The Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (trade) Agreement
by Thom Hartmann,posted May 4 2012 4:30PM
American manufacturers are screwed. House Democrats sent a letter to President Obama on Thursday asking him to reconsider a new free trade agreement in the works that would blow up “Buy America” provisions that give priority to American manufacturers. Since the 1930’s – a “Buy American” law has been on the books that gives preference to American manufacturers bidding for government contracts. But the new Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement would essentially end the preferential treatment – giving no edge to American manufacturers over foreign manufacturers.
The letter – signed by 68 House Democrats and one Republican – warned the President that this trade agreement could, “result in large sums of U.S. tax dollars being invested to strengthen other countries' manufacturing sectors, rather than our own." Unfortunately – like every President since Reagan – President Obama is drinking the so-called free trade Kool-Aid, even though the evidence is clear: we've lost 50,000 manufacturing jobs every single month over the last decade.
We need to ditch free trade and tune out the globalists like Tom Friedman who are carrying the water for big transnational corporations. And then we need to get back to protecting our domestic manufacturing base, like we did for 200 years, based on Alexander Hamilton's 11-point plan that was put in place under President George Washington and then ditched by Reagan, the Bushes, and Clinton.
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