Columbia

Elected Officials Pass More Trade Agreements Most of America Doesn't Want

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Another Sad Day for American Labor.  Rhetoric, campaigns, protests and op-eds, all promising to listen to the American people and most of all create jobs.  In the streets there are millions of voices demanding an economy for Americans, U.S. workers and what does Congress do?  Why pass more glorified offshore outsourcing and corporate tax haven deals under the guise of NAFTA like trade agreements.  I kid you not.  Congress passed trade treaties with South Korea, Panama and Columbia.

U.S. Trade Agreements Offshore Outsources Jobs so Congress Passes More of Them

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We know bad trade deals have cost millions of American jobs. We have a jobs crisis with no growth in site. So, why in God's name would Congress pass more of the same? The South Korean trade deal has been analyzed to lose 159,000 jobs. The Panama trade agreement creates corporate tax havens that will be completely out of reach by the United States. Add in the Columbia trade deal and we've lost 214,000 jobs.

The U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee held a hearing, aptly titled, Manufacturing in the USA: How U.S. Trade Policy Offshores Jobs. The title says it all, eh? Unfortunately the actual hearing didn't have the right economists who would show amply with statistics and facts, the overall hearing title is oh so true.

Contained within is the obligatory other side of multinational corporations, and the real agenda of this hearing is some token retraining for U.S. workers who will lose their jobs as a result of these bad trade deals.

Workers are not alone in wondering why our government sells us once again down the river on jobs. Small businesses, especially small U.S. manufacturers are asking the same question.

Obama Touts Corporate Lobbyist Wish List Items as "Jobs" Program

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corporate states of AmericaWho all is sick to death of politicians claiming some policy will create jobs when in fact it will destroy them? Such is the outrage from Obama's reaction to the pathetic jobs report.

Obama touted the South Korean Free Trade Agreement as an answer to the jobs crisis. KORUS is projected to lose 159,000 U.S. jobs over 7 years. For Columbia, a loss of 55,000 jobs is projected.

What was the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over expecting different results? The South Korean Trade Agreement is based on the same failed model as NAFTA. The South Korean Trade Agreement is projected to increase the trade deficit in auto and parts alone by $700 million. Why would one bail out the auto industry only to enable unfair imports of Korean autos?

Panama is a tax haven with over 400,000 corporations located there to avoid paying taxes. If that trade deal goes through what meager U.S. tax haven laws we have now will be challenged. How's that for balancing the budget deficit?

Even Ben Bernanke has shown how currency manipulation is going on unabated and as a result these emerging economies, such as South Korea, are unfairly increasing their exports.

Obama Brings You More Bad Trade Deals

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Obama 2008 Campaign Flier
Whenever there is noise in the media machine, you can be sure some agenda the American people absolutely reject will be enacted. Such is the case with the Obama administration moving forward on three more NAFTA style trade agreements with Columbia, Panama and South Korea. These are trade pacts multinational corporate lobbyists demand.

The South Korean trade pact increases the trade deficit and puts U.S. workers in more unfair labor competition. Even with a new biased USTR study, littered with fantasy tariff schedules and nebulous additional regulation requirements, cannot hide the fact this trade deal increases the deficit. The new report was requested by Republicans since they didn't like the dismal results of the previous study. Regardless of the spaghetti wording, the bottom line is imports, just in autos & parts, will increase $907 million while exports will increase $48–66 million. In other words, the Obama administration and Congress know this trade deal will increase the deficit and cause further job losses. They want it anyway.

(The image is a 2008 Obama campaign flier. All three of these trade agreements are structured like NAFTA.)