The Protection(ism) Racket

The New York Sun publishes an editorial that pounds Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for their increasingly protectionist stances. Both candidates are taking shots at the North American Free Trade Agreement, abandoning the defense of the treaty to John McCain. The sun points out the absurdity of that.

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Mr. Obama has distributed fliers in Ohio showing "a locked factory gate with a large 'closed' sign on it" and language blaming Senator Clinton for having backed Nafta. In his speech Tuesday night in Houston after winning the Wisconsin primary, Mr. Obama said, "We're here because there are workers in Youngstown, Ohio, who've watched job after job after job disappear because of bad trade deals like Nafta, who've worked in factories — who've worked in factories for 20 years, and then one day they come in and literally see the equipment unbolted from the floor and sent to China."

Mrs. Clinton, rather than defend the value of free trade to growing our economy by expanding American exports, providing cheaper goods for American consumers, and increasing overall prosperity both at home and abroad, has been scrambling away from one of her husband's greatest accomplishments. The Journal article reports that the Clinton campaign responded to the Obama flier by saying that, contrary to its claim, the candidate never said that Nafta was a "boon" to the American economy. Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton herself, campaigning in Ohio, said, "My opponent has taken to attacking me on Nafta. The fact is, neither of us were in the Senate at the time, and I've long been a critic of the shortcomings of Nafta." Mrs. Clinton may not have been in the Senate at the time, but she was in the White House at the time, and she wants credit for that as part of her 35 years of experience that is supposed to make her qualified to be president. Breathtaking.

So who is left to defend the trade agreement that President Clinton and Vice President Gore worked so hard to achieve? Well, one can just click on YouTube to bring up a video with Mr. McCain explaining, "I know Nafta was a good idea. It's created millions of jobs, and it has helped the economies of all three of these nations. All you have to do is go to Detroit and see the thousands of trucks lined up every day, or go to our Southern border. …Free trade is something I think that is vital to the future of America. As a free trader, I will open up every market in the world."

Obama has already proposed close to a trillion dollars worth of expensive new Federal programs - and is at the same time arguing against the kind of agreement that has helped the American economy thrive. A growing economy generates more tax revenue than a stagnant or contracting one. Yet both Obama and Clinton appear to be willing to walk away from that agreement. Both also preach that they will raise taxes on corporations. So what they are proposing is taking more from a smaller and smaller pie. Consider for a moment what those policies will do to jobs in this country.

Hint: there will not be more jobs. 

Other Links to this Post

1. Blue Crab Boulevard » Where The Jobs Are - Or Will Be Soon — Friday, 22 February , 2008 @ 9:07 am