Çortlani» (Obstruer
Page 8
July 27. 2011
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M n a m ia M M M M M m n a M M im ta n *
Enough with the Free Trade Nonsense
What we need
is a trade war
by
W illiam A. C ollins
Does it matter that no
cell phones are made in
America? Or scarcely any
solar panels? Or that 91
p e rc e n t o f W a lm a rt's
goods come from China?
Should we care that our
sundry free trade agreements
have caused so many of those
spiffy products on our shelves to
be produced in the world's grim
mest sweatshops?
Maybe not. As the world's
capitalist bulwark we benefit
more than most from the result
ant cheap prices.
But it turns out that free trade
causes a couple problems for us
too. One is jobs. They're gone.
This isn't surprising since we
don't make stuff here anymore.
With nine percent unemployed
and another nine percent under
employed or dropped out, who's
left with money to buy things?
Even Walmart is now shifting its
focus to overseas markets since
our middle class is shrinking so.
Median family income is plum
meting.
Then there's the
debt. Every month
we buy sh ip lo ad s
more stuff from oth
ers than they buy from
us. Thus our foreign
debt piles up faster
than nuclear waste.
The only way we can avoid
disaster is to stop buying, but that
annoys the mostly American cor
porations who profit from it. They
m anufacture or su b co n tract
those goods abroad but wield
great influence over the govern
ment and politicians at home.
Thus we watch in awe as Presi
dent Barack Obama and House
Speaker John Boehner propose
still more free trade agreements
that will make it even more prof
itable to produce abroad and
export back to the U.S. market,
tariff-free.
A m erica's subservient flat-
earth econom ists don't mind
that at all. They visualize all
those abused sw eatshop w ork
ers grow ing up into consum ers
one day and buying foreign-
m ade (but U .S.-ow ned) prod
ucts w herever they happen to
be. O ther econom ists under
stand the horror of those w ork
places and fail to envision those
w orkers ever becom ing real
consum ers.
No doubt time will produce
some of each, but in any case
few new jobs will accrue to the
United States. That damage is
already well advanced. Anyone
who has traveled to the Eurozone
lately will confirm that the dollar
isn't worth much anymore. This
plunge will accelerate as Re
publican lawmakers play games
with our national debt ceiling. It
just takes one black mark from a
rating agency and you can kiss
your dreams of a trip to Europe
goodbye.
What America really needs
today is a good old-fashioned
trade war. Give the required six
months notice, withdraw from
NAFTA, DR-CAFTA, and the
WTO, and start over. Interna
tional trade agreem ents are
meant to benefit corporations,
not workers. And if you think
such treaties are bad for people
here, well for poorer countries
they're worse.
A good healthy trade war
would dramatize the issue and
haul our present trade cabals out
of the back room where Ameri
can negotiators are not fit to be
trusted.
Already they have agreed to
allow corporations to bypass na
tional court systems and sue gov
ernments in international tribu
nals over local environmental,
labor, and zoning laws that may
hurt their profits. Citizens have
suffered under these rulings.
Corporations, though, have made
out like bandits. Ourpolitical lead
ers may thrive on America's
mindless shooting wars, but trade
wars are needed now to save
the country.
OtherWords columnist Wil
liam A. Collins is a form er
state representative and a
fo rm er mayor o f Norwalk,
Conn.