPP and so-called “free trade” deals will not undermine American regulations.

So, Mr. President, what dismissive comments can you conjure up now, in light of YESTERDAY’S undermining of an important food safety regulation because of the very secretive and corporate-friendly trade deals that TPP is a bad seed of? When Americans eat tainted meat, fall sick and die, what will you say?

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From inside the belly of the beast on trade comes an illuminating view on the secrecy around the Trans Pacific Partnership. From an insider. Who knows. And he says: Sens. Warren and Sanders, and a whole host of others, are right on the mark about the secrecy.

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Now it boils down to this: can the White House and its corporate supporters find a sliver of votes in the House to pass fast track and, close on its heels, the Trans Pacific Partnership? To do that end, the president and his allies are going to rely on tried-and-true phony promises conjured up by Bill Clinton and Robert Reich when they squeezed NAFTA through by a handful of votes in 1993–the Clinton-Reich playbook is back on display again.

Today’s false promise: retraining.

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It’s easy enough to have very carefully choreographed appearances, say in front of a controlled crowd at Nike, where you can attack opponents without having to actually engage in a debate. But, the president is a coward: if you want to tear down people and claim they are wrong on such a critical issue, come out and debate people directly.

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