OK-SAFE: Global Trade

Global Trade

(Cashing out America)

Managed Trade - America’s trade policies have caused grave harm to our country’s economy, security and people.

Our trade deficit is over $2 billion per day. One in five manufacturing jobs have been lost in 10 years as tens of thousands of manufacturers have closed.

Each energy intensive factory lost to another country produces up to eight times more emissions than in the U.S.
America’s traditionally large agricultural trade surplus has disappeared since NAFTA implementation.

Food imports exceed exports and enter the country without food safety inspection.

Trade agreements have dangerously undermined America’s sovereignty by overriding the U.S. Constitution, local, state and federal laws.

Fair Trade - Trade can be beneficial.

We can have international commerce that roughly balances imports and exports, without surrendering sovereignty, the environment or food safety.

America can have trade that promotes its industrial and agricultural policy, produces jobs, increases incomes, and preserves our strength.

In The News

Lessons from the History of Globalization - Joint Operating Environment Report 2008

"How can one best define globalization? Some might delineate it in terms of increased international trade, limited restrictions on the movement of peoples, and light regulation on the flow of capital. At least that was how politicians and pundits defined it at the start of the twentieth century. At that time, Europeans did not require passports to travel from one country to another on

the continent, a situation restored only in the late 1990s. By 1913 the value of international trade as a percentage of world GDP had reached a level the global economy would not replicate until the last decade of the twentieth century. The economies of the United States and the German Reich were expanding at unheard of rates. Western merchants were queuing up to supply China’s teeming masses, as that country opened its markets for the first time in centuries. Furthermore, the largest migration – and a peaceful one at that – in history was taking place, as 25 million Europeans left home, most immigrating to the United States. The world also saw technological and scientific revolutions unequaled in history, which in turn spawned revolutions in travel and communications. Travel across the Atlantic was now a matter of days rather than weeks or months. Telegraph cables linked the continents for near instantaneous communications. Railroads allowed travelers to cross continents in days rather than months. The internal combustion engine was already impacting on travel by land, while the appearance of the aircraft in 1903 suggested even greater possibilities. A complex web of international agreements, such as the International Postal Union and the International Telegraph Conventions, welded these changes together. Again as with today, many were not content to leave the direction of the new world order to governments. In the first decade of the century activists formed 119 international organizations and 112 in the second decade. For much of humanity, this was a time of hope and optimism. As early as the mid nineteenth century, John Bright, a British industrialist, argued that “nothing could be so foolish as a policy of war for a trading nation. Any peace was better than the most successful war.” In 1911 a British journalist, Norman Angell, published a work titled The Great Illusion, which became an international best seller. In it, he argued the expansion of global commerce had changed the nature of wealth, which no longer would depend on control of territory or resources. For Angell, the belief that military strength was the basis for security represented a dangerous illusion. As for war itself, it represented a futile endeavor incapable of creating material wealth, while putting much at risk. His arguments boiled down to a belief that the interlocking networks of global trade made war impossible. In 1913, he published an improved edition to even greater acclaim. Yet, within a year the First World War had broken out. The result of that conflict in political and economic terms was to smash globalization for the next seventy years. Angell had been right about the absolute destructive effects of modern war. He had been wrong about human nature and its passions. Why is this important? Because these same arguments have regained currency. For many, particularly in the West, the interlocking trading and communications networks of the twenty-first century with their benefits have made war, if not impossible, then at least obsolete. Accordingly, any future war would cost so much in lives and treasure that no rational political leader would ever pursue it. The problem is that rationality, at least in their terms, does not exist in much of the world outside Europe, the United States, and Japan. Saddam Hussein managed to invade two of Iraq’s six neighbors in the space of less than ten years and sparked three wars in the period he ruled. The first of his wars against Iran resulted in approximately 250 thousand Iraqi deaths and half a million Iranian dead, while his wars against his own people killed upwards of 100 thousand. In historical terms, globalization is not the norm for human affairs." - Joint Operating Environment Report 2008 - page 17

In The News

NEW GLOBAL ELITE

January 8, 2011

In The News

The Rise of the New Global Elite - Chrystia Freeland – the Atlantic

"F. Scott Fitzgerald was right when he declared the rich different from you and me. But today’s super-rich are also different from yesterday’s: more hardworking and meritocratic, but less connected to the nations that granted them opportunity—and the countrymen they are leaving ever further behind." - Chrystia Freeland – the Atlantic

WORLD TRADE ORG.

January 5, 2010

In The News

Law of the Land - Vicky L. Davis

“If treaties are the law of the land, then didn’t the U.S. violate the law when the Senate voted to approve U.S. participation in the World Trade Organization (WTO)? The International Labor Organization’s (ILO) constitution has a specific, unequivocal statement regarding the commodification of labor. Granted, the WTO was created over forty years after the ILO, but treaty obligations don’t wear with age. They remain just as valid today as the day they became law.” - Vicky L. Davis

CPA LETTER TO OBAMA

February 5, 2009

In The News

Coalition for a Prosperous America’s Letter to President Obama – February 4, 2009

"Our trade deficit is a tremendous contributor to the lack of aggregate demand in our economy. Each additional dollar of imports must be financed with the equivalent borrowing from abroad. The U.S. rate of consumption versus production has become dangerously unbalanced. Credit card debt and home equity cannot replace income from employment. The plain fact is that we must produce more and borrow less. U.S. taxpayer money should be spent to benefit U.S. taxpayers. This principle is not controversial throughout the country, though it may be inside the beltway." - CPA

IN THE NEWS

May 11, 2008

In The News

The Failed Expectations of U.S. Trade Policy - Robert Cassidy, negotiator for China's 1999 Market Access Agreement

Trade Negotator says "Sorry, I messed up"

Written by Stumo

Tuesday, 10 June 2008

From the horses mouth, via a new blog on economics and trade, on June 4, 2008.

Writing today in Foreign Policy in Focus, Robert Cassidy, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Asia and for China for the Clinton administration, takes himself to task for the trade agreement with China that he negotiated. Here is how he begins:

As the principal negotiator for the landmark market access agreement that led to China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), I have reflected on whether the agreements we negotiated really lived up to our expectations. A sober reflection has led me to conclude that those trade agreements did not.
We failed to address the underlying fundamental market distortions that skew the benefits toward the few while leaving the rest of the economy less well off. As George Soros, in a Bloomberg News interview on the financial crisis, recently said, “…the system, as it currently operates, is built on false premises.” The premise on which our trade agreements are negotiated is at best flawed, if not broken.

And here is a key paragraph in which he explains why the trade agreement with China failed:

Using China as an example once again, proponents of the free trade model argue that China has a competitive advantage in wage rates that makes it ideal as the global manufacturing center that it has become. A closer examination, however, reveals that China has adopted an export-led development strategy, the centerpiece of which is a currency that is undervalued by 20-80%, with the consensus leaning toward 40%. Thus China’s wages, in U.S. dollar terms, are 40% cheaper than they would have been if the currency were allowed to freely float. Similarly, foreign investors receive a 40% subsidy to develop operations in China. To add insult to injury, our exports are taxed at an additional effective 40% rate....

IN THE NEWS

April 27, 2008

In The News

CPA Welcomes AMTAC Study, Urges Comprehensive National Competitiveness Policy

Contact: Fred Stokes, 601.527.2459

April 8. 2008

The Coalition for a Prosperous America, a unique grass-roots coalition of American producers in all sectors, hailed the study released today by the American Manufacturers Trade Action Coalition. “AMTAC has performed a public service in issuing a report that lays out, in stark statistical detail, the damage done to Pennsylvania and America by the failed trade and economic polices pursued by our government,” said Fred Stokes, CPA’s president. “The facts make clear we need to rethink trade policy before approving new trade agreements. The presidential candidates should commit to a full re-evaluation of trade policy.”

The study, authored by the respected economist Charles McMillion, found:

•    Pennsylvania has lost 208,000 manufacturing jobs since 2001;
•    The new jobs created in the state pay much lower than the jobs lost;
•    This loss of quality jobs has a ripple effect, downgrading the quality of living of many other Pennsylvania citizens;
•    The gains promised by promoters have Free Trade Agreements have been untrue.

“American manufacturers all know how devastating the past seven years have been for those who have chosen to continue producing in the United States. These manufacturers are the best in the world, achieving record productivity despite unfair foreign trade practices like currency manipulation and tax subsidies,” said Rob Dumont, CPA vice president who also heads the Tooling, Manufacturing, and Technologies Association. “The current Free Trade Agreements promote outsourcing, trade deficits and debt. But what we are really outsourcing is the American Dream.”

CPA renews its call for the presidential candidates to commit themselves now to a new approach to the global marketplace. “America is the only major country without a national economic strategy,” said Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Unions Council and a CPA board member. “US-based producers – whether on the farm, the ranch, or in the factory – are the most productive in the world, but cannot compete when our policies are both haphazard and economically hazardous.”

On behalf of the nearly three million citizens represented by CPA member companies and associations, Stokes urged that the presidential candidates to address the issues of real concern to American farmers, manufacturers and workers. “America needs a president who will demand that all parts of the government put aside narrow agendas and special interests and focus on the national interest. The next administration should coordinate of our trade, tax, energy, infrastructure and product safety policies to ensure that together they enhance, not undermine, the national interest,” concluded Stokes.

The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) is a national grass roots organization representing farmers, ranchers, manufacturers and workers seeking a better trade policy that benefits America

IN THE NEWS

April 27, 2008

In The News

Monsanto applies pressure to get a detractor thrown off the air? - Derry Brownfield Audio; Common Sense Coalition

Learfield wishes Derry well after Monsanto Critique

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Derry Leaves Us in May

(1-24-1932 – 3-12-2011)
Derry Brownfield is a radioman. He's been talking to farmers, city people, and "Constitutional Americans" for 35 years with me...and for a number of years before 1973. He's good. And, he's a dear friend.

His last show will be in the middle of May. The "Common Sense Coalition" grinds to a halt on our system, but likely will continue with a new ownership group.

Eight or ten years ago Derry quit doing his market shows on the network which bears his name and started a new, daily, hour-long talk show. It was home-spun humor that lifted up Constitutional values on some 80 radio stations across the country. Most of his listeners loved him as did his affiliates. He didn't mind controversy or taking on giants like the Monsanto Corporation. He thought they were bad for farmers, too big for their britches and generally bad for America. Increasingly he's been saying so, without seeking balance, in my opinion.

Nothing has made me prouder than my association with Derry. He taught me how to drink Scotch and so much more. If you've been reading our history in this space, you're aware of that. He's a gentleman in every way. His wife, Verni; and children, Joy, Jay, Jon and Jim are a credit to him. He turned 76 in January I think. His legacy is huge. His name is the moniker for America's largest Agricultural network; the "field" of his last name is forever in our corporate name. We love you, Derry; don't be a stranger. - Clyde

Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear

The Control of Nature

For centuries–millennia–farmers have saved seeds from season to season: they planted in the spring, harvested in the fall, then reclaimed and cleaned the seeds over the winter for re-planting the next spring. Monsanto has turned this ancient practice on its head.

Monsanto developed G.M. seeds that would resist its own herbicide, Roundup, offering farmers a convenient way to spray fields with weed killer without affecting crops. Monsanto then patented the seeds. For nearly all of its history the United States Patent and Trademark Office had refused to grant patents on seeds, viewing them as life-forms with too many variables to be patented. “It’s not like describing a widget,” says Joseph Mendelson III, the legal director of the Center for Food Safety, which has tracked Monsanto’s activities in rural America for years.

Indeed not. But in 1980 the U.S. Supreme Court, in a five–to–four decision, turned seeds into widgets, laying the groundwork for a handful of corporations to begin taking control of the world’s food supply. In its decision, the court extended patent law to cover “a live human-made microorganism.” In this case, the organism wasn’t even a seed. Rather, it was a Pseudomonas bacterium developed by a General Electric scientist to clean up oil spills. But the precedent was set, and Monsanto took advantage of it. Since the 1980s, Monsanto has become the world leader in genetic modification of seeds and has won 674 biotechnology patents, more than any other company, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

RESEARCH ANALYSIS

March 18, 2008

In The News

Global Supply Chain Management - Vicky Davis; March 18, 2008

“The corporate takeover of government has not been obvious to the majority of people - not yet, because the transformation involved internal operations like privatization (outsourcing government functions), and reorganization - shifting the power to make policy to private interest groups - the so-called "customers" of government. The entire philosophy of government shifted to the corporate mind set of marketplace, customers, services and using the law as a facilitation for profit among the large corporations. The most obvious indicator of the corporate takeover is the failure to protect the borders of this country. The most insidious indicator is the Global Supply Chain Management system that is being built with your taxpayer dollars - thinly disguised as a plan for "security".”

“Several years ago, I stumbled upon the conceptual design for a 'Trans-Pacific Multimodal Security System'. It was on the website of the North American International Trade Corridor Partnership (NAITCP). The website was soon thereafter archived when NAITCP merged with North American Super Corridor Coalition (NASCO) but enough of it was recoverable to see the full measure of corruption and treachery that is taking place in this country - corruption by public officials on a scale this writer has never seen before and treason by MOU - undermining both the economy and the security of this nation.”
- Vicky Davis; March 18, 2008

IN THE NEWS

January 21, 2008

In The News

Senator Bob Smith; U.S. Senator, New Hampshire, 1990-2003 - It’s The Constitution Stupid

“The sovereignty of the U.S. is constantly subjugated to trade agreements, international ventures, alliances and treaties not approved by congress. Our worshipping at the altar of the "world economy" has contributed to the loss of our manufacturing base and the collapse of the value of the dollar.” - Past U.S. Senator Bob Smith; 01-21-08

IN THE NEWS

January 10, 2008

In The News

Huckabee seeks industrial and educational partnerships with China

"The National Governors Association (NGA) has been invited by Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong of the People’s Republic of China to send a delegation of U.S. Governors to visit their country and its leaders in June 2006. This invitation offers an opportunity for in-depth discussions on education and to a lesser extent bi-lateral trade and we would like to know how many of you may be interested in joining the delegation." – Governor Huckabee

IN THE NEWS

December 14, 2007

In The News

U.S. Gains Little From China Trade Talks - Manufacturing.Net – Dec. 13, 2007

Wu said Beijing can't be blamed for America's appetite for inexpensive Chinese Goods and suggested Washington lift restrictions on high-tech exports to diminish the trade deficit. She also bristled over threatened protectionist legislation, warning that new trade barriers would be a double-edged sword.

         IN THE NEWS

   December 3, 2007
In The News

Pain From Free Trade - Mr. Blinder's Shift

Alan S. Blinder still considers himself a free trader but now warns loudly that the downsides of trade are deeper and longer-lived than most free traders say.

Mr. Blinder began to muse about this in public. At a Council on Foreign Relations forum in January 2005 he called "offshoring," or the exporting of U.S. jobs, "the big issue for the next generation of Americans." Eight months later on Capitol Hill, he warned that "tens of millions of additional American workers will start to experience an element of job insecurity that has heretofore been reserved for manufacturing workers." - By DAVID WESSEL and BOB DAVIS

         IN THE NEWS

   December 3, 2007
In The News

China Urged to Stop Producing Tidal Wave of Fakes - Manufacturing.Net – Nov. 26, 2007

BEIJING (Kyodo) — European Union trade commissioner Peter Mandelson on Monday urged China to stop its manufacturers producing what he described as a ''tidal wave'' of counterfeit goods.

Mandelson told a forum on food safety in Beijing that eight out of 10 fake goods seized at Europe's borders last year were made in China and some were potentially dangerous, such as counterfeit medicines and fake aircraft and car parts.

EU Chief - China Growth Economic Threat - Manufacturing.Net – Nov. 27, 2007

BEIJING (Kyodo) — The head of the European Commission warned Tuesday there is the risk that Europeans will view China's economic growth as a threat if it does not take action to reduce its huge trade surplus with the rest of the world.

Jose Manuel Barroso said the current trade imbalance is ''unsustainable'' and is becoming an increasingly important political issue in Europe, adding to people's anxieties about globalization and economic competition from overseas.

China Agrees To Eliminate Trade Subsidies - Manufacturing.Net – Nov. 29, 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration announced Thursday that China has agreed to eliminate improper trade subsidies it was using to the detriment of U.S. and other foreign companies.

''This outcome represents a victory for U.S. manufacturers, producers and their workers,'' Schwab said in a statement. She said it would eliminate a variety of trade subsidies the Chinese government was using to the detriment of a wide range of U.S.

products from steel to information technology.

         IN THE NEWS

   November 23, 2007
In The News

Chinese Spying No. 1 Threat to U.S. Manufacturing - Manufacturing.Net - Nov. 15, 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional advisory panel said Thursday that Chinese spying in America represents the greatest threat to U.S. technology and recommended lawmakers consider financing counterintelligence efforts meant to stop China from stealing U.S. manufacturing expertise.

The U.S.- China Economic and Security Review Commission also said in its annual report to Congress that small and medium U.S. manufacturers, which represent more than half the manufacturing jobs in America, ''face the full brunt of China's unfair trade practices, including currency manipulation and illegal subsidies for Chinese exports.''

         IN THE NEWS

  August 31, 2007

In The News

CFR - A New Deal for Globalization

CFR admits Globalization and American middle class in trouble; Global Central Planners propose income redistribution.

According to CFR Authors - Kenneth F. Scheve and Matthew J. Slaughter of Foreign Affairs, July/August 2007

“Globalization has brought huge overall benefits, but earnings for most U.S. workers (even those with college degrees)
have been falling recently; inequality is greater now than at any other time in the last 70 years. Whatever the cause,
the result has been a surge in protectionism. To save globalization, policymakers must spread its gains more widely.
The best way to do that is by redistributing income.”

BASE DOCUMENT

January 15, 2007

In The News

The NAFTA Agreement:

BASE DOCUMENT

January 15, 2007

In The News

The CAFTA Agreement:

In The News

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