2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumOne Future: “Nothing But Cheap Labor and Debt Slavery”
Recently, I was on Democracy Now!, an hourly news report that runs on over 1250 TV and radio stations worldwide each day. The subject was trade:NERMEEN SHAIKH: We turn now to the pending vote in Congress on the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership, a global trade deal currently being negotiated between the United States and 11 Latin American and Asian countries. Senate Finance Committee leaders Republican Orrin Hatch and Democrat Ron Wyden are expected to introduce a fast-track trade promotion authority bill as early as this week that would give the president authority to negotiate the TPP trade deal and then present it to Congress for a yes-or-no vote, with no amendments allowed . Congressman Alan Grayson, could you explain your opposition to fast-track authority, and what youre calling on your colleagues in Congress to do?
REP. ALAN GRAYSON: Our free trade, our so-called free trade policies, have been a disaster for the United States since NAFTA was enacted. Before NAFTA was enacted and went into effect 20 years ago, we never had any year in our history when we had a trade deficit of $135 billion or more. Every single year since then, for 20 years in a row, our trade deficit has been over $135 billion. Our last 14 trade deficits have been the 14 largest trade deficits not only in our history, but in the history of the entire world. And the result of that is that weve gone from $2 trillion in surplus with our trade to $11 trillion in debt. And weve lost five million manufacturing jobs and roughly 15 million other jobs in the last 20 years. So weve lost twice: Weve lost the jobs, and weve also gone deeper and deeper into debt.
Whats happening is not that were buying goods and services from foreigners and theyre buying an equal amount of goods and services from usthats the way free trade is supposed to work. Whats actually happening is that were buying our goods and services from foreigners, and they are taking the money that we give to them for that, and buying our assets.
That has all sorts of consequences for our economy. First we lose those jobs. Secondly, it makes American income and wealth more and more unequal. The reason why we have the fourth most unequal distribution of wealth in the world is because of fake trade. The reason why we have a bizarre, and at this point unprecedented, quantitative easing [monetary] policy, where the government uses the cash in our pockets to buy up assets and drive those asset prices up further and further, is because of fake trade. The reason why we have a federal deficit is because we have a trade deficit. The TPP, fast-track, the Transatlantic version of TPP, these dramatically increase the amount of countries with whom we have this relationshipthey quadruple themand they put us on a fast track to Hell, where America is nothing but cheap labor and debt slavery .
AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to President Obama speaking in February after he began the major push for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: This is bipartisan legislation that would protect American workers and promote American businesses, with strong new trade deals from Asia to Europe that arent just free, but are fair. It would level the playing field for American workers. It would hold all countries to the same high labor and environmental standards to which we hold ourselves. Now, Im the first to admit that past trade deals havent always lived up to the hype. And thats why weve successfully gone after countries that break the rules at our workers expense. But that doesnt mean we should close ourselves off from new opportunities and sit on the sidelines while other countries write our future for us.
AMY GOODMAN: So, thats President Obama speaking in February. President Obama is, obviously, President of the United States, [the] leading Democrat. Congressman Grayson, he represents your party, as well. Why the difference? Who are the blocs now that are united? Were not just talking [that] its Democrats here and Republicans here. What set of Republicans and Democrats agree on this?
REP. ALAN GRAYSON: Well, its a mystery to me. You know, I was in the room when the President gave that statement, made that speech. He gave a 45-minute speech. On those three sentences, that was the only time during that entire speech when the Republicans rose up and applauded him, and the Democrats did not. I think thats very revealing. There are very, very few Democratic votes [for Fast-Track] in the House of Representatives, because we represent ordinary working people. The groups that are lobbying the hardest for this are the multinational corporations, and their K Street lobbyists. Theyre the ones who desperately want to see this passed . Ordinary Democrats represent constituencies who have been hurt hard, really hurt very hard, by the loss of those five million manufacturing jobs and 15 million other jobs. Go to any Democratic district in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and youll see exactly what Im talking about. And the fact is that there is very little support, if any significant support, within the Democratic House Caucus for Fast-Track or for the TPP. We do have a few corporate Democrats. Frankly, we do have a couple of sell-out Democrats, who have sold out to the corporate lobbyists. But the bulk of the Democratic Party well understands, along with the labor movement and ordinary people, that these policies have been disastrous for us. And it is a lie to say that they will improve the economy. In fact, they will continue the downward trend of the economy, until foreigners own everything .
AMY GOODMAN: Congressman Grayson, do you have to rely on WikiLeaks to get information about whats actually in the TPP agreement?
REP. ALAN GRAYSON: Well, one of the sad and disturbing elements of this whole process has been the artificial secrecy thats been imposed by the Administration and by the Trade Representative on these dealings. I cant think of any other occasion, when Ive served in Congress, when Ive seen the element of deception loom so large here. The public is better informed of Iraqi attacks on ISIS, which youd think would be classified, than it is informed on a trade deal thats going to determine our economic future for the next 20 years. Whats happened is that, right at the beginning, the Trade Representative took the absurd position that everything that was being negotiated was classified, even though it was directly in the hands of the foreign governments with whom he was negotiating. Remember, normally, we have a classified system to keep information away from our enemies, or at least other governments. In this case, it was the other governments that had the information, and it was Congress and the American people who were being denied the information. And they took that position for five years, even though 100 members of Congress wrote a letter to the trade representative saying, Cut this out.
Now, Im the first member of Congress to actually see any part of the TPP, even though 600 corporate lobbyists are, quote, advisors to the Trade Representative, and they get to see everything. And I insisted they take that information to my office, and in return they told me I couldnt take it with me, I couldnt take it home, I couldnt make notes on it, I couldnt have my staff present. And heres the kicker: They didnt want me to discuss it with the media, the public or even other Members of Congress. So its a farce. And its meant specifically to keep the information away from the American people, because if the American people knew what was going on, theyd recognize that its a punch to the face of the middle class in America .
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we want to thank you for being with us, Congressman Alan Grayson, Democrat of Floridas 9th Congressional District.
If we want to avoid a future of cheap labor and debt slavery, then we have to fight back, and fight back now, before its too late. To see the video, or to support our Truth in Trade campaign, click right here.
Courage,
Rep. Alan Grayson
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)by my Tbag neighbor.
RiverLover
(7,830 posts)This growth is the result of a general increase in cross-border investment..
http://www.cfr.org/united-states/quarterly-update-foreign-ownership-us-assets/p25685
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)RiverLover
(7,830 posts)What are you talking about ?
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)RiverLover
(7,830 posts)And they all aren't in the US...
Meet The 80 People Who Are As Rich As Half The World
Jan 2015
http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/meet-the-80-people-who-are-as-rich-as-half-the-world/
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)RiverLover
(7,830 posts)Allowing them to amass even more.
The latest welfare for the wealthy, enabled by our purchased reps, is the ending of the federal estate tax. Its passed the House & once it passes the senate, we'll lose millions in revenue, and they'll have million$ more to bank for themselves.
But the Obama administration cut $8 billion in food stamps, so its all good.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)elzenmahn
(904 posts)...it's the truth.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)to Third World workers' wages?
Btw, are you calling one of the best Democratic Reps in Congress a 'Tbagger'?
This deal is not for workers ANYWHERE, it is for Global Corporations to be able to RULE the countries who are part of this atrocious 'deal', by holding SECRET COURTS where they can SUE the American People IF our hard fought for LAWS interfere with THEIR PROFITS.
And are you okay with Corporations, many of them Foreign, MAKING OUR LAWS?
When did we hand over this country to Global Corporations who make our laws and won't allow our Representatives to even see them before they are ordered to sign them into law??
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)he's playing politics just like Warren.
Normally, you folks would be suspicious of people who made millions in questionable business dealings.
I really liked his anti-bush sentiments, etc., but don't respect his playing politics on this.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)able to get, including Congress. That is all that is relevant. PROOF of what you say.
You never answered the question, are you actually supporting allowing Foreign Corporations to write our laws, then having the POTUS hand them to Congress demanding they vote for them WITHOUT ever having been part of the process, not allowed to see them until there was such an uproar by the people, after which they were given a peek, under severe restrictions.
And worse, IF they were be stupid enough to sign away this country's right to pass our own laws, by voting for Fast Tracking it, they cannot FIX anything in their that is bad for this country.
It is nothing short of insane, I don't know who thought they could get away with this.
Bush tried it and failed. Let's hope it fails again this time.
Binkie The Clown
(7,911 posts)Anyone with half a brain is learning the skills necessary to live on half or less than their present income. I would say we must resist this, but resistance is futile. They are the Borg. They own the government, and they make the policy regardless of what we peons think.
erronis
(15,303 posts)I realize that there was some sarcasm in your remark but you make me realize that this may be the view of the borg-masters. Surely those plebes can camp together and share their beans...
Binkie The Clown
(7,911 posts)RiverLover
(7,830 posts)I especially loved how you pointed out that our wonderful House Dems actually represent their constituents and not corporations & almost ALL are against fast track & the tpp/ttip. I read there are only 10 corporate dems planning to vote for TPA. At the time of the article in The Hill, anyways.
Good luck on your Senate run. We definitely need more non-corporate Dems there!!!
msongs
(67,420 posts)RiverLover
(7,830 posts)This is not what I voted for. Just like when I voted for Clinton & he along with his best republican friends brought us NAFTA.
America is about to make a horrible mistake all over again
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6640659
If I wanted repub policies, I'd be republican! So frustrating.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)CharlotteVale
(2,717 posts)AzDar
(14,023 posts)jtuck004
(15,882 posts)avoid what they are already living in the middle of.
TPP will bring evil if it should pass, but no one should fool themselves into thinking something won't happen if it doesn't. The same things have already happened to tens of millions of people, and are continuing to swallow more. The agreement just speeds it up, and without it those things will happen more slowly, unless some other massive changes are undertaken as well.
We don't live on an island, and increasingly the rest of the world is going to make decisions that are best for them, which probably doesn't involve keeping us in cable, lazyboys, and revolving debt
.
SamKnause
(13,108 posts)to describe how much I respect and admire
you Representative Alan Grayson !!!!!!!!
angrychair
(8,702 posts)That is funny. What the hell do all of you think is going on NOW?
¤State employees' unions and unions in general are under attack across the country from Washington to Maine to everywhere inbetween.
¤Large organizations are fighting tooth and nail any minimum wage increases.
¤many large organizations and many in Congress, Democrats and republicans, want to increase the retirement age to 70! Given that, according to the last census, only about 14% of the population is 65 or older I would offer that a majority of us will never see our social security benefits or a 401K benefit.
Sorry, while TPP is not great, it is not the thing we have to fear. The thing we fear is already here.
it is a waste of time to fear what might happen. We need to worry about what is happening.
stillwaiting
(3,795 posts)But, you fail to give any weight to the possibility (likely in my opinion) that the TPP could make what is happening even worse. Perhaps much worse, and it could make it much more difficult to climb out of the hole that so many of us are already in.
These "free trade" agreements have been crucial and instrumental in creating "what is happening", and the TPP is the biggest one yet. It's one where there have been strong indications that other countries would sign on in the future. It's one where modifying it or ending it (there is no end date) will be INCREDIBLY difficult since all parties to it would have to agree on changes.
There are so many warning signals flashing that it boggles my mind that anyone who is not in the sociopathic portion of the financial elite would support it. And, it definitely warrants fighting against it. Strongly.
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)edgineered
(2,101 posts)I had the pleasure of directing my group of about 80 people in Orlando to support your campaign drive at Lake Eola during our Hands Across The Sand event. Making it possible for those in Orlando to have their voices heard in opposition to Deepwater Horizon/Macondo, and meeting your volunteers was a win-win all around.
think
(11,641 posts)RKP5637
(67,111 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Thank you, Representative Grayson. And fuck the fake Democrats.
PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)n/t
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)G_j
(40,367 posts)great interview!
Hotler
(11,428 posts)Just sit back behind our keyboards and bitch and moan, maybe make a phone call or two to our elected politican that will just blow us off, or get fighting mad and take to the streets in mass protest the likes this country has never seen before.
Oh, what am I thinking? We don't protest and we don't support protest here on DU, we just bitch.
I have no hope. I see no future.