Sabotaging America

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, long known as one of the biggest cheerleaders for the “free trade” agreements that have destroyed America’s manufacturing base, released a report Wednesday titled “The U.S. Chamber’s Agenda to Help Americans Compete and Win in the World Economy.” The report implores President-elect Barack Obama to continue the wrongheaded policies that have put the American economy in the position it is currently in.   

The Chamber of Commerce offered the report as their own economic stimulus plan to reignite economic growth, however, all it contains is the same old far-right economic ideology espoused by the organization since its inception.  The report calls for the completion of the Doha Round of trade negotiations, ratification of free trade agreements with Columbia, Panama and South Korea, new free trade agreements with China, India, Brazil and Russia.  The report also clamors for an end to the Cuban trade embargo and granting the president fast-track authority that would allow him or her to negotiate trade agreements with no Congressional input and then present them to Congress for an up-and-down vote with no amendments allowed. 

“The United States faces a choice — to reach out and seize the benefits of international engagement, or retreat into isolationism,“ the report says.  “We can choose to blame our competitors and attribute our own problems to the faults of others. We can retreat from the world and close our markets and borders in an effort to shield our workers and industries. Or we can choose to remake ourselves and provide our people and businesses with the skills and tools they need to succeed. We can heed the lessons of history which suggest that no nation has ever remained prosperous by walling itself off. We can do a better job ensuring that the opportunities of global commerce are extended to all. 

However, that statement represents nothing more than a false dilemma - a deliberate attempt to eliminate the middle-ground on the issue of “free trade.”  The U.S. can compete in a globalized economy and protect its own workers at the same time.  The U.S. should eschew the false promises of “free trade” and instead focus on fair trade deals that ensure American workers aren’t forced to compete with workers in China doing the same job for $1 per day.  Otherwise, trade agreements do nothing more than create a race to the bottom where companies seek out the cheapest labor market or the most lax environmental standards.   

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been aiding and abetting this race to the bottom for years now.  As the world’s largest non-profit business organization, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been a force to be reckoned with in the political world for sometime.  The deep-pocketed organization has the ability to sway votes in Congress and in the general public.  In 2004, the organization spent $53 billion on lobbying and sent 3.7 million pieces of mail, placed 5.6 million phone calls and sent 30 million email messages on candidates behalf.   

This enormous amount of influence skews the debate on trade issues regularly.   

“Well, most every member of the Senate goes to the mirror in the morning and sees a potential president … those kinds of aspirations make it so that you don’t want to provoke a fight with the largest established interests in the country,” Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) told the magazine In These Times during a 2006 interview.  “They want to be seen as “pro-business.”  You can’t be seen as “pro-business” in the eyes of the Chamber of Commerce and others unless you sign up for these trade agreements.”    

Unfortunately, despite its mission statement, "To advance human progress through an economic, political and social system based on individual freedom, incentive, initiative, opportunity, and responsibility" the only thing the organization works to advance is its far-right wing ideology of unfettered “free trade,” no taxes, deficits be damned and absolutely no government regulation for business.  In fact, the organization was instrumental in repealing portions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a move that some economists credit with out current economic downfall. 

Dorgan told In These Times that the Commerce Department couldn’t spot a working person with a telescope.   

Even if they could, they wouldn’t show much concern, according to former Senator Frtiz Hollings (D-SC). 

“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is more interested in commerce on Main Street, Shanghai than on Main Street, Spartanburg,” he wrote in a Dec. column post on the Huffington Post. 

Source Shipping Digest:

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