People who celebrated Wednesday's Senate vote against Trade Promotion Authority or "fast-track" authority as a launching pad for the new trade policies negotiated in secret may be disheartened to learn that Congressional leaders are already finding ways to meet their corporate sponsors' demands to pass such legislation as well as the new trade pacts. Martin is not fooled by these games as he writes:
The entire legislative exercise is a charade, in which a faction of Senate Democrats pretends to be supporting the interests of workers by espousing a chauvinist and protectionist policy, while the Obama White House and the Senate Republicans pretend to be supporting the interests of workers by advocating “free trade.” [and jobs]And later he writes:
There are so many layers of lies in these rival claims that it is difficult to cut through them all, but the most blatant is the claim that either faction cares the slightest about American workers. The Democratic and Republican parties are both political arms of the financial aristocracy that is waging unrelenting war against the jobs, living standards and social conditions of working people.