Do Unions Really Care About Creating Jobs?

Trade unions are always proclaiming their mission is to save and create U.S. jobs. But if you have been paying attention to their actions, you would be hard pressed to see this philosophy in action. Jobs aren’t being created by unions — the opposite is occurring. That may explain why union membership has dropped to 6.6 percent of all workers, down from 35 percent in the mid-1950s. Even as the United States engages in important negotiations involving the Asia-Pacific... Read More

US Trade Tide Moving in the Wrong Direction

Once again, rhetoric from the Obama administration has trumped action. President Barack Obama’s pledge to double exports in five years is off to a rocky start. Tax relief and support for U.S. exporters has failed to materialize. The result is the U.S. trade imbalance continues to grow. The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services increased to $558 billion in 2011 from $500 billion in 2010. That’s up 11.6 percent from 2010 as imports continue to rise much faster than exports. As... Read More

Welcome to the Department of Global Commerce

Last week, President Barack Obama asked Congress for authority to close the Commerce Department and create a new export agency. Obama wants to put the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM), Overseas Private Investment Corp (OPIC), the Trade and Development Agency (TDA), the Small Business Administration (SBA) and parts of the Commerce Department under a new roof — something that has been kicked around for years. As I point... Read More