Every so-called "free trade" deal that has shimmied its way through Congress has been greased with legalized bribery, starting with NAFTA in 1993, which was the king of all "what will buy your vote" deals. But, the biggest scam, in my opinion, is the "retraining" workers are offered in return for...sacrificing their middle-class livelihood and security for the benefit of corporate profits.
Obviously, I am not rooting for the lunatic fringe--read: Republican Party--to succeed but this may at least mess up the head-long rush to ram through a trio of new so-called "free trade" deals with South Korea, Colombia and Peru:
The expiration of a program that supports those left jobless by trade pacts threatens to fracture the coalition of lawmakers backing trade accords with South Korea, Colombia and Panama...
The Trade Adjustment Assistance program ended Saturday, potentially stopping the flow of money for services for 155,000 to 170,000 people in coming days unless Congressional Republicans can break an impasse over cost.
Republicans in the House last week blocked a bill extending the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, along with the Andean Trade Preferences Act—which reduces tariffs on imports from Colombia and other Latin American nations in an effort to help stem the illegal narcotics trade.
Back in 2007, I
wrote about the Great Retraining Lie: When we accept the idea of retraining workers, we accept the framework of discussion about the economic system that is being imposed on workers here and abroad. Boiled down to its basics, it goes something like this: "globalization" is inevitable so just get over it. There will be pain for some because that is the cost of progress. To ease that pain, we will throw some money at the "problem" of displaced workers.
Typically, I find that the people most in favor of the concept of retraining are those people who think they are never going to lose a job to so-called "free trade." That would be our elected officials, pundits, and a whole lot of economists. A whole lot of other folks buy the idea that this is a fair deal—without understanding both the realities for the people who are losing jobs and, frankly, that so-called "free trade" is driving down wages even for those people whose jobs are not directly tied to international trade.
The Great Retraining Lie is a close relative to something I have written about for even longer: The Great Education Myth. Basically, the two ideas go hand-in-hand: they intentionally distract us from the real problem--employers around the world are moving work around the world in search of the lowest wage possible. Wages, not skills or education, are the most important issue facing workers throughout the globe. The disparity is so huge that American workers, no matter how smart they get, will never be able to compete against workers in other countries—unless, of course, Americans are willing to accept a drastic decline in their standard of living.
Three years ago, I quoted from a very good article by Louis Uchitelle , a piece that is worth recalling here:
Across America, more than 30 million people have been forced out of jobs since the early 1980s, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, and regaining lost incomes has not been easy. Nearly 50 million new jobs have been created over that same period, according to the bureau, so there are always new opportunities but more often than not at lower pay. Among those who have lost work, only a third held new jobs two years later that paid as well as those that were lost, according to the bureau’s surveys of displaced workers. Another third of those displaced were in jobs that paid, on average, 15 to 20 percent less than their previous employment — while the final third had dropped out of the labor force entirely.
So, the upshot is this:
So-called "free trade" is being rammed down the throats of the American people with the explanation that it will help "economic growth"--which has not been the case IF you measure "economic growth" by an improved wage base and growing prosperity--and it is being sold with a snake oil salesman's promise that "don't worry, be happy, we will retrain you for a new job if you just swallow this minor inconvenience of losing your current job."
And it is all a lie.