As America’s Economy Continues To Struggle, Democrat Byron Dorgan Proposes More Protectionism

Because that’s what we need, right? More hurdles between Americans and cheap, foreign-made products at a time when the buying power of their dollar ebbs lower with the only alternative being more expensive US-made products made by the unionized companies which would benefit from this protectionism.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Marking the ten-year anniversary of the World Trade Organization (WTO) demonstrations in Seattle and the Nov. 30-Dec 2 WTO ministerial in Geneva, Switzerland, U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND) today announced that they will reintroduce the Trade Reform, Accountability, Development, and Employment (TRADE) Act. Brown first introduced the TRADE Act in 2008.
The legislation would revamp U.S. trade policy by mandating trade pact reviews, establishing higher standards, protecting workers in developing nations, and restoring Congressional oversight of future trade agreements. …
“I’m in favor of trade and plenty of it, but our current trade agreements have led to record trade deficits,” Dorgan said. “It is long past the time to take the steps to improve our trade agreements and strengthen the American economy.”

What’s ironic is that Dorgan is claiming that part of their motivation is “protecting workers in developing nations,” but in truth what Dorgan and his comrades are setting out to do is regulate those workers’ jobs out of existence by narrowing their access to American markets.
Yes, I’m aware that many of these workers are employed at jobs that don’t meet US standards in terms of safety, compensation, etc. But why in the world would we apply US standards to developing nations? A $3/hour job sewing together blouses in some factory isn’t anyone’s idea of a dream job, but when the alternative for these people is scratching a living out of the dirt with grandpa’s femur maybe a so-called “sweatshop” job isn’t so bad.
And let’s not fool ourselves. Byron Dorgan isn’t’ concerned about protecting foreign workers. They don’t contribute to his campaigns. Big Labor contributes mightily to his campaigns, and that’s who he’s really out to please.
Dorgan wants to hamstring Big Labor’s foreign competitors with lots and lots of government regulation so that their exorbitant, unfair labor contracts are viable in the labor markets.
And the rest of us will suffer from less choice and higher prices.