EDITORIAL FROM IBD
HEAD: Igniting Growth
Trade: As the U.S. economic hearth flickers, it makes sense to fan it back
with the last hardy embers of growth. One is ex****ts, which burn brightest
with free- trade treaties. So why is Congress snuffing them out?
Last week's preliminary gross domestic product data for the first quarter
showed a pallid 0.6% rise. Housing was a drag, pulling real GDP down 1.2%.
Business sales were unimpressive, and consumer spending was weak.
But there was one bright spot: ex****ts, which rose 5.5% according to the
Bureau of Economic Analysis, accounting for a third of U.S. economic
growth
during the quarter.
Schwab: Fed up with free-trade foes.
Maybe that's why President Bush isn't letting up on urging Congress to
pass
three pending free-trade agreements, which will strengthen U.S. ex****ts.
It
may have hit a wall with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi manipulating House
voting rules, but with a potential recession looming, Bush has no choice
but
to seek it anyway.
"Opening markets is especially im****tant during this time of economic
uncertainty," Bush said Wednesday. "Last year, ex****ts accounted for more
than 40% of America's total economic growth. With our economy slowing . .
.
we should be doing everything possible to open up new markets for U.S.
goods
and services."
Thus far, his plea has fallen on deaf ears in Congress, which has refused
to
ratify U.S. deals with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. Worse, it has
halted any new pacts from being negotiated.
After all, with Pelosi literally changing the House rules for a treaty
vote
to "anytime I want," it's unlikely any nation would negotiate a free-trade
deal only to see it become a public bargaining chip for Pelosi's
****k-barrel
spending schemes.
Pelosi has allies in Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and
Hillary Clinton. They have collectively become the Three Stooges of Big
Labor, which opposes free trade.
Pelosi insists that she's putting the American people first. That prompted
U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab to blast those who "demagogue and
prey on anxieties and fear. We do a disservice to the American people by
pretending that trade is somehow the culprit of our economic problems and
anxieties." We know whom she meant.
Again, let's look at what free trade with Colombia would do.
.. It slashes tariffs from 32% to zero on 72% of U.S. goods right off the
bat. Better still, it levels the playing field for U.S. firms because
Colombian goods already enter the U.S. duty-free. In the 17 months that
the
treaty has awaited passage, U.S. businesses have shelled out $1 billion in
tariffs to sell goods in Colombia.
.. It provides U.S. investors with legal protections and provides for
international arbitration if anything goes wrong.
.. It ends child labor and lessens environmental damage, two extras the
Democrats requested and got.
Meanwhile, if it's not passed, the U.S. economy gets . . . nothing.
"Delaying the vote on the Colombia (pact) does not create one American
job,
it does not put one more dollar in anyone's pocket, does not save one
life,
does not help one union to organize, or protect one endangered species,"
Schwab said.
It just goes to show that doing nothing on free trade isn't an
accomplishment. In fact, it's a wet rag on the U.S. economy that will
eventually draw angry retribution from U.S. voters.
Bush knows this. Too bad Pelosi doesn't.
**********
Too bad Crabs doesn't know her arse from a hole in the ground.
Dionysus
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