Obama Tries To Sell Trade Deal
Obama promotes TPP during North American summit. AP: "Closing a day of talks with the leaders of Mexico and Canada, Obama said the North American partners must maintain their 'competitive advantage' on trade, in part by expanding into the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region. While Obama acknowledged that 'elements in my party' oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, he disputed the notion that Democratic concerns would derail the agreement. 'We'll get this passed if it's a good agreement,' Obama declared ..."
Bad NAFTA memories hold back Obama's trade agenda. Politico: "...to get his way, the president will have to sell the American public and the congressional leaders of his own party on the notion that the deal is an escape from NAFTA’s mistakes, rather than just an expansion of its reach. What’s his fellow Democrats’ take on the likelihood of that happening? 'Nonsense,' said Rep. Louise Slaughter of New York ... Part of Obama’s public relations problem is that the Pacific trade talks have run up against an obstacle in Japan. Tokyo is balking at North American calls to drop its agricultural tariffs, and trade experts say that’s causing a chain reaction among other countries, which are holding back on making their own concessions while they wait to see what happens. As a result, chapters on issues important to the Obama administration, such as labor, environmental and intellectual property protections ... must still be sorted out."
Gap Steps Up On Wages
Gap Inc. doesn't wait, raises its minimum wage. NYT: "In a surprising move, Gap Inc. informed its employees on Wednesday that it would set $9 as the minimum hourly rate for its United States work force this year and then establish a minimum of $10 next year. Gap said this move would ultimately raise pay for 65,000 of its 90,000 American employees ... In a statement released on Wednesday evening, President Obama applauded Gap’s decision, and implored Congress to 'make a difference nationwide...'"
ThinkProgress explains why: "While many retailers claim that they cannot afford to pay the minimum wage without firing employees or raising prices, research shows that companies paying low wages stand to benefit from the huge stimulus a wage hike would bring to poor workers who spend most of their income on basic needs like food and clothing ... Chains like Costco, Whole Foods, Boloco, and In-N-Out Burger have all embraced higher wages for these reasons. With Republicans signalling that they will scuttle any attempt to raise the federal minimum wage this year, pressure on the private sector to voluntarily raise wages could be one promising way forward. Also in the absence of Congressional action, cities and states are increasingly embracing higher minimum wages..."
Wal-Mart considering support for minimum wage, reports Bloomberg: "Wal-Mart is weighing the impact of additional payroll costs against possibly attracting more consumer dollars to its stores, David Tovar, a company spokesman, said today in a telephone interview. Increasing the minimum wage means that some of the 140 million people who shop at the chain weekly would 'now have additional income,' Tovar said. In the mid-2000s, Wal-Mart backed an increase in the federal minimum wage that eventually took effect in 2007 ..."
Wal-Mart has lots of reasons to back a minimum wage hike, says W. Post's Lydia DePillis: "Its core shoppers are also those making minimum wage in other establishments. When they can't spend much, rather than saving by shopping at Walmart, they'll go to dollar stores instead — a lesson the company learned when food stamps were cut this year. A hike to $10.10 would mean 900,000 are no longer poor ... Wal-Mart also is much better able to absorb a minimum wage increase than its smaller competitors — especially if everybody has to pay it ... Finally, Wal-Mart may have realized that making its employees a little more happy is probably a good way to tamp down the labor unrest that's started flaring up with greater frequency in recent months."
AFL-CIO sees minimum wage as a winning issue in its priority targets. NYT: "A.F.L.-C.I.O. leaders said they would focus this fall on four industrial battlegrounds — Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, traditional union strongholds — and Florida. Their hope is to not only oust the Republican governors of those states, but also to flip several of the legislative chambers. In all five states the Republicans control both houses."
Republicans have no ideas to increase wages, says TNR's Danny Vinik: "Let’s stipulate that conservatives are right. Raising the minimum wage is a bad idea, because it will drastically reduce employment ... Given that, how do Republicans plan to increase wages? ... The same thing as always: reduce regulations, cut taxes and 'get the government out of the way.' But these are supply-side policies aimed at promoting long-term growth. They aren’t ideas to help in business cycle downturns. Instead, Republicans have done everything in their power to push unwise spending cuts that have held back the recovery. If their plan to raise wages is to get the economy back to full employment, then they have done a terrible job of choosing policies to do so."
