Free trade Bad?

MSNBC: The China Factor
"Foreign trade has been bad for the U.S. economy, because imports from abroad have reduced demand for American-made goods, cost jobs here at home, and produced potentially unsafe products."

CNBC: Republican Shocker: Free Trade's Not So Good After All
"I've seen a lot of opinion polling, but my jaw dropped when I saw this result from our special NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll of Republicans in advance of next week's presidential candidate debate sponsored by CNBC, MSNBC and the WSJ. By a nearly two-to-one margin, Republican voters believe free trade is bad for the U.S. economy, a shift in opinion that mirrors Democratic views and suggests trade deals could face high hurdles under a new president."

Wall Street Journal: Republicans Grow Skeptical on Free Trade
"Six in 10 Republicans in the poll agreed with a statement that free trade has been bad for the U.S. and said they would agree with a Republican candidate who favored tougher regulations to limit foreign imports."

Wall Street Journal: Free Trade Draws Even More Fire
"Europe seems to be moving in the same direction. More than two years after economic nationalism helped scuttle an EU constitution, France and other member states are unashamedly promoting the concept of national champions in particular industries. "

Whats going on, is the GOP turning pink? My bubble is almost bursting..

Democracy in China 100 years away

A bit old news but still;

"28 Feb, 2007 BEJING: China's communist leaders have no plans to allow democracy in the near future because they must focus on economic development before political reform, premier Wen Jiabao said in comments published on Tuesday.

Democracy will emerge once a "mature socialist system" develops but that might not happen for up to 100 years, Wen wrote in an article in the People's Daily, the main Communist Party newspaper.

The premier, China's No. 3 leader, said the country is "still far from advancing out of the primary stage of socialism. We must adhere to party's basic guidelines of the primary stage of socialism for 100 years."

"A highly developed democracy and a complete legal system are inherent requirements of the socialist system and important symbols of a mature socialist system," Wen said."

Thats strange... I thought free trade would transform China into a capitalist liberal democracy... silly me.

Then wouldnt that mean that the biggest economy in the world would be a communist dictatorship? Now thats quite a comeback for communism after the fall of the Soviet Union!

Marxism also seems to be in vogue in San Fransisco and there is quite a lot happening in South America as well...

2006 was Bad!

Socialist terroristhugger Mark Engler hails the Death of Neoliberalism in 2006;

"Arguments for trade and development policies that truly address poverty and serve working people have moved from the left margins into the mainstream of international debate. The paradigm of "neoliberalism" that dominated world development for two decades has been steadily losing legitimacy. And, in its wake, some important spaces for building alternatives have appeared."

"As the watchdogs at Public Citizen have documented, seven seats in the Senate and 28 in the House changed hands from "free trade" to "fair trade" advocates, who support using international agreements to promote stronger labor and environmental protections."

"It was also an election year throughout Latin America, and citizens in many parts of the region continued to reject pro-corporate models of economic "progress." Chileans elected their first woman president, Michelle Bachelet, a left-leaning doctor whose family was imprisoned by the Pinochet dictatorship in the 1970s. Voters in Brazil reelected former union leader Lula da Silva. And Hugo Chávez also won a decisive reelection in Venezuela, garnering broad support for his New Deal-style social programs. In Ecuador, voters chose economist Rafael Correa, an ardent opponent of the Washington Consensus, over a banana magnate who happened to be the wealthiest man in the country.

Perhaps the most impressive of the leaders has been Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia. Morales, who took office in January, has since shocked the international business press by actually delivering on his campaign promises. Bolstered by well-organized social movements, the Morales government initiated the nationalization of Bolivia's oil and gas assets on May 1. The process culminated in early December, when the government signed agreements with foreign energy companies giving it majority control over oil and gas extraction and directing over half the profits toward the public good. "

"Thousands of similar campaigns stood up to local injustices, challenged corporate power, and provided the energy that ultimately unseated presidents. As we are reminded daily of the hard realities that persist in an era of executive excess and superpower militarism, their victories might seem disparate and few. But they have shown that they can accrete and build, gradually bridging the divide that separates us from once-distant possibilities: the death of neoliberalism, the political recreation of the Americas, the end of extreme poverty, a democratic globalization. "