Sherrod Brown: “In a nutshell, it means that, rather than investing in India, a democracy, American investors, large businesses are…”

“In a nutshell, it means that, rather than investing in India, a democracy, American investors, large businesses are moving those investors to countries like China. Instead of Taiwan, a democracy, they are moving those investments to countries like Indonesia. Why? Because they can pay 3 cents, 5 cents, 10 cents an hour, because they do not have to worry about workers speaking out and talking back, because they do not have to worry about their employees trying to form a union and unite and be able to demand better wages. Because it is not a democracy in China, they do not have to worry about environmental laws. They do not have to worry about worker safety laws. All the values we hold dear in this country simply are nonexistent in a totalitarian-authoritarian country. That is why investors in the West like to invest in China, want this permanent most-favored-nation status for China knowing there will not be democracy, knowing there will not be unions, knowing they will not have to pay high wages, know they will not have to worry about environmental worker safety laws. That in itself is why we should not believe the promises of the CEOs walking the halls of this Congress, telling us, well, China will live up to its promise, we will live up to its promises, we will make this a more democratic system. Because history in the last 10 years and especially the last 5 years have shown us this is simply is not true.”