That's all it took.  Bush submits the Colombia Free Trade Agreement to Congress. And a spotlight is shown on who really pushes these trade deals.  The Colombian government has spent at least one million dollars on lobbyists here... and probably more.  Hillary may have had a change of heart on trade deals, but she is surrounded by folks who have not and who profit from the FTAs.

The Democratic Party has been split by trade agreements and trade policy.  The Clintonites like the deals.  Other Dems hate them.  Most Republicans like them, a lot, though Republican voters oppose them.  Unfortunately, Republican voters with those views have no organized mechanism to press their case within the party.

Many former Clinton Administration folks are retained to push it through.  Mark Penn - who worked for both Clinton and the Colombia government AT THE SAME TIME - was just the beginning of the revelations. 

Howard Wolfson replaced Penn as a Clinton campaign manager.  He owns $500,000 to $1 million in a firm that has a contract with... you guessed it... the Colombia government.

A long list of former Clinton administration aides, including Mack McLarty, the former counsel to the president; Donna E. Shalala, the health and human services secretary; and Leon E. Panetta, the onetime chief of staff, also have come out in support of the deal. It puts them in alliance with Mr. Bush and Republican leaders. 

The Uribe government murders trade unionists.  Uribe is not a nice guy. We need to help them by giving away our economy?  By continuing with dumb trade deals?

The multinationals and the government folks that do their beck and call want the Colombia FTA.  Voters don't want it.  We need a new trade policy.

Trackbacks (0) TrackBack URI for this entry Comments (0)

Write comment

Name

Title

Comment

Add Comment