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The Constitution Abhors Fast Track |
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Written by Stumo
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Sunday, 04 May 2008 |
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The U.S. Constitution allocates power among three competing
branches: legislative, judicial and executive. The power
over foreign commerce was bestowed on the legislative branch.
Fast Track Trade "Promotion" Authority - which is import/outsourcing
promotion authority - was transferred from Congress to the
Executive. Now we are stuck again with considering the Colombia
FTA which entrenches the NAFTA model and ignores the fundamental
problems of VAT tariffs, currency manipulation, product standards,
rules of origin and outsourcing.
George Will today wrote about how conservatives used to dislike unchecked power in the federal executive - i.e. the President.
At the 1787 Constitutional Convention, only one delegate (from
ever-bellicose South Carolina, naturally) favored vesting presidents
with an unfettered power to make war. Presidents, it was then thought,
could respond on their own only to repel sudden attacks on the nation.
"The Founders," says former representative David Skaggs, a Colorado
Democrat, "counted on the competitive ambitions of the three branches
to make checks and balances work." Instead, we have seen Congress's
powers regarding war "migrate ignominiously to the executive."...
Because contemporary conservatism was born partly in reaction to
two liberal presidents -- against FDR's New Deal and LBJ's Great
Society -- conservatives, who used to fear concentrations of unchecked
power, valued Congress as a bridle on strong chief executives. But,
disoriented by their reverence for Reagan and sedated by Republican
victories in seven of the past 10 presidential elections, many
conservatives have not just become comfortable with the idea of a
strong president, they have embraced the theory of the "unitary
executive."
The point applies to trade policy. Congress should free itself
from the Fast Track shackles, reject the Colombia FTA, and get on with
addressing the trade deficit, currency manipulation, outsourcing and
the un-reported phenomena of trading partners replacing tariff
reductions with import tax hikes (value added taxes).
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In the news
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The following article was written by Peter Morici on April 29, 2008:
Will the Fed Broaden Its Focus?
The Federal Reserve will almost certainly cut the target federal funds rate a quarter point to two percent on Wednesday. Fed watchers will be looking at the policy statement for clues as to whether the Fed will pause after cutting rates 3.25 percentage points since June.
The Fed may like to stop cutting rates. So far, rate cuts have aided homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages and other borrowers with loans indexed to domestic interest rates; however, those cuts have not substantially increased bank lending.
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