Nov

Is it a sign of things to come?

Yesterday Congress embarrassed America by failing to sign what should have been a slam-dunk trade bill. The bill would have recognized Vietnam with normal trade relations treatment. When a country is given favored nation status, their tariff rate declines to 4.9% from the 35% rate for non-favored nations.

The failure by Congress to pass the bill was a result of dozens of Congressmen not returning to work to vote and a hand few of states afraid of increased competition. The failure to pass the bill left Vietnam scratching it’s head and is an embarrassment for President Bush who is about to attend an economic summit in Asia.

Though I would love to point the finger at Democrats, the truth is both sides played a hand in its demise. Some Republican’s that lost their seats like John Sweeney in New York and Charles Taylor in North Carolina decided it wasn’t important to show up to work and vote.

The rest of the nays came from Congressmen who come from districts still trying to hold on to the undeveloped nation format of a manufacturing industry compared to a developed nation format of a service industry.

I was happy to see that Charlie Rangel voted to pass it as well as other liberal Democrats but American’s should be concerned of the protectionist wave that is heading at us like tsunami.

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