The Hypocrisy of the Chamber of Commerce

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Headquarters, across Lafayette Park from the White House

Recently, Thomas Donohue, President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post, headlined Trump and Clinton are both wrong about trade. He asserts that Donald Trump's and Hillary Clinton's "anti-trade rhetoric [appealing] to popular anger and a nationalist mood" ignores the fact that trade is "good for the country. It is vital for our economy."

True.

Donohue goes on to say that it "is also true that some workers have been displaced by trade, and they should be given the help they need to compete and succeed in the 21st-century economy."

Also true.

But where has the U.S. Chamber of Commerce been for the last quarter century since the enactment of NAFTA? It has opposed Democratic measures to help the workers who the Chamber now recognizes need help. Since the Democrats have controlled both the Congress and the White House for only four years since the end of the Carter Administration in January 1981 -- due, in significant part to the Chamber's opposition to all things Democratic -- Donohue's statement now is disingenuous. The Chamber should have thought of this years ago. Actually, it sort of did by putting these banners on its headquarters:

But banners are not policies, and the Chamber's policies have been consistently anti-worker. So I am skeptical that the Chamber now really means to help those workers who are hurt during the inevitable transitions to a globalized, technologically advanced economy. The Chamber follows the Ayn Rand philosopy of Speaker Paul Ryan. And it has not shown it is willing to change.

The festering, unaddressed needs of those left behind by technological change and globalization -- people who were going to be in bad economic shape whether or not we had trade deals -- are now coming home to roost. The failure of the American Establishment to deal with those needs has created a situation in which demagogic appeals (principally from the incipient Republican nominee for President) could destroy needed trade arrangements without actually helping the condition of the workers who, often justifiably, feel that they have been abandoned by the economic elites of our country.

The hypocrisy of the Chamber of Commerce and other economic plutocrats is now clear.

It is the job of Hillary Clinton (and Elizabeth Warren, as her Veep, I hope) to call out the hypocrisy and make real help for American workers who have been left behind a centerpiece of the campaign. The Democratic Party needs to zero in on this issue.