Backlash grows against free trade

Worries about the dark side of free trade are surfacing in the United States in ways that could affect the course of globalization worldwide.

Don't expect an outright retreat from global commerce just yet, but it is becoming more likely that the US will act to temper and manage its impact. The reason: Free-trade brush fires have recently erupted on economic and political fronts:

• This week, the Commerce Department said America's trade deficit rose to $764 billion in 2006, as imports outstripped exports by a record amount for a fifth straight year.

• Democrats are in control of Congress, with new lawmakers in their ranks who are especially eager to do something about what they see as unfair trade practices by China. Bipartisan bills introduced this week could result in retaliatory tariffs or revocation of China's trade status with the US.

"There was a time 10 years ago when it seemed like globalization was consensual, and there were very few remaining questions about whether it was ... a good thing," says Jeffry Frieden, an expert on global economics at Harvard University. The reality, he says, includes a caveat: Trade "can make everyone better off, so long as you compensate the losers."

.......

"To retain support for policies of free trade ... we need to make sure that the gains and benefits from these powerful, growth-producing forces are broadly shared," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said this week in response to a question during congressional testimony.


http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0216/p01s02-usec.html

something about the problem. New legislation has to be crafted that will legitimately put a stop to the whole sordid business of having U.S. jobs and manufacturing shipped offshore.

As long as their families, friends and business partners are making a buck. They will sell out the poor and the unemployed.

There are also a few Republicans who oppose free trade. Hopefully the majority of Democrats in Congress who oppose the current system and the minority of Republicans who do, also, can work together on this and pass some legislation that Bush won't like.

Sounds like the devalued dollar and the spike in oil prices will do the 'leveling' of the playing field. But also read Wealth and Democracy by Kevin Phillips which shows us that in order to maintain our democracy we NEED to shift wealth from those richest one and on half percent down to the rest of us sooner rather than later, if THAT is what is really scaring them.

the freetrade/Neoliberalism/NAFTA ideology it will force the issue out front for some serious discussion.

The big question I have is where has this wonderful ideology been successful? What country beside Empire America, and even then the gains are questionable, has become better off as a result of NAFTA.