[Corp. Watch] So-called 'free trade' isn't free

[Corporation Watch]

Free Trade Has Sold Out the American Worker

  By Virg Bernero

(CNN, Feb. 9) -- While America reels from the worst economic crisis  
since the Great Depression, it is time that we take a deeper look at  
the root causes of our current predicament. The cold, hard truth is  
that the unholy alliance between Washington and Wall Street has sold  
out the American worker and exported our standard of living.

	Driven by the insatiable greed of Wall Street profiteers and  
accelerated by the false promise of free trade, our manufacturing base  
has been chased out of this country and along with it the livelihood  
of millions of hard-working Americans.

	It's fashionable these days among the politicians, pundits, and so- 
called experts to claim that free trade is actually good for us. They  
say it enables us to buy cheaper goods made with cheap foreign labor  
and this, in turn, raises our standard of living.

	With all due respect, the free traders need to ask themselves a more  
fundamental question: how will Americans buy those goods when they  
don't even have a paycheck that covers their mortgage, much less the  
college tuition for their children?

	More than one pundit has told me I need to take a broader view. As  
the mayor of one of America's countless manufacturing communities, the  
only view that matters is the one my citizens see every day: Record  
job losses, home foreclosures, and thanks to the Wall Street wizards,  
a credit crunch so severe that it is nearly impossible to finance a  
new car.

	This isn't a predicament faced just by Michigan or the Midwest. This  
is the story of America, told in thousands of desperate households  
from Connecticut to California.

	The pundits claim our manufacturing sector is a relic of the old  
economy. We're told that we just can't compete anymore. We're told  
that our future is in the service economy, that jobs in healthcare and  
finance and knowledge-based industries will recreate the prosperity  
our nation once knew.

	The truth is that our industrial heritage is an example of everything  
that was right with our nation's economy. Good jobs with good benefits  
created the middle class in this country, and now it is being  
systematically dismantled under the banner of free trade and globalism.

	Those who continue to espouse free trade ominously warn that  
protectionism is the wrong path for our nation -- that challenging the  
holy doctrine of free trade invites a global trade war. Yet we already  
face rampant protectionism across the globe. Pursuing a free trade  
agenda in a protectionist world is tantamount to unilateral disarmament.

	Our trading partners routinely employ taxes, tariffs, and subsidies  
that underwrite their exports and restrict American products from  
entering their home markets. They use currency manipulation to reduce  
the relative cost of their goods here in the U.S.

	The fact is we're not competing against other companies; we're  
competing against other countries. I've toured the Hyundai plant in  
Asan, Korea. The Koreans are wonderful people, but their technology  
isn't any better and they're not working any harder than Americans.

	The difference is that Hyundai doesn't have to pay legacy costs. The  
Korean government takes care of their retirees. Hyundai doesn't pay  
healthcare costs because they have national heathcare. If you don't  
think that's an advantage, you're kidding yourself.

	Many Americans are unaware that China sold 10 million cars last year  
-- more than General Motors or Toyota. I can assure you the Chinese  
government is part and parcel of that success. They're involved in  
their industry. The Korean government is involved in their industry.

	If we are going to have any chance to compete globally, our  
government must get involved in our industry and help us rebuild  
America's industrial might before it is too late.

	There's no question that we need this stimulus package. We need the  
reinvestment in America's infrastructure and in the working people of  
this country. We need tax cuts delivered directly to the American  
worker. We need education and retraining for the "green collar" jobs  
of the future.

	But we need more than a short term shot in the arm. We need a long- 
term strategy to rebuild the American economy that provides jobs and  
economic security to the millions of hard-working American families  
who have been sold down the river by unfair trade policies.

	We need fair trade agreements so that the most productive workers in  
the world -- American workers -- can put their skills to work and  
compete in the global economy.

	We recently watched our athletes successfully compete in the Olympics  
against nations of the world. When the playing field is level,  
Americans can compete against the best from any nation. With fair  
trade instead of free trade, American workers can once again bring  
home the gold.

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  Virg Bernero is the mayor of Lansing, Michigan and chairman of the  
Mayors and Municipalities Automotive Coalition (MMAC)