Tom Friedman: No TPP and ISIS will prevail, the world will slip into anarchy and China

[Hoyt]

48. Actually, there is plenty of evidence Multinational Corporations pay more and are good for poor

countries. I'm not saying the couldn't pay more and do more, but they do help. Governments can also force other improvements over time.

There is plenty of info if you care to search. Here is just one discussing the worst of poor countries:

" Most scholarly work by economists related to sweatshops has focused on the wages multinational firms pay. Several econometric studies demonstrate the benefits multinational firms provide. Aitken, Harrison, and Lipsey (1996) and Lipsey and Sjoholm (2001) both find that after controlling for other factors, multinational firms pay higher wages than domestic firms in Third World countries. Feenstra and Hanson (1997) find that multinational firms improve the lives of workers by increasing the demand for labor. Budd and Slaughter (2000) and Budd, Konings, and Slaughter (2001) find that as multinational profits go up, multinational firms share gains with Third World workers. Brown, Deardorff and Stern (2003) summarize the literature documenting the benefits multinational companies provide to Third World workers."

"
Few dispute that multinational firms tend to pay their workers more than domestic firms in the Third World. Critics of sweatshops maintain that because subcontractors make many products for multinational firms, measuring only multinational firm wages does not address critics' complaints against sweatshops. We have addressed the deficiency in the literature by comparing apparel industry wages in countries that supposedly have sweatshops and the wages of individual firms accused of being sweatshops to measures of average standards of living in these countries. The data clearly show that overall, apparel industry workers are far better off than most people in their economies. However, while the best available, the data used was far from perfect. Biases are likely causing us to understate earnings as a percent of living standards. Despite data limitations, individual firms accused of paying sweatshop wages often still compare favorably with other standard of living measures."

http://www.independent.org/publications/working_papers/article.asp?id=1369

Of Obama can build in standards that force companies, and maybe governments, to do better, it's hard to argue trade won't help. Although I'm sure folks will anyway, trying to protect their earnings which are the envy of poor countries.