Answers on economics still inadequate
Gary Locke rightly says that concerns over the economics of trade haven’t been fully answered [“10 years after the Battle in Seattle, an evolving national policy on trade,” Opinion, guest commentary, Nov. 29].
Unfortunately, his only answer is more of the same: more trade and more rhetoric about how it benefits everyone.
His panacea seems to be more exports. But there’s nothing Americans can make for export that Chinese and Indians can’t make more cheaply. Wages will inevitably be driven down and economic insecurity will inevitably increase. A few will make it into the technological and managerial class, but most people will be stuck in low-wage, dead-end occupations in a continually churning economy.
Beyond that, our democratic sovereignty is eroded by global trade agreements that our political and business elites lock us into, with no public input and little ability to renegotiate.
Sorry, Locke — and President Obama — our answers are still inadequate.
— Chris Nielsen, Shoreline