"The fallout from the housing crisis that's cost jobs and wiped out savings was... the culmination of decades of decisions that were made or put off without regard to the realities of a global economy and the growing inequality it's produced..."A lot of people blame Ralph Nader for costing Al Gore the election in 2000, but I happen to believe that Gore lost because he alienated too many moderates by "going populist" towards the end of the election, spouting anti-corporate and "two Americas" rhetoric that just didn't sit well with people who realize that protectionism usually just results in a transfer of money to one special interest at the expense of the general consuming public. Here's hoping that Obama's chief economic advisor, Austan Goolsbee, can prevent him from repeating history.
"[D]ecades of trade deals like NAFTA and China have been signed with plenty of protections for corporations and their profits, but none for our environment or our workers who've seen factories shut their doors and millions of jobs disappear..."
"I also won't stand here and accept an America where we do nothing to help American workers who have lost jobs and opportunities because of these trade agreements..."
"I will not sign another trade agreement unless it has protections for...American
workers."
"[U.S. trade policy is] a game where trade deals like NAFTA ship jobs overseas and force parents to compete with their teenagers to work for minimum wage at Wal-Mart."
No, Not Again!
It appears that Obama, now emboldened with frontrunner status, is falling into that old, familiar trap of bashing free trade and globalization: