By The US-Korea FTA has received support from Republican presidential nominee John McCain:
John McCain, the shoo-in candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, has expressed his support for the free trade agreement between Korea and the United States, calling Korea an ally of “profound strategic importance.” In a speech at the National Restaurant Association convention in Chicago on Monday, McCain vowed, “If I am elected president, this country will honor its international agreements, including NAFTA.”
He vowed not to “undo the gains of years in trade agreements now awaiting final approval,” such as FTAs with Colombia and Korea. McCain slammed Barack Obama, the likely candidate for the Democratic Party’s nomination, for his take on the FTAs. “Senator Obama calls that agreement, too, ‘bad for American workers’ — never mind the workers right here in Illinois who made the US$750 million in goods exported to Korea last year,” McCain said. [Chosun Ilbo]
Depending on how things go in Korea with Cows Gone Wild it may not matter what Senator McCain thinks about the US-Korea FTA.
2:17 pm on May 22nd, 2008 1
I personally believe McCain has a much broader prespective on foreign affairs than Obama. Within the US it is not the FTA that is the enemy of the workers. The enemy is this outsourcing and part time (less than 49 Hrs per week, being used by large companies to avoid paying medical, retirement, overtime, etc.. I have watch this evolve over time. It is difficult for the average working Joe to get a decent job that has decent benefits anymore. We can actually learn something from the European system, Germany perhaps. Even though the taxes are very high, there are almost no
homeless or jobless without hope. I would like to see US jobs with benefits become the central issue in the election. Taxpayers need to stop supplementing Walmart’s healthcare program. (Hire a worker for 39 or less hours a week and then when they get sick let them go to the “free clinic or emergency room” on the taxpayers dime). Of course, as long as we have illegal immigration and employers can exploit these workers there is no reason to change the system.
2:18 pm on May 22nd, 2008 2
Oops- I meant less than 39 Hours per week.
7:05 pm on May 22nd, 2008 3
“The problem will come if McCain wants to kill American sovereignty through a North American Union.”
It will never happen, at least not the way you are alluding to. And no, I don’t need to see the websites dedicated to this conspiracy. The US is not going to go into a trade and political agreement that subverts its sovereignty the way the EU does.
8:12 am on May 22nd, 2008 4
I raised my eyebrow when you brought up Germany because currently their unemployment rate is at all time lows of 8.1%:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&a…
The US hasn't seen an unemployment rate that high since 1983. The rest of western Europe's unemployment is higher then Germany's.
Jobs are in America are abundant, if they weren't we would not have people flooding our borders to take them. What I see changing is the American public's ability to work hard.
People always rip on Wal-mart but my younger brother after graduating from high school worked for Wal-mart for four years because he didn't have the grades to go to college but he always a hard worker. He was smart enough though to buy health insurance through Wal-mart's health insurance plan. My brother came down with Hodgkins Disease two years later and the insurance through Wal-mart paid for everything. My brother was always amazed by how many of his co-workers would choose not to buy healthcare coverage but would have the latest cable TV package installed at home.
He made a full recovery and his work experience at Wal-mart helped him move up land a good paying job with the railroad. My brother is an example that working at Wal-mart is not as bad as people make it out to be.
I admire my younger brother for working hard even after recovering from cancer and advancing himself, all the while not taking a cent from the government.
There are greedy corporations out there and there are things the government could do to better regulate things but workers are not faultless either.
9:21 am on May 22nd, 2008 5
GI,
Your brother is an example many Americans should follow! He took responsibility for himself and through hard work, if not smarts, advanced himself. Good on him.
I really dislike this sense of entitlement or arrogance that some of our countrymen have concerning jobs or status. There is no such thing as a free lunch, and if the world seems uncaring or cruel, it's because it is and you had better get your ass up and get a job, any job, to feed yours.
As far as McCain is concerned, I think that there are more benefits than losses when it comes to FTA's. The problem will come if McCain wants to kill American sovereignty through a North American Union. No freakin way!
9:46 am on May 22nd, 2008 6
"The problem will come if McCain wants to kill American sovereignty through a North American Union."
That is one of millions of problems that would come if McCain was lucky enough to sneak in there while the Dems are busy in-fighting.
2:58 am on May 23rd, 2008 7
Your brother sounds like a success story. You may be better off as an unemployed German than an employed, but underpaid, under insured American worker. Having lived in both Germany and the USA – I did not see the proverty in Germany that I saw in the USA.
12:54 pm on May 22nd, 2008 8
Voting for McCain is a vote against America. The US-COREA-FTA is a giveaway to corea. As soon as it is signed, the Coreans will break their end of the deal and boycott american duty free products.
AMERICA LEARN FROM THE ANTI BEEF PROTESTS. COREA WLL BREAK THEIR END OF THE FTA. US COREA FTA= US LOSES