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NOW Third Way is admitting NAFTA was a BAD deal for US workers...but the TPP will be GOOD.
You can't make this stuff up...
An admission from trade-deal supporters: NAFTA hurt some workers
2/12/2015
The Democratic think tank Third Way has long defended centrist, pro-business policies -- including the North American Free Trade Agreement, which allowed many U.S. companies to ship jobs to Mexico.
Now, in arguing for a new trade pact being negotiated by the Obama administration, Third Way is making what appears to be a surprising concession about NAFTA, the most famous trade deal in American history: It hurt some blue-collar workers, the group says.
...Kessler and Horwitz say that NAFTA, the Clinton-era agreement which expanded trade with Canada and Mexico, "fell short" in its promises to middle-class American workers. But they argue that more recent agreements, such as those with Panama (2012) and Singapore (2004), have proven much better for workers and the U.S. economy as a whole, improving the United States' balance of trade in goods with 13 of 17 countries.
...Progressive groups that have clashed with Third Way over trade -- and which oppose the TPP -- criticized the analysis, arguing that it’s too simplistic just to tally up each trade agreement as a win or a loss.
The magnitude of losses from NAFTA far outweigh gains from the later trade agreements, they say, and TPP has the potential to do the same, especially if it doesn’t include a way to prevent trading partners from subsidizing their industries by cheapening their currency. That has long been the worry with China.
Public Citizen’s Lori Wallach said the TPP most closely resembles the Korea framework. "The Korea FTA actually has the improved labor and environmental standards, and we are getting slammed by a massive new trade deficit since that one went into effect,” she said.
The AFL-CIO’s Celeste Drake argues that Third Way isn’t looking at the distribution of the gains from trade, which tend to favor business owners and shareholders, rather than workers....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/12/now-even-supporters-of-new-trade-deals-are-bashing-nafta/
2/12/2015
The Democratic think tank Third Way has long defended centrist, pro-business policies -- including the North American Free Trade Agreement, which allowed many U.S. companies to ship jobs to Mexico.
Now, in arguing for a new trade pact being negotiated by the Obama administration, Third Way is making what appears to be a surprising concession about NAFTA, the most famous trade deal in American history: It hurt some blue-collar workers, the group says.
...Kessler and Horwitz say that NAFTA, the Clinton-era agreement which expanded trade with Canada and Mexico, "fell short" in its promises to middle-class American workers. But they argue that more recent agreements, such as those with Panama (2012) and Singapore (2004), have proven much better for workers and the U.S. economy as a whole, improving the United States' balance of trade in goods with 13 of 17 countries.
...Progressive groups that have clashed with Third Way over trade -- and which oppose the TPP -- criticized the analysis, arguing that it’s too simplistic just to tally up each trade agreement as a win or a loss.
The magnitude of losses from NAFTA far outweigh gains from the later trade agreements, they say, and TPP has the potential to do the same, especially if it doesn’t include a way to prevent trading partners from subsidizing their industries by cheapening their currency. That has long been the worry with China.
Public Citizen’s Lori Wallach said the TPP most closely resembles the Korea framework. "The Korea FTA actually has the improved labor and environmental standards, and we are getting slammed by a massive new trade deficit since that one went into effect,” she said.
The AFL-CIO’s Celeste Drake argues that Third Way isn’t looking at the distribution of the gains from trade, which tend to favor business owners and shareholders, rather than workers....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/12/now-even-supporters-of-new-trade-deals-are-bashing-nafta/
I guess those posters here trying to sell us on the myth that NAFTA was a good thing (when we KNOW it wasn't/isn't because we're still hurting from it) will have to adjust their talking points...
bob & weave...spin baby spin!
28 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
We haz a sad.... 
Here, this kick to the nuts should givez the happeez! 
And not a single Third Way fan has checked in to tell us how wrong it is.
Things that make you go "hmmm...."
Yep. NAFTA was good for the country and had nothing to do with lost jobs. A monkeys uncle too.
rec
