When An Intern Can Form a Shell Corporation, It's Time For Trade Reform

Created 05/19/2009 - 8:40am

Bloomberg News this morning reports that U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk gave a speech yesterday to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce "saying he hopes Congress will approve stalled trade agreements with Panama, Colombia and South Korea within the next year." The good news is that Kirk also noted that Bush-written trade policies are "really a tough sell in this environment."

They certainly should be--our lobbyist-written trade policies have significantly contributed to the economic collapse, hollowing out America's good-paying job base for years. Indeed, just yesterday [1], we see what that means: As the government bolsters domestic automakers, our rigged trade/international economic policies may undermine those efforts by allowing taxpayer cash to subsidize more job outsourcing.