OUT OF EXCUSES … IT’S TIME FOR CONGRESS TO REJECT THIS POWER GRAB
|| By FITSNEWS || While the mainstream media in the Palmetto State has remained silent, this website has written extensively in recent months against “Obamatrade” – or a move by some in Congress to hand over even more power to the administration of Barack Obama.
Obamatrade is crony capitalism at its worst … an effort to put a set of narrow special interests (hand-picked by Obama) in charge of a massive trade deal with Asian nations. Even the free traders over at The Cato Institute have questioned the deal for doling out “special privileges to foreign corporations” and “subsidizing discretionary outsourcing.”
What does that mean? We’ll translate: It means we’re going to pay companies to ship away jobs that could be done in America at a comparable cost.
Does that sound like a good reason to further embolden Obama? Of course not …
Obamatrade is bad for America (see HERE and HERE). And it’s especially bad for South Carolina (HERE and HERE). Which is why we have called on our state’s “conservative” congressional delegation to oppose it – joining those responsible members of the U.S. Congress who have already taken a stand.
In fact why would any “Republican” support this nonsense? Good question …
This week Cato’s blog drew our attention to an argument being advanced by some “Republicans” in Congress … specifically that Obamatrade would advance American foreign policy “by strengthening alliances and containing China’s influence in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Really?
That’s pure fiction …
“This is an appealing fall-back for those who don’t like the deal’s content, but is at best one of the weaker arguments in favor,” wrote Alan Beattie of Financial Times. “Whether or not agreements help strategic alliances, the intrusive and one-sided nature of pacts negotiated with the US can arouse resentment as well as cooperation.”
In other words America is playing a game of hardball with foreign nations that will benefit a select set of special interests, not (as we have demonstrated) consumers and taxpayers.
Leading the charge against Obamatrade has been Rick Manning – president of Americans for Limited Government. Earlier this month, Manning wrote the definitive rebuke of this deal – quoting none other than the father of the free market himself, Adam Smith, who urged “the most suspicious attention” of any new government edict over commerce.
“It comes from an order of men whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it,” Smith wrote of such regulations.
Amen to that …
Manning – whose organization has launched an anti-Obamatrade petition – has made it abundantly clear that members of Congress who vote in support of Obamatrade are not only acting against the free market, but further emboldening Obama and the liberal special interests backing his increasingly aggressive power plays.
“Apparently, they have never read Adam Smith’s cautionary statement about this exact type of corporate cronyism,” Manning wrote. “A cronyism where President Obama gets to be the arbiter over whose corporate interests are served and whose are not without even a shred of transparency. Based upon the Obama track record and Adam Smith’s prescient writings, Congress should maintain every bit of their authority over this President’s treaty power by resoundingly denying him trade promotion authority.”
Again … amen to that (are you listening, Mark Sanford?) …
We believe in free trade. We abhor protectionism. We embrace the wisdom of French economist Frédéric Bastiat‘s maxim: “When goods don’t cross borders, soldiers will.”
But Obamatrade is neither free nor fair. It is a backroom deal that would let wealthy special interests bypass congressional oversight so they can cut backroom deals that will hurt American workers – and undercut our rule of law.
Any “Republican” who votes for that – especially one from a state which relies on exports – is betraying his or her own people, simple as that.
Wanna tell your lawmakers how you feel on this issue? Click the link below …
12 comments
I’ll be waiting for Nikki’s hard-line position on this matter.
You and I may be they only ones here who see this almost-legal bribery scheme for what it really is.
(I do believe FITs is not completely clueless. Without this little expose’ this bit of chicanery might have gone unnoticed.)
Congress calls that a normal Thursday afternoon.
This the most inane article I have ever read. Nothing has hurt the American worker more than Republican free trade deals. Republican policies have always been behind the outsourcing of American jobs to cheap labor markets.
Republicans are schizophrenic when it comes to trade. They want “free trade” so long as its negotiated by a Republican President. They believe the outsourcing of US jobs is good for the economy, unless a Democrat is President. They don’t even understand their own position. If free trade in goods is the best policy, then free trade in labor is the best policy. There should be no quotas on how many cheap foreign workers you can bring into the US to work in your business or factory. After all, that is the free market.
Of course there is a better answer. Fair Trade in goods and labor. We should only grant most favored nation status to countries with labor standards and wages reasonably close to ours. Those policies are best for America and the American worker. But Republicans don’t give a crap about the American worker. They have shown that over and over. From their union busting, to their outsourcing, to their tax policies, they have shown they are on the side of large corporations and the mega wealthy, and they are willing to screw the average American to benefit those people.
So what are they really concerned about here. They assume Obama is doing what they would do if they were in power. Cut deals for large corporations and billionaires who pay them. They are afraid, some of their contributors are being cut out of the pie, and they are being paid by billionaires to prevent that from happening.
“Republicans are schizophrenic when it comes to trade. They want “free trade” so long as its negotiated by a Republican President. They believe the outsourcing of US jobs is good for the economy, unless a Democrat is President. They don’t even understand their own position. If free trade in goods is the best policy, then free trade in labor is the best policy. There should be no quotas on how many cheap foreign workers you can bring into the US to work in your business or factory. After all, that is the free market. ”
I 100% agree with this statement of yours.(though, not the rest)
Even though I don’t agree with what you claim the “solution” to be(managed trade), you absolutely hit the head of the nail with the above statement.
Cato and the GOP are for “free markets” when it suits them. Neither are principled about it, taking the long term good with the short term bad, because they truly don’t believe if free markets when it comes to the “tough” decisions.
So even though you obviously don’t believe in free markets either, at least you are honest about it. So for that, “kudos” to you, even though I disagree with your viewpoint at least I know you are honest.
As for “Obamatrade”, I have yet to see any evidence that taxpayers would be subsidizing the movement of jobs overseas. If someone actually shows me the part of the proposed law where that is possible, then I’d obviously be against it…I just have yet to see it aside from rhetoric.
Free trade requires no management, but since we don’t have that in this country, legislation that would remove barries to trade, which “Obamatrade” seems to do(and I might be wrong), are at least a step in the right direction.
There is nothing free about the Deal. This is pure quasi-legal bribery of public officials and the republic rats and demicans are both equally dirty.
To imply that the whistleblowers are implicated is exactly what the poli-wogs ordered.
Both of you, Jack and Yep!, are Helots … Willing shills and unknowing dupes of the “progressives”.
Your shallow attempt at divisiveness is all too obvious.
“To imply that the whistleblowers are implicated is exactly what the poli-wogs ordered.”
To imply the GOP has “whistleblowers” in it on this topic is completely out of touch with reality.
“Willing shills and unknowing dupes of the “progressives”.”
lol…and confirming your batshit crazy rant, you say two contradictory things, in the same sentence none the less.
Go back to your regularly scheduled programming.
Sit down and shut the fuck up – and go back to drinking your favorite drink; Obama Kool Aid topped with his special blend of liquid babies.
Many foreign nations will not have any trouble ponying up some grease for whichever congress critter is using these bills, this “soft core” extortion …
This is a simple plot to get around any ethical improprieties and bribery statutes that might embarrass certain poli-wog/bagmen and “bund-dollars” of payola/swag/vigorish/bribes for campaign and PAC “donations”, offshore junketing, group partying … ala The Slick One’s Party Cruises or Hillary’s Saudi paybacks.
The Usual Suspects in this back donor cash for access scheme cross party lines, of course. How are ya going to keep ’em down on the farm after they’ve seen how DC does it?
So much for transparency …
“the father of the free market himself, Adam Smith,”
NO HE IS NOT!!
The father of Free Trade was: David Ricardo, not Adam Smith!!!
Comparative Advantage and all that goes with it came from David Ricardo in the early 1800s. He also stated that it is totally wrong to go to a foreign country and allow it to sell back into the original country. In other words: The USA allowing factories to move off shore, then sell back into the US market without restrictive tariffs will cause the USA economy to fail.
Just as has happened today.
But, but, but Bush said exporting jobs was good for America. So you must be wrong.
And, Bill Clinton signed the NAFTA deal that screwed all American workers. They, Reagan, and Bush 1, were all full of crap on how to do trade deals. Now, even Obama is screwing US workers with his ObamaTrade Pack Deal. Even his supporters are going: “What the Fu**”!