Via Sirotablog, Congressional leaders are hatching a new "free" trade agreement with the White House. Mississippians ought to know from their own experience what free trade does to workers--there are few towns in this state that have not lost at least one factory to NAFTA, with little to show for it in return. Now there's a new free trade agreement being drafted in secret by the Bush administration with the approval of Democratic leaders to be sprung upon the American people in due time.

Last night Bill Moyers interviewed John MacArthur, author of The Selling of Free Trade and critic of NAFTA and other free trade agreements, who believes that the new free trade agreement in the works is no more or less than an attempt by the Democratic leadership to attract political contributions from Wall Street by offering something that the large manufacturing and retailing corporations want: fewer restraints on employing overseas labor to undercut jobs and wages in the U.S. The bill has not reached Congress, but the big players, such as the National Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, have already endorsed it, which means that it bodes ill for the American worker.

Expect our Republican senators and representatives to vote for it automatically. Unless pushed, Gene Taylor will vote for it, just as he voted for the corrupt Bankruptcy Bill. Bennie Thompson will probably do the right thing, especially if he knows that Mississippians are watching.

Bill Moyers Journal: Trade Talks