China trade deal cost 3.2 million American jobs. Here's what Hillary said about it at the time

[Cheese Sandwich]

PNTR w/ china led to the loss of 3.2 million american jobs. here’s what sec. clinton said about it at the time:



https://twitter.com/cascamike/status/705434240280862720/photo/1

[TheFarS1de]

1. If only she cared as much about American workers as she does Chinese .

So how has the trade deficit picked up since this marvelous piece of corporate sponsored law was passed ?

[JaneyVee]

2. That snippet sure sounds like she does.

You know what would collapse our economy? Starting a trade war with China.

[TheFarS1de]

3. Did it improve the trade deficit ?

[JaneyVee]

5. We need to rein in China's currency manipulation.

But starting a trade war with China would result in negative downward pressure on redistributive income that would only hurt the poor and middle class.

[TheFarS1de]

20. So that is a no then .

[A Simple Game]

51. Good point about the currency manipulation.

Maybe the SoS at the time should have negotiated that into the agreement.

I like how you point out these deficiencies in Hillary, good for you.

[JaneyVee]

56. Ummm...USTR reps, not SoS.

And there is no negotiating it. Unless we want an all out trade war, which will only hurt the middle class and poor, due to much higher prices of consumer goods.

[Baobab]

62. The health care mess we are in today is a good example of how trade deals

turn politicians into liars. The more deals they sign, the less power they have to change things, and the more phony the whole thing gets with them pretending to argue and pretending to be idiots to cover up the crime of betraying the country in exchange for cushy low show jobs afterward lobbying - for the industries they regulated .

Soon they wont need lobbyists because trade deals will paralyze government and necessitate a bailout every time government wants to change something they do, in advance.

In the case of anything important it will be so large the country will be bankrupted by the payment, of money, for nothing other than what we think is governments job.

That's called "indirect expropriation". Google it.

Can you see why they lie about it?

[Bubzer]

58. Eh. We've been in a trade war with china for quite some time now... granted, it's more of a cold-war

China is too dependent on us for anything more overt than that. But they've been fighting against increased valuation of the renminbi for a while now.

With an economy still heavily dependent on exports, China has a vested interest in seeing a stable and expanding U.S. economy. America is one of its biggest customers. China’s domestic consumption has not yet reached a level at which Beijing can say goodbye to the United States and sustain the rapid growth it desperately needs all on its own. Domestic consumption is still in its youth and far below where it is in the United States. What is more, millions of migrant workers in China depend on export manufacturing jobs for their livelihoods. China must therefore continue selling to the U.S. in a big way in the short term or else risk escalating social and political unrest at home.

Some argue that a trade war might incite China to start selling off the trillion dollars it holds in U.S. Treasury securities. But by doing so, it would do more harm to itself than good. China invests in U.S. Treasury debt because it has to. It is what allows it to hold down the value of its currency relative to the greenback, making its exports so attractive. The arrangement pushes U.S. interest rates lower, creating more disposable wealth for Americans — real or imagined — which can be used to buy Chinese manufactured goods. China would incur huge losses in selling this debt; and even if it did go down that path, there are no attractive alternatives for investing its massive foreign currency reserves.

http://mic.com/articles/18087/us-china-trade-why-a-trade-war-would-devastate-the-chinese-economy#.4NYPl5Ryh

I cant really disagree with the possibility of downward pressure on redistributive income, except perhaps to suggest it may be possible that the decrease in the value of the debts China holds could potentially have a offsetting simulative effect, by freeing up funds for various programs. Though my pessimism says it'd just get absorbed by some war profiteer.

Food for thought, in any case.

[Armstead]

7. That's because we were so shortsighted (and greedy)

We allowed Corporate America to abandon America, and we got addicted to super cheap goods-- and then many got locked into having to rely on cheap goods because the jobs disappeared.

So now we're locked in a deathlike embrace that was totally unnecessary,if we had all listened to people like Sanders back then.

[JaneyVee]

9. Americans love cheap consumer goods.

Also, we didnt allow anything, you cannot tell private industry what they can do with their money, short of taxation and regulation.

[Armstead]

14. We can have policies that encourage the domestic economy

Yes protectionism, if applied wisely. Maybe not anymore, because we've already sold the store, but we don't have to keep hitting ourselves over the head with the same damn hammer.

And as a nation we have collectively screwed the pooch by not thinking things through either, as citizens or as consumers.

Instead of celebrating corporate greed, we should have been collectively putting pressure on Corporate America to act in a more and socially responsible manner, instead of encouraging the worst behavior.

[JaneyVee]

18. Hillary brought bills to the floor addressing this...

When she was senator. It scrapped tax breaks for businesses that outsource. Of course, she was dealing with a hostile GOP majority. Wheres Bernie's bills during the Dem supermajority?

[Phlem]

53. Your sad. You know that's a low number but with a perfectly good explanation.

“It is virtually impossible for an independent to be effective in the House,” said then-Congressman Bill Richardson (D-NM)

“As an independent you are kind of a homeless waif.” Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/bernie-gets-it-done-sanders-record-pushing-through-major-reforms-will-surprise-you

A 2 party system for years and you think and independant is going to have the same #'s as the R's and D's.

That's intellectually dishonest.

[appalachiablue]

46. *WAL-MART: IT CAME, IT CONQUERED AND NOW IT'S LEAVING*

- Wal-Mart: It Came, It Conquered and Now It’s Leaving, Bloomberg, Jan. 25, 2016

The Town’n Country grocery in Oriental, North Carolina, a local fixture for 44 years, closed its doors in October after a Wal-Mart store opened for business. Now, three months later -- and less than two years after Wal-Mart arrived -- the retail giant is pulling up stakes, leaving the community with no grocery store and no pharmacy.
Though mom-and-pop stores have steadily disappeared across the American landscape over the past three decades as the mega chain methodically expanded, there was at least always a Wal- Mart left behind to replace them. Now the Wal-Marts are disappearing, too.
“I was devastated when I found out. We had a pharmacy and a perfectly satisfactory grocery store. Maybe Wal-Mart sold apples for a nickel less,” said Barb Venturi, mayor pro tem for Oriental, with a population of about 900. “If you take into account what no longer having a grocery store does to property values here, it is a significant impact for us.”

Oriental is hardly alone. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said on Jan. 15 it would be closing all 102 of its smaller Express stores, many in isolated towns, to focus on its supercenters and mid- sized Neighborhood Markets. The move, which will begin by the end of the month, was a relatively quick about-face. As recently as 2014, Wal-Mart was touting the solid performance of its smaller stores and announced plans to open an additional 90. That’s a big problem for small towns, often with proportionately large elderly populations. For the older folks of Oriental -- a retirement and summer vacation town along the inter-coastal waterway -- the next-nearest grocery and pharmacy is a 50-minute round-trip drive.

Wal-Mart says it is sensitive to the dislocations its business decisions are causing.
“In towns impacted by store closures, we have had hundreds of conversations with elected officials and community leaders to discuss relevant issues and we are working with communities on how we can be helpful,” said Wal-Mart spokesman Brian Nick.
Wal-Mart has been under increasing pressure lately as sales in the U.S. have failed to keep up with rising labor costs. It’s also been spending more on its Web operations. In October, the company announced that profit this year would be down as much as 12 percent. The outlook contributed to a share decline of 29 percent during the past 12 months. “It is more important now than ever to review our portfolio and close the stores and clubs that should be closed,” Wal- Mart’s Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon said in a statement on the company’s website.

Shuttered Stores

Towns like Clearwater, Kansas, and Merkel, Texas, are among those hit by Wal-Mart closures. In Godley, Texas, with a population of roughly 1,000, Wal-Mart opened a small store just a year ago. Within months, the only other grocery store in town -- Brookshire Brothers, part of an employee-owned regional chain -- shut its doors. Now with Wal-Mart gone, the closest full- service grocery store is about a 20-minute drive away. In some cases, closed businesses may reopen now that Wal- Mart has left. In Merkel, the Lawrence Brothers grocery store, which closed two months ago, is planning to reopen now that Wal- Mart is packing up, said Jay Lawrence, head of the regional chain in Texas and New Mexico.

Continued, http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/inside-the-ticker/wal-mart-it-came-it-conquered-and-now-it%e2%80%99s-leaving/ar-BBoFl7R?ocid=spartandhp

[Wednesdays]

64. ^^^ THIS

deserves its own thread.

[LiberalArkie]

47. But if the trade deal had not happened, think how low the stock market would be

think of all the executives who would not have had those large bonuses. Romney might not have the wealth he has now with out the trade deal to China.

[Armstead]

48. They would merely been reallly rich, instead of obscenely rich

[RoccoR5955]

54. Yeah, if we started a trade war with China

the economy would take a very deep downfall.
That's because the actions of the trade policies that we have had in the past 30 years has given corporations incentives to move factories to China. This was quite true during the Clinton administration. More and more companies closed their factories in the US, while reopening them overseas, making the rich richer, and taking the good jobs along with the factories. Only when we rebuild the factories here in the US, by steep tariffs on overseas goods and services, can this turn around.
Hellery is for more of these repugnant actions which move what little remains in the US to overseas countries like China.
Yes, a trade war is bad, but it may be inevitable if we are to rebuild the manufacturing sector in the US.

[Cheese Sandwich]

4. Walmart seems to be doing pretty well.

[JaneyVee]

11. Obviously WalMart should raise wages, but...

What do you think unemployment would look like without WalMart? Theyre nearly the only business that opens up in rural America.

[Gwhittey]

39. Probably a bunch of mom and pop Stores

like it was when I was younger. People need to buy stuff somewhere. Walmarts is only king because they came into areas and Bribed law makers to get it done in rural America. Then all mom and pop stores could not compete because Walmart where give tax incentives for 10 years to move to a town. So they where able to sell stuff at a even lower price. 10 years later they tell city that to keep tax breaks or they are leaving town.

[JaneyVee]

41. I agree, but WalMart started as a mom pop shop as well.

[Divernan]

43. And Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin & Kissinger all started as adorable babies.

[RoccoR5955]

55. Yeah

because MallWort sells all that Chinese crap.

[Baobab]

63. Trade deals consistently HURT trade, or fail to do anything good.

One of their main goals now seems to be pushing US wages down by any pretext possible. One way is by giving foreign corporations entitlements, right to bid on, and DO jobs here - if they are the low bidders.

By do jobs I mean thing s like staffing a department of a company. Or a formerly public school. Or performing green jobs .

In the case of these trade deals, it should be clear that its our own government that's doing this.

Its quite possible they want up to blame others, but its more our own government thats pushing things like the elimination of the right to education in India, the most. And in exchange for getting them to end the right to education health car, etc, we have to give those other countries something.

I don't think people really have a grasp of how sordid the situation is now. How little they care for the public interest or the truth.

[Ivan Kaputski]

71. China is communist and Hillary is ok with that.

[exboyfil]

6. Here is a link with a bar chart showing

trade with China. Our total trade to them is $120B (three biggest states being Washington (aircraft?), California, and Texas.

The paper says that China only represents 7% of our total exports.

Growth in imports from them was from about $100B in 2000 to nearly $500B now.

Pathetically one of our top categories for export is waste/scrap (think the packaging for all the consumer goods we receive).

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/docs/2015/08/US%20Exposure%20to%20China%20_%20Aug%202015.pdf

http://visualeconomics.creditloan.com/us-exports-to-china-by-state/

https://www.uschina.org/reports/us-exports/national


Well at least we get $200 40" TVs.

[Cheese Sandwich]

24. It clearly didn't pay off

I'm not convinced it payed off for workers in China either.

[thereismore]

8. She's looked at this and made the WRONG judgment (for the people). As usual. She has a history of

doing that. The past is prelude to the future.

[Cheese Sandwich]

23. exactly so

thanks

[Cheese Sandwich]

10. Sanders: Clinton 'very, very wrong' on trade

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders on Thursday went after rival Hillary Clinton's record on trade, highlighting their "very different points of view."

The Vermont senator blasted Clinton’s record of supporting the North American Free Trade Agreement, establishing trade relations with China and the changing of her stance on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), noting he has vigorously opposed those deals.

ADVERTISEMENT
"Secretary Clinton and I have very, very different points of view,” Sanders said during a press conference in Lansing, Mich., ahead of Tuesday’s primary contest in the state.
He called trade "an issue of huge consequence."

Sanders has sought to position himself as the candidate fighting for U.S. workers on trade, while painting Clinton as a supporter of big business and Wall Street.

...

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/271621-sanders-blasts-clinton-on-trade

[jillan]

12. Another area where Trump is to the left of Hillary. Think about this during the GE should these 2

end up debating each other?

[Cheese Sandwich]

13. Trump could very well defeat Hillary with this issue.

It hasn't been an issue in past presidential campaigns because all the candidates were supporting the deals.

[jillan]

16. Things like this are one of the reasons Trump is so popular with the repugs.

Their jobs have gone overseas as well. And they are pissed as hell, just like we are.

[Cheese Sandwich]

19. They may be actually more pissed than us

And the worst part is they blame it on the wrong people: immigrants, etc.

[Ferd Berfel]

15. She's saying that sending American Jobs overseas is GOOD for American workers

forchristsake.

Orwellian at best.
Sociopath?
Utterly Tone-deaf?
Speaking for American Workers or corporate buddies?

Corporatist lenses on her goggles.

[nichomachus]

17. Do you expect us to accept that source?

Hillary Clinton's own words? Is this some kind of right-wing trick?

Please stick to Hillary press releases and speeches (none more than six months old - they may not reflect current positions).

[Cheese Sandwich]

21. six months?

more like six minutes

[nichomachus]

22. I'm a kind person

[Purveyor]

27. ^^^this^^^ eom

[UglyGreed]

25. I bet Walmart

fared pretty well because of this deal.

[Cheese Sandwich]

26. This is practically Walmart's whole reason for existing

It's the distribution point for Chinese consumer goods in America.

Not a coincidence that the Clinton's have such close ties to Walmart and they supported the China trade deal.

[UglyGreed]

29. Hillary and Alice go back a long time

Clinton’s 2016 campaign has numerous ties to Walmart. Most recently, Walmart heir Alice Walton donated $353,000 to the “Hillary Victory Fund,” which is backing her presidential run, a Walmart lobbyist held a Mexico fundraiser for her and the consulting firm of her campaign’s top strategist lists Walmart as a client. Before that, Clinton was a member of Walmart’s board in the late 1980s and early 1990s. As PBS Frontline documented, that was when Walmart began offshoring its supply chain to China. A recent study by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI) estimated that Walmart’s shift to China ended up eliminating more than 300,000 manufacturing jobs in the United States.

Walmart’s move was aided by President Bill Clinton’s successful push to grant China permanent normal trade relations status, thereby reducing tariffs on Chinese imports. That initiative was rammed through Congress in 2000 with the public backing of Hillary Clinton, who declared that the deal “is in the interests of America and American workers.”

http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/despite-walmart-ties-support-free-trade-hillary-clinton-touts-commitment-2323480

[Cheese Sandwich]

31. Those are very deep political ties.

As first lady of Arkansas Hillary served on the board of Walmart. At the same time. Nutso. It's the very definition of cronyism and corruption.

[Cheese Sandwich]

32. ..

[UglyGreed]

34. Yes and many

mom and pop shops closed down because of Walmart. IMO Just like the farmers in Mexico lost their livelihood when NAFTA was passed.

[Cheese Sandwich]

37. Absolutely. A lot of local hardware stores, pharmacies, shoe stores

etc.

There's that doc:

[UglyGreed]

38. Yes I have seen that

maybe the Hillary supporters should also take a look.

[Cheese Sandwich]

40. I honestly do think they should they would benefit from it

Some have probably seen it but I'm guessing not as many

[kristopher]

35. $353,000 ... What an odd number.

I wonder how it was arrived at?

[UglyGreed]

36. There must be a reason

they know what they are doing.

[Ned_Devine]

28. I have so many people on "full ignore' that I have no idea what this thread really looks like

It must be amazing!

[Cheese Sandwich]

30. I'm missing a lot of it too

I can see 19 comments but supposedly there are 28.

[kristopher]

33. Oops.

Sorry about those lives ruined, but at least she and her donors have made money in the aftermath.

[Cheese Sandwich]

42. yeah that was a big oops. Like the Iraq war. Whatever.

Some of her fans could care less if millions of lives are destroyed. Whatever it takes for them to live out the their dreams vicariously through the success of their hero.

[navarth]

60. The Iraq war vote was a *mistake*

BULLSHIT. She knew EXACTLY what she was doing. However corrupt she may be, she isn't stupid.

[Cheese Sandwich]

61. They absolutely knew.

Even this guy knew

[Cheese Sandwich]

44. According to Hillary fans the most pressing issue in America is Bernie Bros are mean on facebook?

Millions of jobs lost to trade deals that only benefit the top 1%?

Millions of lives shattered in Iraq? ISIS running rampant in Libya?

Millions of Americans in jail and prison with little hope of returning to a normal life?

Millions without access to basic health care, and not able to afford their prescribed medicines?

Do any of these issues register?

Don't feed the trolls and distraction creators.

Real wars are more important than Facebook wars.

[Enthusiast]

45. China trade deal cost 3.2 million American jobs.

[Cheese Sandwich]

49. And of course the ripple effect from that too.

It's undermined the whole US economy. This is a totally different country now.

We are better off in many ways. Culturally we have made huge progress. But the foundations of the economy have been ripped out from underneath us.

[Enthusiast]

68. I know. I'm from Ohio. You're a Steelers fan so you might be from Pennsylvania.

Now they refer to our states as rust belt states. I don't see it as a very funny joke. These job losses have had life changing consequences for working people.

Hillary Clinton should not even be a viable candidate after NAFTA. But, mostly because of a horrible one sided media, she is leading.

[Cheese Sandwich]

69. It's pretty rusty right around here

I'm Ohio too but right next to PA.

It's hard for people to understand exactly how much our lives have been affected.

[Jopin Klobe]

50. Let's put this in the context of the REAL world ...

" ... I think it's in the interests of America and American workers that we provide the option for COMMUNIST China to go into the WTO (World Trade Organization). Right now, we are trading with COMMUNIST China. We have a huge trade deficit with COMMUNIST China." ...

... pitting the American worker in THE free society against slave workers in COMMUNIST China ...

... what a GREAT IDEA! ...

... for the God damned oligarchs ...

[Cheese Sandwich]

57. C.I.N.O.

Communist In Name Only

Authoritarian capitalist oligarchy is probably a better way to describe it.

[Hydra]

67. Thanks for the correction

The red menace seems to have all gone enthusiastically to capital.

[MaggieD]

52. She's correct

She also said this:

"We should focus on ending currency manipulation, environmental destruction and miserable working conditions [in China]. I acknowledge the challenge of lifting millions of people out of poverty. China argued this outweighed any obligation to play by established rules. I countered that China and other emerging economies had benefited greatly from the system the US had helped create, including their membership in the World Trade Organization, and now they needed to take their share of responsibility."

Source: Hard Choices, by Hillary Clinton, p.513 , Jun 10, 2014

Currency manipulation is the MAIN reason for the trade deficit. The TPP included a provision to cure that issue. The final agreement did not include it, which is one of the reasons she declined to support it.

[Recursion]

59. Also, China would never join the TPP

Because it would have to allow independent unions

[jeff47]

65. Currency manipulation was NEVER part of the TPP.

Including when Clinton called it "the gold standard".

http://www.vox.com/2015/10/7/9474151/hillary-clinton-tpp-flip-flop

TPP critics, including the AFL-CIO, have been raising concerns about currency manipulation since the outset of TPP negotiations. Members of Congress from across the political spectrum have urged the White House to make currency manipulation an issue in the TPP negotiations.

The Obama administration has flatly refused these requests. And they've had a fairly persuasive argument, too: Foreign governments won't go for it. Countries around the world see control over currency as a core part of national sovereignty. If the US had taken a hard line on the issue, it likely would have simply derailed the negotiations.

That was the administration's position when Clinton served as secretary of state. And it was the administration's position in early 2015, when Clinton began expressing concern about the lack of currency manipulation language in the TPP.

[amborin]

66. this is so important; so many jobs lost, trade deficit, etc.....

[Cheese Sandwich]

70. This may well be the biggest issue

[Ivan Kaputski]

72. It's just business.

[Cheese Sandwich]

73. This is accurate

I like this guy LOL:

[AzDar]

74. K & R

[EndElectoral]

75. Is that a Clinton quote or a Kissinger quote? Seems like I read the same during the Nixon era.

[Jarqui]

76. She made that remark in April 2000. Doesn't look like it turned out too well ...

US Imports from and Exports to China


https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html