Rep. Charlie Wilson’s Statement On Columbian Free Trade
No big surprises here, it would be political suicide for him to come out in support of more free trade. Still, it’s good to know where he stands and I have no doubts about his sincerity.
“On my recent economic listening tour throughout the Ohio River Valley, I heard loud and clear from working families that free trade may work on Wall Street, but it isn’t working on Main Street. Rest assured that I’m not for NAFTA, CAFTA or any other AFTA. This particular agreement is bad for many reasons. It fails to meet enforceable labor standards and does little to reduce violence against union leaders. Last year alone, 72 union members in Colombia were murdered. For the Columbian workers and for the workers back home in Ohio who are watching their jobs disappear overseas, I oppose the Columbia Free Trade Agreement.”
– Rep. Charlie Wilson
The Ohio Valley was recently dealt a severe economic blow from the loss of even more steel jobs. The talk of another free trade agreement isn’t what local residents want to hear right now.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
There is another harmful impact to corporate controlled trade deals which is getting little attention in the corporate media (big surprise).
NAFTA, the WTO, etc have increased budget deficits, therefore increasing foreign debt. Wall St. is in the middle of a liquidity crisis, and the huge foreign debt America has accumulated is making the credit crunch much worse.