Liberal Talk Radio

If you’re at all interested in the up- and down-sides of free trade (and any good progressive should be, as we say on the show ad nauseum), definitely check out the current Book Club over at TPM Cafe.

The topic is Gene Sperling’s book, the Pro-Growth Progressive. But the conversation has spiraled downward, as internet conversations often do, to a more elemental debate on trade. It seems that the general disagreement has to do with the priorities of trade policy. Jason Furman notes that all trade policy requires trade-offs (no pun intended). David Sirota follows up with the argument that most trade deals protect corporations mightily but fail to provide even the most basic protections for workers.

So what are our priorities for trade deals? It seems like this is the fundamental question. I posted this on the TPM site, but I’ll post it again here:

Let’s start with a few, just to brainstorm. Here, in no particular order, are some potential, theoretical progressive goals (or perhaps simply potential byproducts) for trade policy:

A. Promote human rights and good working conditions in other countries

B. open up other countries to American goods

C. raise the standard of living for people in the third world (Sirota admits that this is technically possible, just hasn’t been accomplished yet)

D. reduce the need to go to war over resources

E. make goods cheaper for the American consumer

F. deepen our connection to other countries and their cultures

Other suggestions welcome. Some will come into conflict, for sure, but unless we start to have that discussion, it’s going to be hard to have THIS discussion.