White House draws worker aid line over trade pacts

[Judi Lynn]

White House draws worker aid line over trade pacts
May 17, 2011 3:46 PM GMT

The White House will not submit legislation to Congress to implement free trade pacts with South Korea, Panama and Colombia without a deal to extend aid to U.S. workers affected by overseas competition, senior officials said on Monday.

The Obama administration would like to see long-sought free trade agreements with those countries approved this year, but officials made clear on Monday they would not move forward without an expanded Trade Adjustment Assistance Program to retrain and support displaced workers in the United States.

"The administration will not submit implementing legislation on the three pending FTAs until we have an agreement with Congress on the renewal of a robust expanded TAA program," White House senior economic adviser Gene Sperling told reporters in a conference call.

"We are hopeful and optimistic that we can work out such a bipartisan agreement, but again we feel its important that that agreement be locked in before we submit the implementing legislation."

More:
http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/147029/20110517/white-house-draws-worker-aid-line-over-trade-pacts.htm

[Peace Patriot]

1. "...retrain and support displaced workers in the United States." Retrain them to do what?

Sling vile hamburger onto a grill for $8/hr?

Pick cotton?

"Retrain" them DOWN into the depths of poverty and three shit jobs to support a family?

The corporate fuckers who are running things OUTSOURCE the best jobs to the CHEAPEST labor markets they can find. "Free trade" means CHEAP LABOR ELSEWHERE. Then they import the cheap crap products they make with CHEAP LABOR ELSEWHERE back to the U.S. at hugely inflated prices, fucking over everybody in this long chain of profiteering, including the dolphins and the whales, whose oceans they are destroying with tanker traffic and oil spills and all their CHEAP PLASTIC JUNK.

No amount of "retraining" is going to help U.S. workers. The only thing that WILL help is harshly PENALIZING these corporate fuckers for their traitorous activities and pulling their corporate charters, dismantling them and seizing their assets for the common good. Do that to a couple of these transglobal megafuckers, and maybe the rest will start understanding their place in world: NOWHERE, if we say so. WE are the sovereigns in this land. And NOBODY does business here without our approval. End. Of. Story.

Peace :patriot:

[Judi Lynn]

2. Retrained workers as politicians would make the world a more vibrant, respectful place.

Seeing people who treated their lives and other people with respect would do wonders, and bringing in fresh people without connections to the criminal corporate empires would be cleansing.

[Peace Patriot]

3. What a great idea! A "clean house" election!

No 'TRADE SECRET' code election theft machines.

No private money permitted in any aspect of any campaign.

All volunteer campaigns and all donated materials. (That could be a loophole but we gotta figure it out how to have clean, no-money campaigns.)

No exclusion of any political party, no matter how small.

Small fees (say $10) for any filings--candidates, parties, party slates, referenda--anything higher excludes the homeless and the very poor.

For referenda, unlimited time to gather signatures; once signatures obtained, it goes on the ballot. (Deadlines encourage paid-for signature scams by billionaire-funded rightwing groups and greatly discourage ordinary citizen efforts.)

Free air time on all of our public airwaves, extracted from all broadcasters, including private corporate broadcasters, as a requirement of their broadcast license. Air time distributed by lottery on a rotating basis--everybody gets several chances at prime time.

And the only qualification for running for public office is that you are unemployed!

Ha!

I don't see that any training is required. Anybody unqualified, it will quickly become evident. Lots of honest, smart people out there, who don't need to be trained to be citizens or to know what their constituents want. End of slick. Let's have real.