In a speech to the Business Roundtable, President Obama reiterated his commitment to Fast Track trade authority and to stupid trade and global governance deals like the TPP. Obama, McConnell and Boehner all favor these trade deals. The professional opinion-havers in the media and on the Hill say they can cooperate on these mercantilism appeasement…
Hang on to your hats, America. And throw away that big, fat styrofoam finger while you’re about it. [by Brett Arends | December 4, 2014 | Market Watch] There’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll just say it: We’re no longer No. 1. Today, we’re No. 2. Yes, it’s official. The…
Charles Blum comments on President Obama’s remarks on trade to the Business Roundtable this week. ————– So, President Obama thinks that anyone who questions the opaque Trans-Pacific Partnership is in effect arguing for perpetuating the “status quo.” A while back, he charged critics of the TPP and its baby sister the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment…
Senator Orrin Hatch says he wants to push Fast Track authority next year as incoming chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. The Senate Finance Committee has jurisdiction over trade. Hatch gave these remarks to the National Foreign Trade Council on December 3, 2014 when receiving the NFTC’s 2014 World Trade Award. “Let me be clear,”…
WASHINGTON — Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been dreaming about cutting major deals as Senate majority leader for most of his career. Next year, he’ll finally get the chance to do it with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the most ambitious free trade agreement since the Clinton era. The only thing standing in his way is his…
The Tea Party is aiming to stop one of the few initiatives President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress say they both want in the coming year: more free trade. [by Carter Dougherty | December 4, 2014 | Bloomberg] The effort, which has drawn interest from Democratic allies in U.S. labor unions, is aimed…
On November 7, 2014, I attended the “Idea Jam – Innovating for the Future” session put on by the Pacific Center for Workforce Innovation in San Diego. The purpose of the session was to identify the major challenges to the San Diego workforce in the coming years and to generate audience participation in visioning exercises…
Black Friday weekend is just not what it used to be. Despite falling gas prices, stock prices posting records, and buoyant consumer confidence, Thanksgiving weekend sales—in stores and on-line—were down about 11 percent from last year. Five forces combined to reduce this year’s spending binge—and most will endure in the years ahead. [by…
In 2004, the Pacific Rim mining company applied to dig for gold in El Salvador. Pacific Rim (since acquired by the Canadian-Australian company OceanaGold) assured the government of then-President Antonio Saca that its work would be eco-friendly and would generate jobs. But with 90 percent of the country’s surface water contaminated, and fearing damage…
NEWTOWN, Conn. — Despite the tremors felt across much of the international defense market since the global economic downturn of 2008-09, the Asia-Pacific region will serve as a generator of military spending growth through the near- to medium-term, according to a Forecast International analysis. [Contact: Dan Darling | December 1, 2014 | Forecast International]…