Reforms offer economic boost
Posted: 12:00 AM Aug 11, 2011
Reporter: Steve and Cokie Roberts

The economic news remains dreadful: Stock markets, credit ratings and consumer confidence are all plunging. Worse yet, the administration has few tools available to reverse the trend. New stimulus spending is politically impossible, and interest rates are already at rock bottom.

But two useful moves could be made now that, over time, would improve America’s job picture and economic health. One is to pass three trade agreements — with South Korea, Panama and Colombia — that have been languishing on Capitol Hill for years. The other is to reform immigration laws and make it easier for foreign-born entrepreneurs to live and work, invest and invent, in this country.

Both actions would improve our competitive position in an increasingly global marketplace, and neither would cost taxpayers anything. So what’s the holdup? Ideology and ignorance, with a dose of politics thrown in.

It is a matter of faith (not fact) in some quarters that freer trade and immigration cost Americans jobs, but every economic study says the exact opposite is true. These policies create jobs, while providing low-cost goods for American families and increasing their standard of living.

Moreover, trade and immigration reform could potentially loosen the partisan paralysis now gripping Washington. Both are backed by the Obama administration while also appealing to a core Republican constituency: organized business.

Start with the trade pacts. Most unions oppose them and insist that any deal must be combined with extension of a program called Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), which compensates workers whose jobs have been lost to foreign competition. For far too long, Democrats bowed to these demands, Republicans opposed them and the trade deals went nowhere.

Finally, earlier this month, Senate leaders agreed on a “path forwardâ€