Friday, October 25, 2013

The private sector needs to help build economies abroad and not at the expense of the American Middle Class.

Any trade agreement that will allow low wage workers to produce import goods of the USA is a human rights violation. 

The USA needs to concentrate on increasing manufacturing in the USA and higher wages. The idea that the erosion of the American Middle Class can be part of any trade agreement is outrageous. 

Why do Americans have to accept Third World suffering to the tune of American job losses. Our economy cannot sustain itself if there is further loss of good paying jobs. The trade agreements, both past and anticipated, do not improve the quality of life of people in other nations, quite the contrary. People throw themselves out of buildings to their death to produce cheap tele-communications equipment. There is no conscience within the decision to promote more suffering of the Third World to provide cheap labor to Wall Street.

I can't believe President Obama would actually promote any trade agreement that would allow human suffering to benefit exorbitant profits of Wall Street. Certainly, he is mistaken to believe the Trans-Pacific Partnership is nothing more than the same erosion of the world's population at the mercy of poor wages and impoverished quality of life. Ambassador Powers must concern about these trade arrangements in realizing the hardship they cause all peoples and not just that of the American people. 

By David Francis
September 13, 2012

The Census Bureau (click here) announced Wednesday that median household income in the United States had fallen to $50,054, the lowest since 1996 and down 1.5 percent from 2010....

There is no Middle Class in many nations involved in the TPP. That should be a wake up call to the legislature. The USA should not be trading with other nations that do not uphold the growth of a Middle Class. I don't see further trade agreements unless the other countries are upholding Middle Class values within their populations including good wages and a high standard of living.

Survey in China Shows a Wide Gap in Income (click here)

By EDWARD WONG 
Published: July 19, 2013 

...Average annual income for a (Chinese) family in 2012 was 13,000 renminbi, or about $2,100. When broken down by geography, the survey results showed that the average amount in Shanghai, a huge coastal city, was just over 29,000 renminbi, or $4,700, while the average in Gansu Province, far from the coast in northwest China, was 11,400 renminbi, or just under $2,000. Average family income in urban areas was about $2,600, while it was $1,600 in rural areas....

This is outrageous and certainly uncharacteristic of this President and his administration. Selling out to the profits of Wall Street does nothing for the people of any country. There is example after example of failed trade agreements that never delivered on upholding vibrant economies of all countries involved. The ONLY reason these trade agreements exist is to allow companies to conduct business without abiding by labor laws or environmental laws. Dear God, the people of China have the worst Air Quality of any nation moving into the world economy. That is unacceptable. How can the USA hand Wall Street this level of immoral opportunity? Wall Street is killing people while they lavish in luxury.

No more. In order to continue to re-grow the American Middle Class means the countries we trade with have a viable Middle Class to purchase our goods as well. No more Two Wealth Class nations as partners in trade. No more Poor vs Wealthy while allowing continuation of the same. The USA needs to have trade partners that are actually viable partners.

And at no point in time can any trade agreement assail the sovereignty of the USA while undermining the authority of American Courts and agencies such as the NLRB. The American people are not guinea pigs, that seems to be a creeping reality into this country due to sincerely poor trade partners. No more. Absolutely not.

There is no trade agreement that will prove for any sincere exchange in trade. The Chinese people earn 4% of that of the American Middle Class and suffer in poverty in greater numbers than any American can imagine. How are the Chinese going to purchase American goods? They can't. But, yet morally the American people are suppose to accept the living conditions of the Third World in exchange for cheap products. The products aren't that cheap when they reach the USA. The greatest cost to any product imported to the USA is not the labor that produced it, but, the fuel costs of the ships that bring it to Panamax Ports with Chinese manufactured cranes. This is ridiculous. These trade agreements propagate poverty and suffering.
 
June 7, 2013

The Honorable Sander M. Levin
Ranking Member
Ways and Means Committee
1106 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515


Cc: The Honorable Nancy Pelosi

Dear Ranking Member Levin:
We look forward to working with you to establish United States trade policies that promote the creation of American jobs and support our national economic interests while safeguarding Congress’s prerogatives to determine what domestic policies best promote the public interest....

...Unfortunately, (click here) today TPP FTA talks continue in extreme secrecy. The administration has yet to release draft texts after more than three years of negotiations, and the few TPP FT A texts that have leaked reveal serious problems. Thus, we are especially concerned about any action that would transfer Congress’s exclusive constitutional trade authority to the president.

Congress needs to work together to get American trade policy back on track – not give away its authority to do so. Reducing our authority to ensure our trade agreements serve the public interest will undermine our efforts to create American jobs and to reform a misguided trade policy that has devastated our manufacturing base through the offshoring of American production and American jobs....

...Indeed, given the vast scope of today’s ” trade” agreements, we do not believe that a broad delegation of Congress’s constitutional trade authority is generally appropriate. Negotiations on the TPP FT A delve deeply into many non-trade matters under the authority of Congress and state legislatures. If completed, the TPP FTA would lock in policies on these non-trade matters that could not be altered without consent of all other signatory countries. Thus, ensuring Congress has a robust role in the formative aspects of trade agreements is vital.

We are all deeply committed to creating jobs in our communities and across the country. To do so effectively, we believe it is critical that Congress maintains its authority to ensure American trade agreements are a good deal for the American people.

Sincerely,
Mark Pocan
Member of Congress...