Larry Summers, who almost always favored neoliberalism and trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, said,"What we call trade agreements are in fact agreements on the protection of investments and the achievement of regulatory harmonization... Our challenge now is less to increase globalization than to make the globalization we have work for our citizens." It is unthinkable that Summers would have said such a thing in previous trade fights.
Bob Kuttner and Paul Krugman of course support organized labor and reflect our values. But in their analysis of the TPP's defeat last week, they share remarkably similar views and admiration for organized labor. They also say a lot in the lines and between the lines about what is happening in America today. Take heart from our victory and change underway in America.
The American people are sick of corporate power and rule by the elite and are beginning to stand up to it.
Bob Kuttner is a serious and progressive economist. He said, "The proposed TPP was the latest in a series of deals that are mostly about the use of 'trade' agreements to allow corporations to do end runs around national regulation. This is basically special interest legislation for elites... The labor movement is not motivated just by the loss of factory jobs but by the entire ideological assault on the security of ordinary wage earners and consumers."
Nobel Laureate Paul Krugmanstated, "The Democratic Party is becoming more assertive about its traditional values... Changes in the Democratic Party may take a while to change America as a whole. But something important is happening, and in the long run it will matter a great deal."
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