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Pelosi is blocking this free trade bill...hopefully her reasoning is more than GW supports it.
I say let the bill stand or fall on it's own merit - put it to avote.
Quote:
Colombia and Cat April 9, 2008; Page A14
President Bush sent the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement to Congress on Tuesday, and Democratic leaders greeted it with a Bronx cheer. No surprise there. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney has been promising that the deal won't pass, and we're guessing his confidence has something to do with Big Labor's contributions to the Democratic Party in an election year.
But if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's anti-Colombia motivations are easy to divine, Mr. Sweeney's are more puzzling. Union leaders like to say they're looking out for the well-being of the rank and file. But by quashing the Colombia FTA, Mr. Sweeney would weaken the competitiveness of American manufacturing and put some of America's best-paying union jobs at risk. These are jobs that exist today but could well be gone if Congress rejects this market opening in South America.
Exhibit A are 8,600 jobs at two Caterpillar Inc. factories in Illinois. Caterpillar exports more to Peru and Colombia than it does to Germany, Japan or the United Kingdom. So keeping and growing market share in both countries is important to union members in both plants. Not all are union jobs but both facilities are United Auto Worker shops.
Consider exports of the off-highway truck, made in Decatur. Customers in Colombia now pay a 15% tariff – equal to $200,000 – on the import of these vehicles. If the FTA goes through, that import tariff goes to zero immediately. Conversely, if the deal dies and Colombia, which is trying to expand its world trade, strikes an agreement with another country where similar vehicles are made, U.S. exports will immediately be at a 15% price disadvantage.
Colombia also has a large mining industry, and there are more Cat D-11 bulldozers in Colombian coal mines today than in any other country in the world. Those bulldozers are made in East Peoria. Colombian customers pay a 5% duty to import Cat bulldozers, which compete against Komatsu bulldozers made in Japan. Union members might ask Mr. Sweeney why he wants to spurn an offer that would give U.S. products a 5% price edge against Japanese competition.
Caterpillar – which has a total U.S. work force of 50,545 – faces an even more imminent threat in the case of its motor graders, a piece of heavy equipment used to level the playing field, literally. A company called Champion also makes motor graders in Canada, and Colombia is also negotiating an FTA with Canada. If Canada seals a deal with Colombia while the U.S. walks away from its Colombia pact, graders made in the U.S. will cost more than those made in Canada. Once again, Mr. Sweeney's agenda makes the U.S. work force less competitive.
The AFL-CIO's rejectionism makes even less sense when you consider that 92% of Colombian goods coming to the U.S. now enter the American market duty-free under the Andean Trade Preferences Act, or ATPA. In June 2007, 365 members of Congress voted to renew the ATPA and thereby maintain open U.S. markets for Colombian products. The FTA is a chance to open Colombian markets to U.S. goods and services. Killing it is like saying that we want U.S. products going to Colombia to be heavily taxed. Even for a trade protectionist like Mr. Sweeney, that makes no sense. For American workers, it's crazy.
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Yeah..... Sweeney's a really stupid dumb-arse who doesn't understand anything about anything except how to strike.
The article is full of the same old anti-union tripe. I wonder if the author has the same righteous indignation for McCain protecting the telecom industry??? Hmmmmmmm.....
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Here's to the Army and Navy and the battles they have won; here's to America's colors, the colors that never run. May the wings of liberty never lose a feather. ....
we also have these same exact agreements with other south american nations - the framework of this deal from what I've seen makes sense for pretty much everyone involved
with the way the economy is going, any market that has a need for american goods should be open to buying them
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"Civilization is a limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities."
Samuel Clemens
Not quite - It just needs a photo to really send an anti-union message.
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Here's to the Army and Navy and the battles they have won; here's to America's colors, the colors that never run. May the wings of liberty never lose a feather. ....
Now why in the world would we not want to open up trade and expand our economy?
Claims are it is because of human rights violations in Columbia.
Quote:
...said Bruce Raynor, General President of UNITE HERE. “A trade deal with Colombia is particularly outrageous because workers seeking to form unions there face brutal oppression and even murder. We are proud to stand with human rights activists, religious groups, unions and workers in Colombia in opposing the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.”
However this trade deal gets more interesting every day.
Quote:
Colombia to Penn: You’re Fired
By John M. Broder
More fallout from the Mark Penn Colombia episode:
The Colombian government said on Saturday that it was ending its relationship with Burson-Marsteller, the global public relations firm headed by Mark Penn, who is also Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s pollster and chief strategist.
Colombia had hired Burson-Marsteller to help it win passage of a bilateral trade agreement with the United States. Mr. Penn, in his capacity as chief executive of Burson-Marsteller, met with Colombia’s ambassador to the United States on Monday to discuss prospects for the treaty. Mrs. Clinton has publicly and firmly opposed the deal because of Colombia’s history of suppressing trade unions. Many Congressional Democrats and most unions also oppose the treaty, which President Bush supports.
Several union leaders on Friday called on Mrs. Clinton to dismiss Mr. Penn for double-dealing.
Mr. Penn on Friday apologized for meeting with the Colombians, calling it an “error in judgment.” The Colombian government said his reaction showed a “lack of respect.”
On Saturday, the Colombian government issued the following statement:
The Colombian Government announces its decision to terminate the contract with Burson Marteller. This firm conducts public relations and communications consulting services on behalf of Colombia in the United States for the approval of the Free Trade Agreement and the continuation of Plan Colombia.
Mr. Mark Penn, President and CEO of Burson Marsteller, reponded to claims by Union representatives who questioned his relationship with the Colombian Government by declaring that it was an “error in judgment” to meet with his client the Colombian Ambassador on March 31. The Colombian government considers this a lack of respect to Colombians, and finds this response unacceptable.
The firm was retained by the Colombian Embassy in Washington in March of 2007 based on its track record in the field of Public Relations.
The Colombian Government will continue its efforts to show to different sectors in the United States, the dramatic improvements in the country’s economy, social and security indicators, and will continue its efforts to obtain a favorable vote on the pending Free Trade Agreement with the United States, for greater wellbeing and prosperity for all.
And this:
Quote:
NY Post - Bill Clinton voiced "support" for a controversial Colombia free- trade pact that his wife has fiercely opposed - and he accepted $800,000 in speaking fees from a group boosting the agreement, it was revealed yesterday.
The news came just two days after Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton pushed her chief strategist, Mark Penn, from his post after he embarrassed the campaign by consulting with Colombia government officials over the trade deal.
In June 2005, Bill Clinton, who holds enormous sway as an ad viser to his wife, was quoted by the Spanish-language news portal Terra as publicly backing the trade pact at an appearance with Colombia President Alvaro Uribe.
"I will raise your point when you return to the United States," Clinton said, according to a trans lation by Politico.com. "I am in favor of the free-trade agreement and it is my hope that we will find the right formula to reach the agreement."
The same month, Bill Clinton reaped the six-figure windfall from the Colombia-based development group Gold Service International - a booster of the trade agreement - for four speeches.
Andres Franco, the GSI chief operating officer, told the Huffington Post Web site that the ex-president "was supportive of the trade agreement at the time" of his speaking tour.
Sen. Clinton's spokesman Jay Carson said the candidate is a "clear and firm opponent," and said the former president has publicly backed a Colombia free-trade deal since 2000.
"Like other married couples who disagree on issues from time to time, she disagrees with her husband on this issue," he added.
And finally:
Quote:
Obama-Backing Unions Want Penn Kicked Out Of Entire Democratic Party
By Eric Kleefeld - April 7, 2008, 4:45PM
Mark Penn's demotion from his position as Hillary Clinton's top strategist has done little to solve the problem Penn has created for her with Big Labor.
The Change To Win labor federation, which has endorsed Barack Obama and has an estimated six-million members from seven big unions, has put up a blog post with the simple title, "Mark Penn Still Has To Go."
And they don't just mean Penn has to go from the campaign — they mean he has to be kicked out of the Democratic Party entirely.
"Our message on this matter is simple," writes Jason Lefkowitz, the federation's online communications director. "People who represent union-busters should not be welcome in the Democratic Party. People who represent death squads targeting trade unionists should not be welcome in the Democratic Party."
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5-11 with 'em. 5-11 without 'em.
A free trade agreement does not mean anything they import into our country is exempt from inspection.
Is that a joke??? Do you realize how little of what is imported into this country is actually inspected? And if you increase the volume, proportionately less gets inspected.
Bingo, Wally!
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Here's to the Army and Navy and the battles they have won; here's to America's colors, the colors that never run. May the wings of liberty never lose a feather. ....
I am for free trade agreements that are mutually beneficial to the People, not the corporations, that is the problem... This kind of free trade is not free trade...
I am for free trade agreements that are mutually beneficial to the People, not the corporations, that is the problem... This kind of free trade is not free trade...
Care to explain which Free Trade agreements meet your approval and which don't... and why??
to free trade
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