The Next Frontier

I don't know about you, but I am sick and tired of hearing the myth that our current president is anti-business! If Obama is so anti-business, then why has he kept the corporate tax rate so low? Why is Corporate America enjoying record profits? And why would he be pushing yet another of the so-called Free Trade Agreements (FTA)?

The newest push is for an FTA with South Korea.

As Jim Goodman points out in an article at Common Dreams, the supposed grand benefits of FTAs -- "more and better jobs for U.S. workers, better markets and more profit for U.S. farmers" -- haven't panned out with any of the other ones, so why should anyone believe this one would be any different?

Considering our long history of FTAs, [North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) 1994, the World Trade Agreement (WTO) 1995 and the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) 2005], shouldn't the prosperity for workers and farmers be kicking in pretty soon? Why those 6 million jobs lost, why a the continuing food crisis, why the world economic death spiral?

Prior to NAFTA, 1990-1994 our trade deficit with Canada averaged $8.1 billion; by 2006 it was $71 billion. In 1993 we had a $1.6 billion trade surplus with Mexico; by 2010 we were $61.6 billion in the red. Given economic factors unrelated to NAFTA, both positive and negative, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that under NAFTA the U.S. gross domestic product increased a few hundredths of one percent. Wow...

There is one reason and only one reason to push yet another FTA: corporate profits! That's what it is all about.

The hallmark of Obama's presidency to date is driving up corporate profit at everyone else's expense. How in the world is that anti-business?