Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Trade Agreements - Good or Bad?

Wall Street and big business say Trade Agreements accelerate growth and make the country wealthier, Trump and Bernie say they steal jobs.

Seems pretty clear there is some truth to both arguments.  But the middle ground isn't that difficult to find.  Other countries deal with trade agreements by having benefits for workers who lose their jobs and in particular retraining them for new ways of supporting themselves.  

Our problem is a Congress that has been dominated for two decades by Republican's allergic to taxing the folks who benefit from trade agreements and unwilling to spend money to help the folks hurt by trade agreements.

Trade agreements aren't the problem, we have just been too tax phobic and ideologically rigid to do what we need to do to make trade agreements a plus for everyone in the country.