Trade

Arizona Sen. John McCain continues his rousing campaign tour of the swing states of NAFTA this week. He will celebrate July 3 in Mexico City after a jaunt through Colombia to pledge support for the pending free trade accord with that center of cocaine trade. He surely will increase his margin over Illinois Sen. Barack Obama among business elites in Mexico and Canada. more »

Public anger with trade agreements written by and for multinationals, protecting the interests of corporations but not workers, is on the rise. And McCain decides to campaign ... across the border, where the jobs are being sent. more »

Why is it that people who question globalization are treated like Neanderthals?

You’re a protectionist, critics charge. Globalization is here to stay; you can’t turn back the clock, you Neanderthal! Besides, look at all the great stuff we get for cheap! more »

Whenever pundits and political elites express surprise at the power of populism, I always think back to the tongue-in-cheek headline of Chris Hayes' In These Times article that read "Economic Populism Proves Popular." Populism is an ideology that says that government should - gasp! more »

In August 2004, Hector Alino Martinez and three other Colombian trade unionists were dragged out of their homes and assassinated in the streets of Caño Seco. The men were among 96 unionists killed in Colombia that year. more »

Yesterday, I wrote a post saying there was a good, bad and potentially ugly side of Nancy Pelosi's move to delay a vote on the lobbyist-written Colombia Free Trade Agreement. more »

High gasoline prices, mortgage foreclosures, turmoil in financial markets, and a war in Iraq that is ever more costly in money and lives. So the President of the United States steps up to the crisis and demands a fast-track vote from the Congress in 90 days on … a trade agreement with Colombia. It's an insulting debate taking place as if we were still living in Ronald Reagan's “morning in America.”

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