Byron Dorgan: “As to the question is all this a good thing, has it strengthened our country, or is this just gloom and doom by those…”

“As to the question is all this a good thing, has it strengthened our country, or is this just gloom and doom by those who oppose the current trade strategy, my colleague is quite right, this is not a strategy that is just the George W. Bush strategy. This strategy has developed over about 25 years, although I must say that this administration is the most helpful to corporate interests that I have seen. But it is not just a strategy of the last year or two. But it is hard--very hard--to take a look at these devastatingly dangerous trade deficits that get worse and worse and worse, and then hear some people say it is getting better and better and better for us. It is, of course, not getting better for us. Ronald Reagan used to tell that old story about the young boy who would look at the pile of manure and insist there must be a Shetland pony someplace. The fact is, there is no Shetland pony here. This is bad news. And the quicker we decide to confront it, look it square in the eye and decide as a country to do something about it, the better for our country. The question is about freedom. I agree with that. It is about freedom, freedom for the American consumer, also freedom for American workers to be able to reasonably expect in this great country they will be able to find a decent job that pays well with benefits. That is freedom that is important as well.…”