Tons of diaries on OWS, and numerous on the recommended list. Yet very few, and none of the recommended list, about the victory WS and corporate American had over the people in Washington yesterday. The passage of three "free trade" agreements, with South Korea, Panama and Colombia yesterday, supported by that great economic populist in the white house, will mean two things: more job losses in the manufactuing sector in the U.S., and more foreign protection for wall street and corporate American in their search for cheap labor and profits. No protection for labor, foreign or domestic. Again I ask, if these deals are so great for U.S. workers, why do we need worker displacement legislation?
It will also mean that many farmers in those three countries will be driven off their land by U.S. agribusiness. As with Mexico and NAFTA, this will cause an influx of people in Panama and Colombia into the cities, which will result in many of them becoming "illegal aliens" in the U.S. Moreover, it means more murder labor organizers in Colombia.
Yet, although a majority of the Democratic caucus in each house of Congress opposed the Colombian and Korean deals, corporate tools like Steny Hoyer, and elitists like John Kerry, joined with nearly all the Republicans to ensure passage. And the man who promises to renegotiate NAFTA in 2008 (remember that?) will happily sign this bill. The 1% control Washington, and until that is broken all the demonstrations in the world won't change things.
So while everyone, rightly, is praising OWS, the betrayal in DC should not be overlooked. Because it shows WS is ODC, and O the US, and us.
Two comments on the situation:
President Obama is preparing to mangle his jobs message signing free-trade agreements that are opposed by unions, by Democrats and by the “99 Percenters” who recognize that the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama approach to trade policy has harmed the interests of working people in the United States and abroad.
Why? Because, according to Congressman Mike Michaud, D-Maine, the president “is going to give in to the Washington elites, once again” because “the big companies and the big banks want” the new trade deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.
http://www.thenation.com/...
An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll last year found that 69 percent of Americans believe free trade deals cost Americans jobs, only 18 percent believe they create jobs.
Yet, despite public opposition, these three trade agreements may very well gain Congressional approval. Why? Multinational corporations, so powerful now in Washington, urgently want to further deregulate trade and investment rules.
http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/...