April 29, 2002
From the desk of Mindles H. Dreck:Times Audience Lame
Apparently, this is the best letter the Times can publish after Fritz Hollings' abysmal protectionist Op-Ed on the perils of Free Trade.
Don't you love the quote at the end of Hollings' piece?
Years ago, Akio Morita of Sony admonished third world nations that they had to develop strong manufacturing sectors to become nation states. Turning to me, he said, "Senator, that world power that loses its manufacturing capacity will cease to be a world power."
Hollings has been paying attention neither to manufacturing employment growth nor Japan.
Is it possible all the former "Letters to the Editor" writers (such as yours truly) have become bloggers?
Posted by Mindles H. Dreck at April 29, 2002 6:12 AM | Technorati inbound linksI detest Fritz Hollings with every fiber of my being, and his protectionist reasoning is flawed, but Fast Track is undemocratic and unacceptable. We have this pesky little thing called the Constitution which delegates authority quite clearly; unfortunately it does not prevent Congress from giving its power away in this manner.
I am not against Free Trade, in fact I believe it is an unstoppable force. But it is COMPLEX and requires REASONING and DEBATE. Fast Track implies that trade agreements are perfect, without flaw (e.g., NAFTA chapter 11); that people like Mickey Kantor should be made into Kings; and Congress should be effectively removed from the process, able only to rubberstamp.
Fast Track is not about Free Trade, it's about removing REASON from our political process - the force our founding fathers believed in above all else. Getting trade agreements on the scale of NAFTA and FTAA through Congress SHOULD be difficult - tremendously difficult. That's the way it's supposed to work.
I forgot to agree with your original point. The Times audience is clearly quite lame, for their limp reactions to this Op-Ed and many others of late.
Comments are Closed.