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Pols Finally Just Say No To A Cynical, Failed Trade Gimmick
wallstreetexaminer.com / by Alan Tonelson •
As must be clear to anyone following the issue, the final twists and turns of the Congressional fight over President Obama’s fast track trade bill are so inane that they make the sausage-making process often compared to legislating look pretty. At this point, no one can know the final fate of the bill, which would among other provisions prevent Congress from amending any of the president’s new trade deals, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). But one especially noteworthy feature of this climactic phase is how the chronically cynical use of a program called Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) is being hoisted on its own petard – and may actually sink the president’s trade agenda.
TAA aims at providing government-sponsored re-education and retraining for workers whose jobs are displaced for trade-related reasons. The first and most important thing to know about it is that it’s a proven failure. As made clear in numerous studies, the intended beneficiaries only rarely find new jobs that pay as well as the ones they’ve lost. Moreover, no one would should be surprised by this. As economist Ricardo Hausmann has once again reminded us, the evidence is clear that the best kind of job training is that provided by the private sector – on the job to start with.
The post Pols Finally Just Say No To A Cynical, Failed Trade Gimmick appeared first on Silver For The People.
Source: http://silveristhenew.com/2015/06/12/pols-finally-just-say-no-to-a-cynical-failed-trade-gimmick/
