Making Trade Policies Work For American Families, Not Just What Romney Thinks Of As "People"

I really did like Bill Clinton on a personal level. His love of music and the music business was completely endearing to me at the time and, although I assiduously avoid Washington, was happy to come to a state dinner he invited me to-- just because it was him. Politically, on the other hand, he was way too conservative for me after he lost his first try at a gubernatorial reelection in 1980-- the country's youngest ever ex-governor. No one was ever able to accuse him-- at least not honestly, which is never an impediment for Republicans of course-- of being a liberal again. And almost the first thing he did on winning the White House was hire a then unknown Chicago thug, Rahm Emanuel, to kick the shit out of enough Democrats in Congress to pass George H.W. Bush's failed NAFTA legislation.

NAFTA was devastating to the American middle class and the net result was the loss of over a million jobs. It may have been a great policy for worldwide capital-- who Clinton (like all the post-Roosevelt presidents) served slavishly-- but it was a disaster for this country, particularly for working families in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana and California. WTO, GATT, giving China most favored nation status all conspired to hollow out the American economy. One would have hoped Democratic presidents would stop it. Clinton certainly never did-- quite the contrary-- and Obama, is every bit as terrible.

Lately he's cynically called the devastating trade legislation he and Boehner are trying to pass "job creation bills." It's things like this that make progressives say Obama is the same as Bush. Believe me, fair trade proponents like George Miller (D-CA)-- see video below-- have made sure Obama knows how catastrophic the Colombia "free" trade agreement is. This awful bill be sail through the House of Lords. Are there enough Democrats in the House willing to stand up to Obama and stop this thing in the House? I doubt it though labor-allied Democrats and some Tea Party conservatives still oppose the trade agreements, and still more Tea Party members staunchly oppose Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) to workers whose jobs are sent abroad by the trade pacts.

[E]ven if both chambers do agree to extend TAA to laid-off workers as part of the trade deals, Congress would still have to pass a separate appropriations bill to ensure that the money actually makes it out the door. And in a political environment dominated by harsh spending cuts, Democrats view that prospect as extremely unlikely.

"The TAA, even if it gets authorized, isn't going to get appropriated," Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) told HuffPost. "Have you ever met a Republican freshman in favor of appropriating TAA?"

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also pushed back against the trade agreements in an interview last week with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell.

"The White House may support it, but the Congress may have a different view," Pelosi said, adding that it's "debatable" whether the trade deals will create U.S. jobs.

Based on official estimates from the U.S. International Trade Council, economist Robert Shaw of the Economic Policy Institute expects the Colombia and South Korea trade pacts to send about 200,000 U.S. jobs abroad.

This week the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) pointed out that the U.S. international trade deficit in goods and services increased to $53.1 billion in June and that the goods deficit with China increased to $26.7 billion during that period. That organizations Executive Director, Scott Paul, was blunt:

"A rising trade deficit is not the prescription for job creation in America. The June trade deficit exceeded virtually every estimate and is further proof that our economy is falling behind. I'm particularly concerned by the rising trade deficit with China. Unless we achieve a major rebalancing with China, our manufacturing sector will continue to experience long-term challenges. China has taken sporadic baby steps to increase the value of the Yuan, when what we need is a revaluation of at least 30 percent. Unless the Obama Administration gets tougher with China, we'll continue to see high trade deficits and anemic job growth.

"Congress also needs to step up to the plate. Cracking down on unfair trade practices-- including currency manipulation-- should be at the top of the trade agenda. Instead, it's been sidelined and there are no clear indications from House or Senate leaders that it is a legislative priority. That's why our activists are letting lawmakers know that we expect swift action on China's currency manipulation. If Congress wants to get serious about job creation, it will pass this bipartisan legislation."

Obama's reelection-- if he needs the Democratic base to turn out-- could be riding on his ability to address the unemployment crisis. So far he's shown no inclination to do so. Last week Joan McCarter outlined how he-- and the Democrats in Congress-- could go about it.

Just 50 percent of voters believe President Obama is working to create manufacturing jobs, a loss of 11 percent from when the same question was asked last year. Congress, however, fares much worse: 41 percent think Democrats are helping, and only 32 percent think Republicans are helping. But 86 percent of Americans want a national manufacturing strategy "to make sure that economic, tax, labor and trade policies in this country work together to help support manufacturing."

Obama could take that advantage and use it to push a strong manufacturing jobs program. There are policies that could be pursued right now [pdf], policies that the White House needs to start pushing hard in its "pivot to jobs" for the national economy, but also to do one key thing politically: put Congressional Republicans in conflict with their base over jobs. The desire to "make it in America" again cuts across all party lines, and it would be a very hard message for Republicans to vote against. And political manna from heaven when they did fight it.

Here's the plan:

Expand American Production, Hiring, and Capital Expenditures

* Establish a manufacturing investment facility to leverage private capital for domestic manufacturing

* Expand and make permanent clean energy manufacturing tax credits and industrial energy efficiency grants to allow America to lead on green job creation

* Link federal loan guarantees for new energy infrastructure projects, including nuclear, wind, solar, other renewable energy sources, as well as the smart grid, with expanding domestic supply chains

* Adopt immediate, up-front expensing rules for plant and equipment to spur capital expenditures

* Enforce our trade-legal Buy America and other domestic procurement requirements to prevent leakage of tax dollars overseas

Invest in America’s Infrastructure

* Create a National Infrastructure Bank to finance high-value, long-term infrastructure projects, such as roads, bridges, high-speed rail, and other needs

* Enact a robust, multi-year surface transportation infrastructure program of at least $500 billion financed exclusively by fuel taxes

Enhance Our Workforce

* Refocus on technical and vocational education, providing a seamless program that bridges high school and post-secondary education to produce the next generation of highly skilled manufacturing workers

* Reward companies that are investing in effective skills and training programs for their workers

Make Trade Work for America

* Keep America’s trade laws strong and strictly enforced to provide a level playing field for our workers and businesses

* Penalize and deter mercantilist nations such as China that manipulate their exchange rates and implement non-tariff barriers to gain an unfair trade advantage

* As the Administration works to double exports, expand the goal to include balancing our trade account so that gains in exports are not overwhelmed by increased imports

Rebuild America’s Innovation Base

* Make permanent the research and development tax credit and enhance it to incentivize commercialization and production in America

* Focus federal investments in new technology and workforce training on promoting regional clusters of innovation, learning and production

UPDATE: Norman Solomon Rejects Conventional "Wisdom" From Both Party Establishments

This morning Blue America-endorsed congressional candidate Norman Solomon (D-CA) penned an OpEd for the Marin Independent Journal in his home county. He showed this overwhelmingly blue district (Obama won with 76%) that he's not planning on being a mouthpiece for either party establishment-- especially not when it comes to the well-being on his constituents.

The negative trends in the Nation's Capital are mostly due to extreme GOP ideologues in Congress. But they've been enabled by too many Democrats who keep giving ground while Republican leaders refuse to give an inch.

Many a political truth can be spoken in jest, and that was the case with a mock news item that appeared in The Onion last week.

"A day after signing legislation that raised the government debt ceiling and authorized steep budget cuts," the satirical magazine reported, "President Obama thanked Democrats as well as Democrats for their willingness to make tough, but necessary, concessions during negotiations."

The Onion went on: "Obama added that while it may look ugly at times, politics is about Democrats giving up what they want, as well as Democrats giving up what they want, until an agreement can ultimately be reached."

Compromise is one thing, but capitulation is another-- especially when core principles of decency and fairness are at stake.

We must stand our ground on behalf of seniors, children, the disabled and other vulnerable Americans. All the rhetoric about "shared sacrifice" rings hollow when the vast majority of us are being sacrificed to the financial benefit of big banks and large corporations.

There are plenty of sensible and effective ways to reduce the deficit-- including a transaction tax on Wall Street, closure of tax loopholes for big companies, an end to the Bush tax cuts for the very wealthy and a major reduction in the military budget.

Instead, the bipartisan dealmakers in Washington are slashing the safety net that's essential for vast numbers of Americans.

One of the most dangerous aspects of the recent budget deal is that it explicitly sets the stage for future actions to undermine Medicare. This scenario strikes at the heart of precious values. I'm committed to defending Social Security and Medicare on the campaign trail and as a member of Congress.

I fully agree with Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey's explanation for why she voted against the new budget deal.

Woolsey pointed out that the deal "puts virtually the entire burden on working families and the middle class while asking nothing from billionaires, millionaires and companies that send jobs overseas."

In Washington, job one should be creating jobs. And that won't happen by continuing to give tax cuts to the wealthy while imposing benefit cuts on the rest of us.

Corporations are sitting on huge quantities of cash. But rather than expanding the workforce, they're hoarding the money-- and stretching workers in the name of "productivity"-- while often posting record profits.

Three years ago, on this page, I wrote a column opposing the Wall Street bank bailout then being debated in Congress. Unfortunately, my concerns were borne out by later events.

Banks took the bailout money and largely used it to buy other banks-- instead of making loans to small businesses and helping homeowners keep their homes.

With the new budget deal, Congress again acted in the financial interests of the rich instead of the vast majority of us.

With chronic unemployment at historic highs and personal savings in the tank, fewer and fewer Americans have the buying power that can pull the economy out of its deep ravine.
Call me old-fashioned, but I believe in the vital lessons of the New Deal. Many millions of good jobs must be created-- and that will require well-funded federal jobs programs on a large scale.

Trickle-down economics, relying on the tender mercies of powerful corporations, won't get it done.