As we move out of the South, the map improves for Bernie Sanders. A lot of voters in the upper midwest were deeply harmed by trade policies supported by Hillary Clinton. Sanders Campaign Manager Jeff Weaver talked about the upcoming primaries today:
“Michigan is such an important state because it offers such a sharp contrast between the two candidates on such an important issue — about whether you stood with working families or whether you chose to side with corporate interests who are shipping jobs overseas,” Weaver explained, adding that Sanders’ economic message could appeal to black voters living in cities like Detroit and Flint. “The African-American middle class in Michigan has been destroyed by the job-crushing trade deals that Secretary Clinton has consistently supported over the years. And if you look at what’s going on with the schools, the dilapidated schools of Detroit, and funding problems in places like Flint, Michigan, that is all directly tied to her economic policies. So she’s going to have to bear her responsibility for her role over the last 20 years in decimating the economy in Michigan, including the African-American middle class, which was once the pride of this country."
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“We’re going to do very well in Pennsylvania, a place where his message on trade is going to do extremely well. Western Pennsylvania is a place where, again, another place that’s been decimated by Hillary Clinton’s failed economic policies,” said Weaver. “The auto industry in Ohio? Decimated by Hillary Clinton’s economic policies. Michigan? Auto industry and the rest of the industrial capacity in Michigan, destroyed by Hillary Clinton’s economic policies. Illinois has lost tens of thousands of jobs due to Hillary Clinton’s economic policies. So I think she’s going to have to answer, as we go into the industrial Midwest, why she has not stood with working families and middle class people. Why she has instead stood with corporate interests who have shipped our jobs overseas and are now funding our campaign."
www.politico.com/…
So what’s the deal with trade?
Bill Clinton passed NAFTA in 1993 relying primarily on Republican Votes. Bernie Sanders, then a congressman, opposed it and voted no:
Hilariously, Bernie put his fellow Representatives on the spot before the NAFTA vote by introducing a bill that if NAFTA were to pass, the members of the House would have to lower their wages to be competitive with politicians in Mexico. Here he is introducing the bill:
That’s a younger Bernie with more hair. 23 years ago he was right and he still is on trade.
Hillary on NAFTA before she “evolved” in 2008 to compete with Barack Obama:
As first lady, Hillary Clinton publicly supported her husband's position. In 1996, in a visit with unionized garment workers, she said the words Obama now quotes. "I think everybody is in favor of free and fair trade. I think NAFTA is proving its worth," said Clinton, according to an Associated Press report.
Clinton wrote positively of her husband's efforts on NAFTA in her memoir "Living History," published in 2003:
"Creating a free trade zone in North America — the largest free trade zone in the world — would expand U.S. exports, create jobs and ensure that our economy was reaping the benefits, not the burdens, of globalization. Although unpopular with labor unions, expanding trade opportunities was an important administration goal."
During a 2004 teleconference on funding cuts for job training, Clinton was asked whether NAFTA should be revisited. She replied, "I think that we have to enforce the trade rules that are inherent" in NAFTA. "I think on balance NAFTA has been good for New York and America, but I also think that there are a number of areas where we're not dealt with in an upfront way in dealing with our friend to the north, Canada, which seems to be able to come up with a number of rationales for keeping New York agricultural products out of Canada," she said.
www.politifact.com/...
Obama accused her of switching positions in 2008:
But when we balance her previous statements against her more recent statements, we find that she has changed her sentiments when she speaks about NAFTA. We rate Obama's charge True.
www.politifact.com/…
Hillary supports trade agreements that impovrish American workers, except when it’s an election year. Then she gives lip service to opposition. She’ll support TPP if she is elected.
As a senator, she voted in favor of free trade agreements with Singapore, Chile, Australia, Morocco and Oman. She also voiced support for deals with Jordan and Peru. But she also voted against the Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA. [When she was running for president against Obama]
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Yet, previously as secretary of state, Clinton called the Trans-Pacific Partnership the "gold standard in trade agreements." In her second memoir, Hard Choices, released in 2014, Clinton lauded the deal, saying it "would link markets throughout Asia and the Americas, lowering trade barriers while raising standards on labor, the environment, and intellectual property." She even said it was "important for American workers, who would benefit from competing on a more level playing field." She also called it "a strategic initiative that would strengthen the position of the United States in Asia."
www.npr.org/…
Bernie Sanders has consistently opposed these job-killing and wage decreasing trade policies:
Q: What do you think about the new TPP trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership?
SANDERS: I voted against NAFTA, CAFTA, PNTR with China. I think they have been a disaster for the American worker. A lot of corporations that shut down here move abroad. Working people understand that after NAFTA, CAFTA, PNTR with China we have lost millions of decent paying jobs. Since 2001, 60,000 factories in America have been shut down. We're in a race to the bottom, where our wages are going down. Is all of that attributable to trade? No. Is a lot of it? Yes. TPP was written by corporate America and the pharmaceutical industry and Wall Street. That's what this trade agreement is about. I do not want American workers to competing against people in Vietnam who make 56 cents an hour for a minimum wage.
Q: So basically, there's never been a single trade agreement this country's negotiated that you've been comfortable with?
SANDERS: That's correct.
Source: Meet the Press 2015 interview moderated by Chuck Todd , Oct 11, 2015
www.ontheissues.org/…
Which side are you on? Wall Street or working people.
Update I: New Bernie ad on trade running in Michigan.