Comments on: Canadian NAFTA Remarks Rile Obama Campaign

Senator's Senior Economic Advisor Says Diplomats Inaccurately Portrayed His Trade Stance

[creeper00]

Too often with Obama it seems like amateur night on the campaign trail.

The man is seriously shy on experience and he seems to think pretty words can make up for a lack of leadership. On the other hand, he did at least tepidly oppose the invasion of Iraq.

[omega39-2009]

If anyone could provide comparision accurate figures on how many were uninsured in the early seventies in America factor in the birth rate and compare to today I would be willing to bet that more are without health coverage today than they were then.

Posted by radiob

Starting with Reagan, and continuing with every president since, the way things are "measured" have been changed and adapted to hide the truth. For instance, economist John Williams states that if the CPI was measured like it was in the 60''s, Social Security checks would be ~800% higher. Another example is calling a burger flipping job "manufacturing" because you are building a burger.

[radiob-2009]

This is how much is known PAC money
BARACK OBAMA (D)
Top Contributors
Goldman Sachs $474,428
Ubs Ag $298,180
JP Morgan Chase & Co $282,387
Lehman Brothers $274,147
National Amusements Inc $265,750
Sidley Austin LLP $251,657
Citigroup Inc $247,436
University of California $239,944
Skadden, Arps et al $228,520
Exelon Corp $226,661
Harvard University $225,891
Jones Day $213,825
Google Inc $192,808
Time Warner $190,091
Morgan Stanley $190,026
Citadel Investment Group $173,950
Kirkland & Ellis $163,126
Latham & Watkins $160,842
WilmerHale LLP $155,788
Jenner & Block $151,447

[omega39-2009]

Obama has also proposed including laid off professional workers like Brian in the transitional worker program to help them retool for other employment. That''''s a stop gap measure that doesn''''t address the underlying problem, but it''''s needed.

Posted by realpatriot1

There is already such a program, it is called the TAA(Trade Adjustment Act). As you stated however, the underlying issues need to be addressed.

[radiob-2009]

Posted by realpatriot1

I am no fan of the lapdog Obama, he is another slick Willie/Ronnie promises anything that he can to get elected.

[radiob-2009]

If anyone could provide comparision accurate figures on how many were uninsured in the early seventies in America factor in the birth rate and compare to today I would be willing to bet that more are without health coverage today than they were then. The figures for real wage growth and inflation are available and they showed that we have declined in real wage growth when "real inflation" is factored in. All of these treaties were passed and signed by both parties, the ones that the majority of Americans faithfully attend church and vote for every four years.

[realpatriot1]

radiob/briannorwood,

Well said by both of you!

I don''t think we can expect to change the playing field by appealing to the better nature of greedy businessmen. We can only level the playing field by effecting their cost equation.

How do we do that? For starters, any company who wants to move operations offshore should have their pants taxed off of them first! Give them a tax penalty that will make them think twice! Tax them for use of the roads, the local police and fire services, the import/export bank,etc.

Make them pay for the transitional costs of retraining their laid off workers and, as Obama has proposed, reform the bankruptcy laws to put worker pensioners atthe top of the creditor list.

Obama has also proposed including laid off professional workers like Brian in the transitional worker program to help them retool for other employment. That''s a stop gap measure that doesn''t address the underlying problem, but it''s needed.

[omega39-2009]

Posted by briannorwood

I know exactly where you are coming from, but it turns out the cost of living in India is rising so fast the the company I work for isn''t expanding there anymore. The new frontiers for IT are Costa Rica.

[farmerbb]

Grazingoat

You said a Canadian house of 1000 sq. ft. would cost $500K in many places. WOW is that not the case. There is not much difference between the two countries. Use www.mls.ca to check out house prices. Second, the jobs lost in Ohio were matched by jobs lost in Ontario and Quebec. Maybe it was Mexico who got them. Read the very first posts (3 of them) to see how many U.S. states benefited from NAFTA.

[jesterbelle]

we are fastly approaching third world status and 1984

Posted by radiob at 08:40 AM : Mar 03, 2008

It''s funny you mentioned that.I was sitting here thinking about how I feel like I''m in some 1984 impending nightmare,with Lennie from "Of Mice and Men" deciding who our leaders will be.

[radiob-2009]

Wake up America Ronnie and Willie wed courtesy of lobbyist Shakey Pete, all that you are getting are clones that say what they believe you want to hear and once elected do nothing.

[omega39-2009]

Name one nation where the trade agreements have lifted the average wage and promoted democracy. All they have done in their present form is lower our wages, diminish our democracy and promote slave wages.

Posted by radiob

The fact that we don''t have free trade agreements with the UK, France or Germany demonstrates that they really don''t want "free trade" in the form of business competition, they want free trade in the form of labor competition.

[radiob-2009]

Name one nation where the trade agreements have lifted the average wage and promoted democracy. All they have done in their present form is lower our wages, diminish our democracy and promote slave wages.

[panhandlpete]

Realistically speaking, isn''t all the campaign rhetoric just a "throwback" to the public''s ears? They tell us what they think we want to hear (and we BELIEVE them) then when they go to Washington, they DO whatever they please. Of all the intelligent and capable people in the US, we get to choose our leader from just three who are not willing to say where they stand on any issue without leaving an escape hole. Do you suppose the electronic listening devices will be used against the DEMS to give the "100 year war" man an edge over them by knowing their strategies?

[popstom1]

You are right opensecrets.org has
every thing above the table RightVoices.com
Obama Rezko Aucchi and the funding and hear are the
WORDS OF Mr.Obama THAT BONEHEADED MISTAKE yeah
and he talks about JUDGEMENT

[briannorwood]

I work in IT for as large company. In the last 10 years, our staff has been reduced by 80%. Those jobs were shipped offshore to India. As an American, I am now a minority in my own company!

And why are these jobs outsourced? Because the Indians accept 1/5 the salary of Americans.

So, while the workers are oppressed in India, our workers are laid off. And these are NOT low-pay jobs.

Free trade means equal playing field. If the Indians were paid more, then they could buy more American products. Then, everyone would win.

Instead, our government signs these NAFTA agreements and allows more and more H1B workers in every year.

What is good for business is not always good for the American worker.

[briannorwood]

I work in IT for as large company. In the last 10 years, our staff has been reduced by 80%. Those jobs were shipped offshore to India. As an American, I am now a minority in my own company!

And why are these jobs outsourced? Because the Indians accept 1/5 the salary of Americans.

So, while the workers are oppressed in India, our workers are laid off. And these are NOT low-pay jobs.

Free trade means equal playing field. If the Indians were paid more, then they could buy more American products. Then, everyone would win.

Instead, our government signs these NAFTA agreements and allows more and more H1B workers in every year.

What is good for business is not always good for the American worker.

[radiob-2009]

We can either reduce all our standards down to 3rd world status or work to bring the rest of the world up to a level closer to our standards.


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Posted by realpatriot1

This is exactly what the trade agreements were sold to the American public on raise the standard of living in other nations so that they could buy OUR products and PROMOTE democracy. It did not work, because there were no teeth in any of the agreements that began in the 70 ties accelerated under Ronnie and then Willie, we are fastly approaching third world status and 1984 on account of these unbalanced agreements.

[omega39-2009]

Americans can no longer support their own economy due to suppressed wages, lost jobs and industry to foreign markets, and the influx of workers who do not require benefits, pension plans, OSHA, workman''''s comp etc. IN fact the industries are so ugly and the rules so easily sideswiped, that many colleges routinely limit the number of applicants for say--nursing and make the course work harder even if it is not applicable to nursing--so they can meet the criteria of seeking cheaper nurses outside the US due to a shortage they created and are maintainging themselves.
Posted by b-easy63

As an employee of a company that has thousands of H1B workers, I can assure you it is the American worker that gets downsized when the time comes. Also, many of these H1Bs have made it into management and show a preference to hiring one of their own.

[realpatriot1]

tomtomasters,

As a born and raised Buckeye myself I can assure you that the Ohioans losing their jobs are not dumb.

NAFTA is not responsible for every Corporation''s decision to outsource and it''s true that the mutual removal of tariffs have made many American products easier to sell overseas.

That said, it would be dumb to think that the absense of worker and environmental protections from the initial agreement did not further weight the playing field against American workers.

We can''t insulate ourselves from global competition with the old style protectionism of tariffs but we can insist on a level playing field in every aspect but pay(we can''t force companies in India & Mexico to pay workers $20 per hour).

If hourly pay were the only factor against American woorkers and not also healthcare costs, pension obligations, environmental costs, labor regulations, etc. we could compete on productivity/quality and proximity to market.

We can either reduce all our standards down to 3rd world status or work to bring the rest of the world up to a level closer to our standards.