Dems, Labor Groups Team To Reject Trade Deals

By Lisa Kellman

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) called for “Main street not Wall street” at an AFL-CIO rally today to oppose three new free trade agreements (FTAs) Congress is set to vote on.

Union members and leaders joined federal lawmakers to criticize the trio of agreements with Colombia, Korea and Panama sent by the Obama administration yesterday to Congress.

Tom Buffenbarger, President of IAM, argued that 159,000 Americans will lose their jobs to South Korea and that all three countries lacked proper human rights and labor provisions.

Former President George W Bush negotiated these agreements, which were initially opposed by President Obama. Despite changes made to the agreements, Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine) claimed that they mirror the NAFTA accord reached years ago, which he called dangerous.

Congress may believe that the agreements will help businesses by “export(ing) more products overseas, but the only thing that they are going to be exporting is American jobs,” Michaud said.

While free trade agreements like NAFTA have been created for better relations with other nations and with the promise of more American jobs, better business projections and higher standards of living, “NAFTA failed style agreements” Buffenbarger said “cost our nation millions of jobs.” 

Buffenbarger and Michaud were joined by United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, and Democrats Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Rep. Jan Schakowky (D-Ill.) who all called for attendees to talk to their representatives about voting no on the free trade agreements.

“Congress is run by Wall Street, K Street, and by money but there is one thing that congress pays attention to and that is the voters in their district,” said Michaud.

Pundit Says Republicans Committing Unforced Errors

Conservative economist Peter Morici writes today that Democrats are closing the gap with Republicans in polls nationwide, a trend he attributes solely to Republican missteps.

GOP leaders are failing to address the real problems ailing the nation’s economy, which he says were created by the policies of former President George W. Bush and continued by the Obama administration.

“The Pledge to America is a rehash of the platform of President George W. Bush-less taxes and government-and does not address the fundamental problems that have left the American growth machine broken,” Morici writes.

The ‘Pledge’ Morici refers to is a 21-page document released by a group of House Republicans two weeks ago intended to explain how the party would govern if it wins back Congress this November.

Morici, who teaches business at the University of Maryland, writes that instead of making vague promises to reel in the size of the federal government, Republicans should figure out how to crack down on Wall Street banks and help businesses compete in the global marketplace.

“Banks can’t lend because President Obama’s bank reforms boosted bonuses on Wall Street but left Main Street banks to the wolves,” he says. “Businesses can’t sell, because the trade policies of Clinton, Bush and Obama have permitted China’s manufacturers a huge unfair price advantage in U.S. and global markets through currency manipulation, mega subsidies and high barriers to U.S. exports.”

Failure to address these issues, Morici writes, will cost the GOP a sweep of both Houses this fall.

Voters Voice Concerns To Obama During Townhall Event

President Barack Obama took some pointed questions on Monday from townhall participants clearly worried about the precarious state of the nation’s economy.

The roughly hour-long event was attended by small business owners, students, union leaders and others, some supporters of Obama, some not. It was held at the Newseum, a museum dedicated to journalism located just blocks from the White House, and was broadcasted live with no commercial interruption by the business news channel CNBC.

Though questions ranged from taxes, to China, to the rise of the Tea Party, the struggling economy was the central focus. Obama used the opportunity to take a swipe at his predecessor in office, telling participants that while recovery has been slow to develop, it will take time to reverse the effects of policies passed under the Bush administration.

“As a consequence of reckless decisions that had been made, the economy was on the verge of collapse. Those same businesses now are profitable; the financial markets are stabilized,” he said. “The only thing that we’ve said is that we’ve got to make sure that we’re not doing some of the same things that we were doing in the past that got into this mess in the first place.”

The president reiterated his desire to see Congress extend a series of tax cuts for the middle class, but said it would be “irresponsible” to continue providing relief to “millionaires and billionaires.”

“I can’t give tax cuts to the top 2 percent of Americans…and lower the deficit at the same time,” he said.

One questioner, a woman who voted for Obama in 2008, told the president she was tired of defending him, and asked whether living off “hot dogs and beans” represented her new “reality.” The president responded that everything is not “where it needs to be,” but assured her that the nation is “moving in the right direction.”

When asked by another participant whether the ‘American Dream’ was dead, the president said “Absolutely not…We are still the country that billions of people in the world look to and aspire to.”

Obama was also asked about his handling of the bank collapse, including a question from an actual Wall Street executive who said he attended Harvard with the president. Obama acknowledged that he has beaten up on some firms since he took office, but justified it by telling the audience that “folks on Main Street feel like Wall Street has beaten up on them.”

The president argued that despite his actions to boost government regulation of the financial sector, he does not begrudge companies that profit, and has been cautious not to stifle the market.

“It’s very hard to find evidence of anything we’ve done that’s designed to squash business as opposed to promote business,” he said. “What I’ve tried to do is just try to be practical.”

House Determined To Create Jobs, Says Top Democrat

By Miles Wolf Tamboli
Talk Radio News Service

On the same day President Barack Obama traveled to Buffalo to talk about the need for increased job creation, his top lieutenant in the House said her chamber is intensely devoted to doing just that.

During her weekly press briefing Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) lauded last month's report by the Labor Department, showing that nearly 300,000 new jobs were added to the economy, primarily in the private sector, and said reforming Wall Street will lead to even more job growth.

"Never again will recklessness on Wall Street cause joblessness on Main Street," said Pelosi alluding to a tough financial regulatory reform bill being debated in the Senate. "[Democrats] are on the side of the middle class [and] the Republicans are on the side of Wall Street," she added.

With the House having passed its energy bill late last year, the Speaker said she was "optimistic" about the odds of a similar bill in the Senate passing. Pelosi praised the legislation for its measures to create jobs as well as lower the country's dependence on foreign oil.

Republicans Obstructing Much Needed Wall Street Reform, Says Senate Democrat

By Sofia Sanchez
University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.) criticized Republicans on Tuesday for categorically blocking a financial regulatory reform bill making its way through the Senate. Udall countered what he referred to as talking points by GOP leadership, including a claim made by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who equated the bill to a giant bailout fund for Wall Street.

“He is taking his talking points from a memo that was taken by a Republican pollster...Nothing that Mitch McConnell has said has been accurate about this. [The bill] holds Wall Street accountable, it ends tax payer bailouts and guarantees that tax payers will never again be forced to bail out these reckless Wall Street firms,” said Udall. "I, once again, don’t understand why Republicans aren’t willing to engage in a fair legislative discussion and debate."

Udall touted a provision within the bill that would create an independent agency with authority to monitor firms for abusive practices, and provide consumers with information in clear English so consumers can shop better for mortgages and credit cards.

Being a representative from a border state, Udall was asked to assess an anti-illegal immigration bill that was signed into law last week in Arizona by its Governor, Jan Brewer. However, rather than echoing the sentiments of certain Democratic leaders in the Senate, including Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Udall offered only a one-line response.

"Comprehensive immigration reform should be done this year and I hope they [Congress] stick to that."