Word: labors
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...fact that the labor and mainstream environmental groups that Clinton in 1982 would have counted among his natural allies are now moved to mount the biggest protests America has seen since the Vietnam War speaks volumes about the politics of the Clinton era. The centerpiece of the President's "Third Way" or "New Democrat" ideology was to challenge the Republicans' traditional monopoly on being the party of business. The Clinton administration may have have blown hot and then cold on its liberal advocates over the past seven years, but its bottom line has consistently been the bottom line of America...
...course he's had no trouble convincing corporate America to sign on to that idea, but he's struggled elsewhere. His tussle with labor organizations over the NAFTA agreement resulted in many Democrats on Capitol Hill colluding with Republicans in stripping Clinton of his right to negotiate "fast-track" trade agreements. He's increasingly faced opposition on both sides of the aisle to free trade policies, which have left him vulnerable to populist attack. "Pat Buchanan complains that both parties are now too pro-business, and that resonates with some people," says Branegan. Because as Seattle showed, there are many...
...Despite Clinton's sunny win-win beliefs, environmental interests often clash directly with those of business. And while American labor rails against sweatshop conditions in developing countries and gets the President's sympathy, many of those sweatshops are actually manufacturing goods for American corporations...
...course, none of these issues are simple. Labor standards, for example, may appear to be an obviously good idea, but Third World countries are in rebellion against any attempt to enforce them - for the simple reason that cheap labor is all many of them have to offer in the world economy, and enforcing minimum standards may actually destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs in the developing world. Why would a U.S. apparel manufacturer have its wares manufactured in China if it had to pay American-level wages? So just as what's good for business isn't always good...
...wants to press the WTO to adopt labor standards and environmental standards, but refuses to discuss standards on intellectual property and anti-dumping rules. The developing countries want it just the other way around. In a fair world, we'd consider all of these questions in a serious, transparent and careful way, with a deep attention to the concerns of the poorest countries, who live at just one hundredth of the dollar incomes enjoyed by Americans...