Reply #11: Rise Up: Our Fight for Fair Trade in Pennsylvania

[srpantalonas]

My name is Charlie Crystle and I am running for US Senate in PA.

http://www.charliecrystle.com

Pennsylvania has been eviscerated by Free Trade; for us there's been nothing free about it. We've lost 30% of our manufacturing jobs in the past 10 years (not to mention the previous losses caused by Reagan's madness), while at the same time have gained 49,000 WalMart jobs (in PA alone!). Those are replacement jobs, jobs that pay crap and offer crappy benefits if any. Clinton's "Bridge to the 21st Century" leads nowhere for about 90% of the population. (Keep in mind, the Y2K bug forced EVERY organization at the end of the 90's to rip and replace every computer system, router, etc in the world, producing a temporary, one-time spike in spending, which the markets interpreted as the tech boom but was really a false economy). We have large numbers of people underemployed and off the unemployment rolls, many of whom have no health care coverage. Many now work two or three jobs just to keep their homes. The forces that put them in this situation are far beyond any individual's control, unless, of course, you're the president or the US trade rep (a former Enron beneficiary).

I am not pro- or anti-DLC. But I'm anti- "stupid insensitivity". The DLC answer to "personal economic downturn" is training. My question is on what? For what? What new and wonderful industry is coming to Westmoreland County, Erie, or York? I have heard a number of "centrist" Democrats say that manufacturing is dead, get on with your lives and get some training. Again, for what industry? Tech?

Further, I've met with dozens of small and mid-sized manufacturers and union workers who don't believe manufacturing has to be dead, but they are getting killed by stupid trade policy, lax enforcement of trade agreements, and the failure of the US government to care about anyone but the multi-nationals. We are at a rare time in history when both labor and business (except huge corps) see the same problem--"Free Trade" is killing American business, or all but the top 5% of manufacturing corporations. We used to be a country of makers. I saw the argument that good ol' American ingenuity and elbow grease would get us back on top again. But if we continue to allow companies like Boeing, GM, GE, Intel, and Flextronics to ship not just jobs, but the ideas and innovations that created those jobs (that create entire new markets), we have no chance in competing. As soon as we create an edge, they sell it down the river just like they sold us down the river. Today I spoke with a venture capitalist who invested in my first company, whose software has now been outsourced to India (I left in 1999). He said all of his software investments outsource programming to other countries now as a matter of survival. This is no longer a blue collar problem (though I would argue that a blue collar problem is a problem for everyone). "Free Trade" is uninformed by any principle other than chasing the cheapest price. It's unsustainable and just plain wrong.

Agri-business, automakers, multi-national manufacturers, big energy companies, and huge insurance companies already have a seat at the table. They've bought and paid for their power and they are reaping the benefits of the race to the bottom, chasing the cheapest price regardless of what it does to our communities. Regular people need a seat at the table. Small and mid-sized businesses need a seat at the table. And the US needs to carry a big stick and enforce its trade agreements. We are on course to reach a $130 billion trade deficit with China alone this year, equal to our ENTIRE trade deficit 6 years ago. That's real money and real jobs: it represents about a third of the auto industry. China fixed their currency to the US dollar after they cut its value in half so market fluctuations would not affect their illegal advantage; since then they've dumped products on the US market and have done an end run around trade laws by assembling in Mexico to get the Made in Mexico label to slip more stuff through the holes of NAFTA. At the same time they have no labor or environmental standards, and commit human rights abuses regularly and publicly. This is not a level playing field.

China is not the only problem, only the most obvious. We need backbone, we need to stand up to Free Trade for the sake of our communities, our futures. Free Trade benefits the few at the cost of the many. It is unjust not only for Americans, but for those without power worldwide. We must carrry a big stick--impose tarriffs against countries that do not play fair fall in line. We must also scrap our existing trade agreements and write new ones that protect the interests of the many--middle America, the poor, US labor, the environment, and small and mid-sized businesses. We need to etablish a princples-based trade policy that respects Human Rights. We must make this next election a referendum on the politics of powerful corporate interests, and bring a new politics informed by common sense and a deep desire for economic and social justice.

My picks for Fair Trade v Free Trade? Kucinich and Gep, but Dean will get it soon. I don't think he gets it quite yet, but he will.

http://www.charliecrystle.com (Trade posting at bottom of blog)