My apologies. I will no longer be posting here.

When the fast track for trade authority was given by Congress to the executive branch in Bush's first term, Senator Ernest Hollings of South Carolina stood up in opposition with his "The fix is in" speech. He said the Constitution assigned trade/treaty authority to the Congess. He said that the first act of the Congress in 1793 was to approve a seal and the second act was to pass tariffs.

"We hear those in the national Congress running around and saying, 'Free trade, free trade, I am for free trade,' when they know free trade is like dry water. There is no such thing."
-- Ernest Hollings ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hollings )

In his final comment in that speech he said a Japanese buinsess man turned to him and said that a country that loses its manufacturing base will lose its world power.

He was spot on.