trade

Recently,on October 14th, I had the opportunity to meet and interview John Edwards and get to see him speak to a small audience in North Carolina. Some of the notable points of the evening were the following.
First, the Lieberman Kyl bill had just been voted on by the Senate, and Edwards was already going on the offensive on Clinton's vote in support of that bill.
At that point, there had been no threats or sanctions by Bush or Cheney, yet Edwards was already ahead of the curve on the danger of supporting this bill. Now Iowa voters are catching on, and are even booing Clinton at Iowa rallies for this vote.

I have a couple blogs on my Google Reader that are heavy on wonk, this is one of them, Dani Rodrik's weblog. Who is Dani Rodrik?

I am the Rafiq Hariri Professor of International Political Economy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. I was born and grew up in Istanbul, Turkey. My most recent book is One Economics, Many Recipes: Globalization, Institutions, and Economic Growth (forthcoming from the Princeton University Press).

I always feel about two feet over my head when I read this blog, but I thought I would pass along his ideas for a Progressive Trade Agenda. I've shortened them since you should probably go read the whole thing over on his site, including the comments, which are nearly as long in some cases as the original post.

In which your friendly fake consultant displays an unfriendly side...that might get results.

Of all the reasons to lament the pathetic Child King in the White House, one that resonates most with me is his complete shredding of our country's reputation throughout the world. One of my favorite publications, The Chronicle of Higher Education spells it out.

. . . as of October 2001, weeks after 9/11 and just before the U.S. war against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, a massive Europewide resentment of America commenced that reached well beyond American policies, American politics, and the American government, proliferating in virtually all segments of Western European publics. From grandmothers who vote for the archconservative Bavarian Christian Social Union to 30-year-old socialist Pasok activists in Greece, from Finnish Social Democrats to French Gaullists, from globalization opponents to business managers — all are joining in the ever louder chorus of anti-Americanism.

If you're not familiar with the politics of Virginia Foxx (NC-5), you probably haven't spent much time around BlueNC. She's a favorite topic (and perhaps the very anti-BlueNC). This November, she'll face lifelong public servant Roger Sharpe (D). Roger took the time to answer a few questions about his candidacy and public policy, and to talk about what's wrong with NC-5's current representation.

"China is much more of a threat than an opportunity right now. You can never be tough enough on the Chinese." —Hayes

I'm sure that a consultant told him that his district wants to hear tough talk on trade, but this is just silly. Especially coming from a guy who five months ago was busy lashing China with a wet noodle.

Rep. Robin Hayes yesterday advocated for new laws that would help out North Carolina's textile industry (a good thing) and in the process revealed that he doesn't understand the importance of fair trade policies (a much bigger bad thing). Until politicians like Hayes get the message, North Carolina's economy will continue to suffer.

From The Business Journal:

U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.) wants to require federal agencies to buy uniforms and other supplies from domestic manufacturers in an effort to boost the U.S. textile industry.

Hayes pushes for 'buy American' rules - 2005-12-06

You can expect Robin Hayes to be crowing tomorrow about a trade agreement with China that his office helped write. The deal limits the increase each year that China's textile exports to the US can increase. The good Representative's been involved in the negotiations because his district—North Carolina's 8th—has been hard hit by textile competition from China.

Here's what Hayes won't tell you: The trade agreement gives much more to China than it saves for North Carolina.

China entered the WTO under an understanding that if there were to be a supply spike, other WTO members could cap the growth of imports from China at 7.5% per year. Well, right now there's a supply spike. But the new trade agreement is an even worse deal for North Carolina workers than the already-agreed-on 7.5% cap.

Robin Hayes is delegate to the United States Congress from North Carolina's 8th district (composed of Hoke, Scotland, Richmond, Montgomery, Stanley, Anson, and parts of Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, Union, and Cumberland counties) (PDF map). Congressman Hayes is serving his 4th term in the US House and hopefully, for his constituents' sakes, will be serving no more as of 2007.

In 2001, Hayes screwed his constituents by voting for legislation that would remove the ability to negotiate trade deals from Congress and put it in the hands of president Bush—legislation that threatened to exacerbate the unemployment and poverty in his district, and legislation that he promised to vote against before he let himself be bullied into changing his mind: