Cross-posted at the Buckeye State Blog
There's a reason over 200,000 Ohioans, and thousands more across the nation, have lost their jobs in the last 7 years. Trade, and trade deficits, play a large part of that quandry. The Republicans hold a lot of responsibility with our job losses because of their neglect to use Congress and the presidency, while they could, to deal appropriately with our largest trade rival ...China.
That's a shot of Beijing. That's a trade deficit at work baby - $bling$; China thanks us for ignoring this problem of epic proportions. Images of China over the next decade are going to increasingly remind you of some of our most developed regions...New York, LA, Chicago. The red have finally arrived...Congressman Tim Ryan get this, and he's working on a solution.
China joined the WTO in 2001 after they petitioned for application for over 15 years (the longest application period in history). Now, despite your feelings regarding the WTO, there are some measures that the US can engage in with the WTO to try and address trade impropriety. After 7 years of ignoring the problem, the Bush administration and the GOP are starting to get a mild interest in taking action (point of interest...Ohio's own former Congressman Rob Portman also has complicity in our trade problems...he served as US Trade Representative up until May of this past year...this is the position that would bring trade violation disputes to the WTO if the US administration deemed them important...more on this his role at a later date). At the beginning of February we filed one of our first meaningful WTO trade complaints against China for subsidizing their products and artificially deflating their currency (god help me, I'm linking to the CATO Institute to reach out to the right wing skeptics out there. Forgive me BSB). All in all, this gives their products an unfair advantage against American goods produced at home. That means more lost jobs. Why the Bush administration is just getting to this, your guess is as good as mine.
Anyways, a WTO complaint is great. Hooray! Good news. BUT, these things can take up to 3 years to resolve. In this complaint we're just moving into a 60 day hand holding period, then we have a few months of "no consequence" negotiations, followed by a panel, appeals, and so on and so forth (with escalating implications). Long story short, even if China knows its dead wrong (which they are) they can drag their feet for another 3 years while continuing to suck on the teat of the American and Ohio economy. Did I mention my thanks to the GOP for finally getting around to attacking this after 7 years? Thanks.
Anyways, Congressman Tim Ryan's got a better idea. He's ready to move in with new domestic laws. Specifically, he's introduced the Ryan-Hunter Bill with Republican Presidential candidate Duncan Hunter to address these trade issues. This may all sound lofty and complicated, but it equates to making sure folks in Youngstown, Dayton, and Cleveland still have jobs. This is the type of Congressional action people take who are legitimately concerned with the nation's future.
Also, you can tell Congressman Ryan's still got his spunk. When Pilgrim mistakenly implied he was a Republican, Ryan called her on it.
"Duncan Hunter is running as a Republican in the Republican presidential primary, I’m the Democrat..." -Congressman Ryan
"I’m sorry, that’s a huge mistake on my behalf"- Kitty Pligrim
...That's our boy.