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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAnother Free Trade disaster, and Obama owns it.
The latest email from Public Citizen...........
March 15, 2014
Friend,
Today is the second anniversary of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA) taking effect.
The data are in: U.S. exports to Korea dropped 11 percent and our deficit with Korea ballooned 47 percent. That equates to more than 40,000 additional American jobs lost.
This, after the Obama administration promised it would expand our exports and create American jobs.
Despite the stunning evidence, now the Obama administration is making the same bogus claims that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will create more exports and jobs. The thing is, the Obama administration literally used the Korea FTA as its starting text for the TPP!
This is insanity doing the same thing again and again, and expecting a different outcome.
Write your representative and tell him or her that America cant take more of the same old free trade deals.
President Barack Obama wants your representative to give him Fast Track trade authority so that he can railroad the TPP through Congress with limited debate and no amendments. But under the Korea FTA Obamas only major trade deal, and the deal on which the TPP is modeled U.S. exports dropped dramatically, imports soared and the U.S. lost more jobs to a trade agreement.
We dont want another so-called free trade agreement that ships our jobs overseas, dumping wages and benefits overboard along the way.
Urge your representative to say no to the Camp-Baucus Fast Track bill and all efforts to Fast Track the TPP and other trade agreements that replicate this damaging model.
The White House and the corporate lobby are selling the TPP as a new and improved version of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). But the Korea FTA was also sold as a shiny new version of NAFTA all fixed up to avoid the job loss and other NAFTA damage.
But now, just two years later, the data show that the Korea deal is not new or improved its the same-old American-job-killing deal that corporations love.
Like the so-called trade pacts before it, the TPP threatens our representatives ability to set domestic policies, such as those ensuring food safety, promoting buy local policies, enabling access to safe and affordable medicines, safeguarding Internet freedom and more. And it includes the incentives also included in NAFTA to offshore American jobs to lower-wage countries.
Make sure your representative knows what you think about the Korea FTA failure, and urge him or her to reject any form of Fast Track.
We need a new process that ensures a meaningful role for Congress and the American public in trade agreement policy.
Thank you for all that you do.
In solidarity,
Melanie Foley
Public Citizens Global Trade Watch
cali
(114,904 posts)about trade nearly as much as that are about corporate "rights".
Autumn
(45,120 posts)rec
KoKo
(84,711 posts)hughee99
(16,113 posts)policies of the previous administration. Why do you hate the president?
Response to hughee99 (Reply #4)
cui bono This message was self-deleted by its author.
jsr
(7,712 posts)Jobs On The Way: U.S.-Korea Trade Agreement Takes Effect Today
President Barack Obama signs the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, in the Oval Office, Oct. 21, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
As of March 15, 2012, the U.S.-Korea trade agreement the most commercially significant U.S. trade agreement in nearly two decades -- is now in effect. The opportunities this agreement offers to American manufacturers, service providers, farmers, ranchers, and workers are key components of President Obamas National Export Initiative, which aims to double American exports by the end of 2014 and support additional American jobs.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)fascisthunter
(29,381 posts)Free to screw American workers is what it means. The people pushing for this don't give a damn about people... they really just do not care.
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)We needed to import textiles from Korea into the US (all the fabric mills have closed down in the US). We were told the import tariff for raw textiles is 8% but, if the product is also manufactured in Korea, the tariff is ZERO. So basically a tax break for using foreign labor.
cui bono
(19,926 posts)"This is insanity doing the same thing again and again, and expecting a different outcome. "
Who says they are expecting a different outcome?
ReRe
(10,597 posts)... those that hear the same lies over and over, yet fall for them over and over again, NOT the perpetrators (The Corporatists) who tell the lies.
pa28
(6,145 posts)They'll get exactly the same outcome free trade agreements always give. The lobbyists and corporate interests backing this monstrosity want lower wages and higher unemployment.
I'm sure there are a few gormless dupes out there who will be surprised by the aftermath but the public has learned from bitter experience they are in for yet another reaming.
Omaha Steve
(99,837 posts)Octafish
(55,745 posts)Not Insane.
Demonstrates the Corrupt Bankster Owned State.
Response to Elwood P Dowd (Original post)
Post removed
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Progressive dog
(6,931 posts)in the overall trade balance and the jobs created or is Korea our only trading partner?
Fuddnik
(8,846 posts)Just the corporations who profit off of it.
ReRe
(10,597 posts)The country with the lowest wages wins, and we (the USA) lose. It's all about cheap labor. Period. We won't work for nothing, so this is the shell game The Corporation came up with to bring us to our knees. Then when they are given tax brakes for bringing the jobs back, they will be awarded also with a people who are so desperate they will work for next-to-nothing.
It's a gimmick, all the way around. And our Presidents, since GHWB, aren't able to catch on to the game. They just sit there watching the nut shells move around the table at the speed of light, saying "That's the neatest game! Would you do that again, Mr Corporate Man?"
We need a President who won't buy what The Corporation is selling. One who won't play the game. One who can't be bought. Who can't be intimidated.
That right there is the trick to winning this Corporate game: The commitment to find the man who can't be bought and vote him into the Presidency.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)The data are in: U.S. exports to Korea dropped 11 percent and our deficit with Korea ballooned 47 percent. That equates to more than 40,000 additional American jobs lost.
This, after the Obama administration promised it would expand our exports and create American jobs.
... is unfortunate, but U.S. exports are at an all time high in terms of dollars, and the trade deficit is at a four-year low.
Weak imports drive U.S. trade deficit to four-year lows
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/07/us-usa-economy-idUSBREA060HJ20140107
Jobs have been coming back to the U.S. since Obama took office.
Most recently,
Ford to Move Pickup Production From Mexico to Ohio Van Plant
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024623354
Control-Z
(15,682 posts)I have trouble when I only hear one side of a story. It takes me quite a while to come to any kind of conclusion without a lot more information.
Kermitt Gribble
(1,855 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)You have a never ending supply of bullshit. Fortunately most of us are on to your bullshit.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"You have a never ending supply of bullshit. Fortunately most of us are on to your bullshit."
..."fortunately" for me I don't need to rely on group think to make my day. If you can't refute the facts, just call them "bullshit."
Are you claiming that the trade deficit information isn't a fact?
fleabiscuit
(4,542 posts)But "bullshit" works too. eom
Populist_Prole
(5,364 posts)Because he's one of those technocrats that believe free trade works in theory or in the largest macro sense; but of the course the real world in which the proles here live/work all that bullshit doesn't hold true.
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)while since the agreement with Korea, our trade deficit with Korea has increased 47%,
our overall trade deficit in the same time period has dropped.
And therefore, we should proceed with TPP in order to spread the effect of the Korea trade deal to all trans-Pacific "partners" thereby stopping that dropping trade deficit in its tracks and increasing our trade deficit across the board?
Makes sense to me. If you're trying to help corporations to export jobs in their never ending race to the wage bottom.
The problem, as I see it, is this. Corporations are stupid. The CEOs see lower wages on a spread sheet, and think the rest of us are too stupid to add up the bottom line, which is why they think they are superior to the rest of us.
They fail miserably, however, at everything that doesn't fit on a spread sheet.
So it's not until they are in the place where they expect a lower cost of doing business and learn about the "hidden" costs that they realize how good they had it back here.
My real life example is at the shittier of my part time jobs in customer service for a bankster-support company. They moved paper storage to Pakistan because their spreadsheet told them it would lower their costs. It wasn't until there was a demonstration down the street from their facility that they learned that:
Pakistan and its neighbor India are mortal enemies.
Pakistan and its neighbor India are both nuclear-armed.
Pakistan might experience demonstrations.
Their dedicated, loyal and cheap Pakistani employees didn't think twice about walking out on their crap-pay jobs in the middle of the day to join a demonstration -- which turned into a riot -- down the block.
The majority of their Pakistani employees couldn't be bothered (or were unable) to returned from the riot.
I'm dead serious. When the VP of our division explained this to us, it was clearly news to him and he assumed we uneducated country-bumpkins were totally oblivious to that which, to any halfway educated person, would be obvious.
So after uprooting their paper storage and moving it to Pakistan, putting lots of people out of work and hurting communities, they had to turn around and bring it all back here again. Of course, that means they lost some money, but don't think that just because management made the stupid choice that the resulting loss was coming out of their wallets.
They did the same thing moving their facilities to Maine. They're halfway through the 10-year lease and struggling desperately. During the worst of the downturn they have maintained their 40% turnover rate, because they don't know anything about Maine or the people they expected to have under their thumbs.
Same thing with Mexico. Corporations were all to happy to move their facilities to Mexico to bust the unions and get dirt-cheap employees. Now that they've learned the hidden costs of doing business there, suddenly things don't seem so bad here after all. Too bad so many lives were ruined by their greed, stupidity and ignorance.
pscot
(21,024 posts)bvar22
(39,909 posts)"They" just do NOT care about YOU or your job.
The Verdict has been IN for over 20 years.
Ross was RIGHT,
but Bill was smooooth.
Bill was so smooth that he convinced America that competing with 3rd World Slave Labor for OUR jobs would be a GOOD thing.
Remember when Bill said this:
"American Workers CAN compete with ANY Worker in the World!"
...and people CHEERED.
What Bill was really saying was,
"If I get my way, American Workers
"Free Trade" was/is a SCAM from the very start,
and Koch Brothers money was used to SELL it to gullible Americans.
Koch Industries gave funding to the DLC and served on its Executive Council
http://americablog.com/2010/08/koch-industries-gave-funding-to-the-dlc-and-served-on-its-executive-council.html
The "Free Trade" SCAM worked so well,
that "they" are trying to SELL it again,
and will continue to SELL it as long as gullible Americans are willing to BUY it.
Sorry, Virginia, but there is NO such thing as Free Trade.
There is no such thing as a Free Market,
and there certainly is NO All Powerful "Invisible Hand" that reaches down fro Heaven
and protects American Workers and American Consumers.
The RICH made all that shit up so that they could:
*Drive Down wages and benefits for American Workers
*Bust Unions
*Avoid Environmental and Human Rights Regulations
Their SCAM has worked PERFECTLY as designed,
and will continue to destroy America's Working Class and enrich the 1%
until WE STOP IT!
If you Work for a Living,
these people are NOT your friends.
[font size=3]"You can NOT say you support the Middle Class,
and still support these Free Trade Treaties."[/font]
------Ed Schultz on his radio broadcast replayed today.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Those on DU that would claim otherwise are paid liars working for the .01%.
KG
(28,753 posts)reformist2
(9,841 posts)If Wall Street insists on shipping all our jobs overseas, these erstwhile "job creators", it is only right and just
that we share the wealth these corporations enjoy as a result of the cheap imports.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)"U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement Shows Strong Results on Second Anniversary
"In the two years that this landmark agreement has been in effect, Korea has become the sixth-largest trading partner of the United States, exports of U.S. manufactured goods to Korea have increased, Koreans are buying more U.S. services than ever, and U.S. exports of a wide range of agricultural products have seen significant gains. KORUS has also improved Koreas investment environment through strong provisions on intellectual property rights, services, and investment, supporting U.S. exports.
Since the Korea agreement went into effect, U.S. exports to Korea are up for our manufactured goods, including autos, exports are up for a wide range of our agricultural products, and exports are up for our services. Millions are benefitting from the lower tariffs on U.S. exports as well as the progress being made to tackle non-tariff barriers blocking U.S. exports to Korea. While our trade balance has been affected by decreases in corn and fossil fuel exports, these changes are due to the U.S. drought in 2012 and change in Koreas energy mix, both of which were unrelated to the agreement, said Ambassador Froman. Looking ahead, the United States will be working to ensure the full implementation of the agreement so that U.S. exporters are able to realize even more opportunities.
". . . . . . Made-in-America manufactured goods still grew their sales in Korea by 3 percent, to $35.4 billion."
http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/press-releases/2014/March/US-Korea-Free-Trade-Agreement-Shows-Strong-Results-on-Second-Anniversary
former9thward
(32,123 posts)Just two years after passage of KORUS, the U.S.-South Korea trade imbalance has reached its largest deficit on record, and an estimate from the Economic Policy Institute pegs the number of American jobs lost due to the agreement at over 60,000. Almost every U.S. economic sector has seen declining exports to Korea since the agreement went into effect, with agricultural exports especially hard hit.
The U.S.-South Korea trade deficit reached a historic high of $20.673 billion this year, an increase of $8.6 billion (47 percent) from 2011the year before KORUS took effect. In addition, exports are down $2 billion since 2011 and down $700 million since 2012. This widening trade gap shows lost opportunity and lost jobs for American workers and companies.
http://delauro.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1538:reps-delauro-and-slaughter-economists-and-labor-representatives-mark-2nd-anniversary-of-u-s-korea-free-trade-agreement-address-agreement-s-legacy-of-job-loss-and-trade-deficits&catid=2:press-releases&Itemid=21