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Traveling Again to China, Paulson Forgets to Pack Workers’ Rights |
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Congratulations to Bonddad, who launched The Bonddad Blog Monday. Bonddad has written extensively on economic issues at The Agonist and Daily Kos, where his posts on Bush’s failed policies and charts illustrating economic trends have won him a wide following. As a contributor to Bonddad’s new blog, I will post once or twice a week on issues affecting labor and the economy, and will crosspost the first few graphs of each post here. The post below appeared yesterday on The Bonddad Blog.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson needs a new appointment scheduler.
Someone on his staff failed to notice that as the former Goldman Sachs honcho heads to China this week, the U.S. Trade Representative was slated to released the 2006 Report to Congress on China’s WTO Compliance. The report, issued yesterday, is highly critical of the Chinese government’s failure to meet their obligations. It places a “particular emphasis on reducing IPR [intellectual property rights] infringement levels in China” and on pressing China to make greater efforts to institutionalize market mechanisms and make its trade regime more predictable and transparent.
The timing couldn’t be worse for Paulson.
When Bush and the Republican Congress rammed through China’s membership in 2001, they assured us that making China a full partner would ease the path for that nation to lower its trade barriers and bring its laws and regulations into compliance with international standards. In fact, the opposite occurred: Since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, the U.S. deficit has grown to more than $200 billion. In 2005, the trade deficit with China grew by 25 percent to $202 billion—the largest bilateral deficit in world history.
Behind this unsustainable trade deficit are two major factors: China’s policy to devalue its currency and its abysmal workers’ rights record. In fact, the Treasury Department once again is delaying the release of its semi-annual report on currency—so as not to embarrass Paulson while in China. Although the undervaluation of China’s currency has become accepted fact, every Treasury report to date has failed to suggest taking any action.
While Paulson will chat with China’s leaders about the China’s currency devaluation, he has no intention of bringing up workers’ rights.
He should—if not because ethical principles call for providing fellow humans with decent working conditions and living wages, then for our own self-interest as a nation. Because addressing China’s human rights violations is one important step toward reversing the declining U.S. trade balance with China.
The deterioration of working conditions in China continues every year, with nearly non-existent enforcement of wage, overtime, safety and health and environmental laws. Oppressing Chinese workers is the functional equivalent of devaluing currency. In failing to address the systematic abuse of its workers, the Chinese government further displaces U.S. jobs.
American companies like Wal-Mart rack up billions of dollars in profits by taking advantage of the artificially low wages made possible by the Chinese government’s repression of democracy, political dissent and fundamental human and workers’ rights.
Read the rest at The Bonddad Blog.
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