Obama Selects “Free Trader” and NAFTA Booster Ron Kirk as U.S. Trade Rep

Infowars
December 25, 2008

It should be obvious now even to mesmerized Democrats and starry-eyed progressives that a Barack Obama administration will be more of the same — more illegal wars, more mass murder, and more corporate globalization. A few days ago Obama reaffirmed his change is more of the same when he selected former Dallas mayor and “free trade” advocate Ron Kirk to serve as U.S. Trade Rep in his administration.

	Lou Dobbs on Ron Kirk and the North American Union agenda.

“As a past supporter of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and China Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR), Kirk will face close scrutiny as he assumes the responsibility for delivering on Obama’s pledges to fix existing trade agreements and create a new trade policy that benefits more people,” reports the Eyes on Trade blog.

Obama’s “pledge” will be about the same as his “change,” that is to say smoke and mirrors.

Ron Kirk is a servant to the global elite and the international bankers.

From The Choate-Weinberg Report:

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t
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The Administration’s point person on trade will be Ron Kirk, who is glaringly unqualified for the job. In the late 1990s, Kirk was the Mayor of Dallas, Texas, and in 2002, a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat now held by his GOP opponent.

Kirk has no experience in negotiating major trade deals or enforcing them. As Mayor, he supported NAFTA and as candidate for the U.S. Senate he supported having the U.S. make more free trade pacts.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

After failing to win the 2002 Texas Senate race, Kirk joined the giant Houston law firm of Vinson Elkins, where he lobbied the Texas Legislature for the Wall Street private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and TPG, a global investment firm.

TPG has more than $50 billion of capital under management around the world. KKR controls 51 private equity portfolio companies and has a total value of more than $68 billion. KKR has done the largest buyouts in the history of the U.S., the Netherlands, Denmark, India, Australia, Turkey, Singapore, and France. Besides its U.S. offices, Vinson Elkins has offices in Abu Dhabi, Beijing, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Moscow, Shanghai and Tokyo.

The principal criticism of the Clinton and Bush trade policies is that they were not about trade, but about making the world safe for U.S. investments. It was investment policy. Those policies, reduced to binding international treaties, facilitated and speeded the outsourcing of U.S. factories, jobs, and service work, even as they made the import of those foreign-made goods and services quota and tariff-free in the U.S.

U.S. Trade Representative designate Kirk has the perfect background and connections to continue those corporate-pleasing investment policies for the Obama Administration. His will be a familiar career path – continue to serve corporate interests while in charge of U.S. trade matters and then become a highly paid international “consultant” after leaving Office.

This article was posted: Thursday, December 25, 2008 at 8:57 pm

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