by Dave Johnson | Aug 5, 2015 | Blog, Trade
I had a conversation over the weekend about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). She's for it, because "more trade is always good." TPP covers a whole lot more than what we would think of as "trade." Regardless, let's look here at the idea that expanding trade is...
by Dave Johnson | Jul 31, 2015 | Blog, Current Issues, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
Administration officials are desperately trying to wrap-up Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations in the next few days or so. If they can get it done right now, it enables a timeline for pushing it through Congress by the end of the year — before the public can...
by Dave Johnson | Jul 31, 2015 | Blog, Trade
Conservatives deride using government to help American companies export their goods as "picking winners and losers," even when the winners are American exporters and workers. So Republicans have closed the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank, hopefully temporarily. The Ex-Im...
by Dave Johnson | Jul 28, 2015 | Blog, Trade
"Pope Francis says when the economy controls politics both lose ... When economics takes over we tolerate anything for the sake of the dollar."- Sister Simone Campbell Cheap labor is the whole point of our corporate-rigged, NAFTA-style trade agreements. Companies get...
by Dave Johnson | Jul 10, 2015 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
The fast-track authority legislation for the Trans-Pacific Partnership recently passed by Congress says we can't make "trade" agreements like TPP with countries that violate human rights. There is a report that to get around this rule the administration is going to...
by Dave Johnson | Jul 7, 2015 | Blog, Trade
The U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday that the May goods and services trade deficit was an enormous, humongous $40.9 billion, up a bit from an enormous, humongous $40.7 billion in April. Our enormous, humongous trade deficit is a measure of how many jobs, factories,...