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At today's meeting of the President's Export Council, President Obama predicted passage of the U.S.-South Korea trade pact that was reached last week.
Although he noted the agreement would boost American exports by $11 billion annually and support more than 70,000 U.S. jobs, he also warned the group that there remained a great deal of wariness among many parties in the United States when it comes to trade deals.
"On the Korea free trade agreement, I think we're gonna get this thing passed," Obama said. "But, I tell you, even as hard as we worked on this, as good as it is for American businesses, American workers, there's still just a lot of suspicion about trade deals. And so thinking about how we can better talk about trade, market trade that's' gonna be a major challenge I think this group needs to engage in."
The Korean trade accord has support from both political parties and from groups like the Chamber of Commerce and the United Auto Workers union.
But the main labor federation, the AFL-CIO, today came out in opposition to the trade agreement. Said AFL President Richard Trumka:
For more than a decade, the labor movement, environmental groups, development advocates and others have advocated for a new trade policy that is part of a more coordinated and coherent national economic strategy. The proposed U.S.-Korea trade deal does not live up to that model and does not contribute to a sustainable global future. We believe we must move towards a more democratic, sustainable and fair global economy with broadly shared prosperity for working people around the world. Reaching that goal will require deep-seated reforms in current trade policy, as well as in our own domestic labor laws and other policies.
We welcome the tremendous efforts by the Obama administration and particularly Ambassador Ron Kirk and his team to address the urgent concerns of autoworkers and auto companies with respect to market access, safeguard provisions and some non-tariff barriers. Ways and Means Chairman Sander Levin and Ranking Member Dave Camp also pressed hard for key improvements in the auto provisions, and we appreciate their strong efforts. These newly negotiated provisions will give some much needed breathing room to the auto industry, and we appreciate the hard bargaining that was necessary to win these important changes.
However, the labor movement’s concerns about the Korea trade deal go beyond the auto assembly sector to a more fundamental question about what a fairer and more balanced trade policy should look like.
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Oh well, the union world domination conspiracy theory will be all over Glenn Beck's blackboard. Will this be the time for Glenn Beck to educate his pupils that the President and Soros are not into communist or socialist?
No more plots are needed now.
You decide.
Who has the time to watch Beck? We are all "Leaning Forward" watching Larry O's systematic dismanteling of the democratic congress' understanding of the tax code.
You seem more like a Ben Dover kind of guy to me, Spank. If you are not a guy, then maybe an Eileen Dover type of person.
Clara- KCOM. Are you out there?
Off topic, folks, but had to bring this up somewhere:
The Phelps gang church is going to picket Elizabeth Edwards' funeral.
It's time to fight these immoral A**H***S in some meaningful way. Did Edwards support or advocate homosexuality? Did she raise homosexual children?? What the hell is wrong with these bastards, anyway???
It's time to hold up picket signs in front of their church on Sundays, as people WITH THEIR MINOR CHILDREN in tow pass by, that proclaim "Jesus Su**ed my D**k", and see how much they really admire "first amendment freedoms".
This band of morons have a church?
Two years ago, they marched around the Key West High School with their disgusting signs. They then stood at the main intersection coming into town holding them up for tourists to see. This was, I believe, their entire group- all 15 or so. They left one of their members behind to stand on the main drag with his dumb sign.
There is a motor cycle group that goes to the military funerals they target, line up their bikes, and rev their engines when they start shouting. Good for them.
In Key West, they were totally, completely ignored by everyone, no matter what they tried. Ignoring them in person, and decrying them in forums such as this, and drowning them out when possible, is the best way to deal with them.
They are revolting. They are idiotic. They are a lot of things.
But a religion? Since their central tenet seems to be hatred, I am guessing their deity resides to the far, far south of the earth. Not a religion to which many ascribe.
This 'gang' abviously has NO life. Christianity is nowhere in their souls! What exactly is their gripe against Mrs. Edwards? Bet they don't have one....because there is nothing legitimate about their motvations....nothing at all...anything about their protests is based on LIES!
They are baiting people to trample on their first ammendment rights, so they can sue and get 'free' money. Jesus must be so proud of them.
What I don't understand is, how three black teen age girls can be bombed to death in their church basement, yet a similar thing does not befall this group of sub-humans. Go figure.
Here is my problem, drive by- there is a difference between political speech, and harassment.
These people are not engaging in protected speech, in my opinion. They are engaged in harassing people, specifically, the grieving.
They are not demonstrating on the steps of the capital, or the state capitals, or municipal buildings, for crying out loud.
They target the family members of fallen service people. High schools. The funeral of a wife and mother.
That, in my opinion, is harassment. It is not protected speech.
It is more than time for a little common sense in this country.
Consider, too, that they protest at Military funerals because of the Military's stance on letting gays in to serve. They never consider the fact that the soldier that has fallen was NOT in charge of the military's position on the matter. They are complete phonies.
I'm ppretty liberal in a lot of ways, and pretty much of a live-and-let-live person, but I WOULD take up arms against these people if the need arose.
We should have trade policies that support American production, American jobs and American exports, or have none at all. The current trade and tax policies promote outsourcing and Corporate welfare, "redistribution of wealth", only you won't hear any objection from Republicans on this type of "redistribution of wealth" because the wealth is coming from the poor to the rich, I guess that's the "good" kind.
As it stands now our economy can not be stimulated, if the consumer spends, the money goes through some corporate shysters hands straight to some foreign entity, a domestic increase in demand equals an employment increase in some far away land, our economic model can no longer produce domestic jobs, and our country will continue it's slide into poverty unless that changes. They should replace the stars on our flag with bright yellow bananas to more accurately represent our country, the greatest Banana Republic on Earth.