I campaigned for this guy but was appalled to see him running around the District with the Concord Coalition with the “cut SS to save it” garbage.
He rallies in Bridgeport but always votes for Greenwich!
Graham says every politician who supports Fast Track and TPP should be arrested for treason. He is correct that our national interest is betrayed and our government is hijacked by globalized banks and corporations that see national sovereignty and democracy (and the “local” regulations they create) as obstacles to maximum profits. And Jim Himes is a prime example.
But unfortunately the sale of our politicians to globalized banks and corporations is legal and customary in the USA. Once we force Mr. Himes out of Congress, watch the former Goldman Sachs VP move back through the revolving door, returning to Wall Street where he will be rewarded with lucrative directorships and lobbying positions by the same globalized banks and corporations he now consistently serves in Congress. That is how Washington usually works.
In my earlier comment I outlined the devastating effects on the American economy from the Free Trade policy and treaties supported by Mr. Himes, President Obama, some other Democrats and most of the Republicans in Congress. But the treason Graham sees is even more blatant when we see how Fast Track violates the US Constitution. Article 2 Section 2 requires treaties be ratified by ⅔ of the Senate, but Fast Track defies this with the legal fiction of “legislative-executive” agreements that can be approved by 51% of both houses of Congress. So much for their oath of office to uphold the Constitution!
Our Constitution and national sovereignty –and thereby our democratic republic– are further undermined as Free Trade policy brings global governance via treaty law and international tribunals to dismantle an ever broader range of law and regulation formerly subject to democratic pressure when made by elected representatives accountable to the citizens. An example can be seen in last month’s WTO Appellate Body ruling against the popular US Country of Origin (COOL) law that Congress is now obediently moving to repeal. In fact there are a vast range of environmental and consumer protection and labor regulations liable to repeal under these international tribunals using WTO and FTA treaties to argue national regulations are “illegal barriers to trade.” That includes the already flimsy Dodd-Frank financial reform law that Himes hides behind even as he has supported bills to weaken it, including introducing one written almost completely by Citigroup lobbyists. Mr. Himes says he likes the TPP he has read, even though it creates more international Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) tribunals unaccountable to the citizenry and eager to overturn our consumer protection, environmental and labor laws, which they will call “barriers to trade.”
Mr. Himes understands all this. He is a shrewd politician who knows how to string along the voters while betraying our national interest to advance the Wall Street and corporate agenda. He echoes President Obama and USTR Michael Froman (himself a Citigroup exec who took over $ million “exit bonus” to leave Wall Street to write Obama’s Free Trade treaties) who tout “higher labor and environmental standards” in Asia but as Senator Warren has documented, these standards in all previous FTAs have been virtually completely unenforced. And no treaty or standards will protect American workers from competing against the Asian wages less than 10% of US wages.
It sounds extreme but I do not exaggerate when I say Jim Himes is just one more revolving-door corporate tool undermining our economy and our republic by moving the USA into global governance by a corporate elite who have zero loyalty to any nation and zero accountability to any citizenry. These globalized corporations use tools in Washington like Jim Himes and Michael Froman to pass treaties allowing them to move formerly US factories to wherever in the world wages and regulations are lowest and the subsidies highest, then selling the goods here in the USA where the prices are high.
Undermine our sovereignty and democracy, dismantle our industries and offshore our jobs –the TPP Mr. Himes likes will do all that.
This proves we must do everything possible to replace Mr. Himes in Congress. Once again he proves he shows he is still working for Wall Street, he is still a tool of the globalized banks and corporations that have zero loyalty to the USA. Mr. Himes knows full well the Free Trade policy that opened with the WTO and NAFTA treaties has brought us $11 TRILLION in merchandise trade deficits. He knows we lost 4.5 million US manufacturing jobs since then –plus all the additional US jobs those mfg jobs would have supported through the multiplier effect. He knows full well our merchandise trade deficits have averaged over $720 billion per year for the last 11 years. He knows we have lost over 63,000 US factories in the past 14 years. He knows this loss of US manufacturing –through Free Trade offshoring and outsourcing of our industries and jobs– has compromised the security of our military supply chains now dependent of massive imports of essential components. But when you put personal ambition and wealth ahead of your country, you can make the kind of career Jim Himes is making.
I voted for this guy in every prior election. Never again. He must think he’s more enlightened than ALL the other members of the CT Congressional delegation. Maybe that “enlightenment” comes from working at Goldman Sachs.
I campaigned for this guy but was appalled to see him running around the District with the Concord Coalition with the “cut SS to save it” garbage.
He rallies in Bridgeport but always votes for Greenwich!
sold out, again…
Graham says every politician who supports Fast Track and TPP should be arrested for treason. He is correct that our national interest is betrayed and our government is hijacked by globalized banks and corporations that see national sovereignty and democracy (and the “local” regulations they create) as obstacles to maximum profits. And Jim Himes is a prime example.
But unfortunately the sale of our politicians to globalized banks and corporations is legal and customary in the USA. Once we force Mr. Himes out of Congress, watch the former Goldman Sachs VP move back through the revolving door, returning to Wall Street where he will be rewarded with lucrative directorships and lobbying positions by the same globalized banks and corporations he now consistently serves in Congress. That is how Washington usually works.
In my earlier comment I outlined the devastating effects on the American economy from the Free Trade policy and treaties supported by Mr. Himes, President Obama, some other Democrats and most of the Republicans in Congress. But the treason Graham sees is even more blatant when we see how Fast Track violates the US Constitution. Article 2 Section 2 requires treaties be ratified by ⅔ of the Senate, but Fast Track defies this with the legal fiction of “legislative-executive” agreements that can be approved by 51% of both houses of Congress. So much for their oath of office to uphold the Constitution!
Our Constitution and national sovereignty –and thereby our democratic republic– are further undermined as Free Trade policy brings global governance via treaty law and international tribunals to dismantle an ever broader range of law and regulation formerly subject to democratic pressure when made by elected representatives accountable to the citizens. An example can be seen in last month’s WTO Appellate Body ruling against the popular US Country of Origin (COOL) law that Congress is now obediently moving to repeal. In fact there are a vast range of environmental and consumer protection and labor regulations liable to repeal under these international tribunals using WTO and FTA treaties to argue national regulations are “illegal barriers to trade.” That includes the already flimsy Dodd-Frank financial reform law that Himes hides behind even as he has supported bills to weaken it, including introducing one written almost completely by Citigroup lobbyists. Mr. Himes says he likes the TPP he has read, even though it creates more international Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) tribunals unaccountable to the citizenry and eager to overturn our consumer protection, environmental and labor laws, which they will call “barriers to trade.”
Mr. Himes understands all this. He is a shrewd politician who knows how to string along the voters while betraying our national interest to advance the Wall Street and corporate agenda. He echoes President Obama and USTR Michael Froman (himself a Citigroup exec who took over $ million “exit bonus” to leave Wall Street to write Obama’s Free Trade treaties) who tout “higher labor and environmental standards” in Asia but as Senator Warren has documented, these standards in all previous FTAs have been virtually completely unenforced. And no treaty or standards will protect American workers from competing against the Asian wages less than 10% of US wages.
It sounds extreme but I do not exaggerate when I say Jim Himes is just one more revolving-door corporate tool undermining our economy and our republic by moving the USA into global governance by a corporate elite who have zero loyalty to any nation and zero accountability to any citizenry. These globalized corporations use tools in Washington like Jim Himes and Michael Froman to pass treaties allowing them to move formerly US factories to wherever in the world wages and regulations are lowest and the subsidies highest, then selling the goods here in the USA where the prices are high.
Undermine our sovereignty and democracy, dismantle our industries and offshore our jobs –the TPP Mr. Himes likes will do all that.
wow, they deleted my post, I’m going to try again.
Himes and every politician who supports the TPP, TPA, FASTTRACK should be arrested and put on trial for treason.
This proves we must do everything possible to replace Mr. Himes in Congress. Once again he proves he shows he is still working for Wall Street, he is still a tool of the globalized banks and corporations that have zero loyalty to the USA. Mr. Himes knows full well the Free Trade policy that opened with the WTO and NAFTA treaties has brought us $11 TRILLION in merchandise trade deficits. He knows we lost 4.5 million US manufacturing jobs since then –plus all the additional US jobs those mfg jobs would have supported through the multiplier effect. He knows full well our merchandise trade deficits have averaged over $720 billion per year for the last 11 years. He knows we have lost over 63,000 US factories in the past 14 years. He knows this loss of US manufacturing –through Free Trade offshoring and outsourcing of our industries and jobs– has compromised the security of our military supply chains now dependent of massive imports of essential components. But when you put personal ambition and wealth ahead of your country, you can make the kind of career Jim Himes is making.
I voted for this guy in every prior election. Never again. He must think he’s more enlightened than ALL the other members of the CT Congressional delegation. Maybe that “enlightenment” comes from working at Goldman Sachs.