The journalist, Siobhan Hughes, has a good track record -- as do many other WSJ 
reporters.  I don't share your hopes -- based on this -- for a positive mood 
swing in society.  But I often see signs of such a swing.  Often incorrectly.

Gene

On Oct 12, 2011, at 8:21 AM, michael perelman wrote:

> The most interesting feature of the article was that Wall Street
> Journal did not present the protesters as crazies.  Robert's
> interjection is made to sound reasonable.  I would like to think that
> this nuanced change might be a sign of a positive mood swing in
> society.
> 
> On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 6:23 PM, Robert Naiman
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>> But the protests that punctuated Tuesday's Senate Finance Committee
>> vote suggested that some lawmakers could pay a price at the voting
>> booths in 2012 when the next elections are held. Senate Finance
>> Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.) had to put the session on
>> hold while police escorted protesters out of the hearing room—and even
>> then, the disruptions continued.
>> 
>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203499704576625543532685026.html
>> 
>> Senate Panel Clears Korea, Colombia, Panama Trade Pacts
>> By SIOBHAN HUGHES
>> OCTOBER 11, 2011, 7:13 P.M. ET
>> 
>> WASHINGTON—The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday approved trade
>> deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, brushing aside opposition
>> from labor unions and some manufacturers in an effort to ratify pacts
>> first negotiated more than four years ago.
>> 
>> The panel cleared the Colombia pact 18-6 and approved the other two
>> deals by voice vote. The deals are forecast to generate $13 billion a
>> year in exports and are expected to clear both the House and the
>> Senate on Wednesday. The trade agreements have been cast by both the
>> Obama administration and congressional leaders as a way to boost the
>> U.S. economy.
>> 
>> Republicans and Democrats have been fighting for years over the trade
>> deals, reflecting longstanding tension over whether phasing out
>> tariffs winds up boosting growth or costing U.S. jobs. Unions are
>> coming out against the trade pacts, and have stepped up a lobbying
>> campaign since President Barack Obama submitted the agreements to
>> Congress last week.
>> 
>> Democratic lawmakers began showing more support for the trade pacts
>> since the deals have been reworked. A final breakthrough came when
>> Republican leaders agreed to go along with the renewal of a
>> worker-retraining program that helps workers who lose jobs because of
>> overseas competition. The program, known as Trade Adjustment
>> Assistance, would be scaled back after a 2009 expansion as some
>> Republicans complain that the assistance is a waste of money.
>> 
>> But the protests that punctuated Tuesday's Senate Finance Committee
>> vote suggested that some lawmakers could pay a price at the voting
>> booths in 2012 when the next elections are held. Senate Finance
>> Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.) had to put the session on
>> hold while police escorted protesters out of the hearing room—and even
>> then, the disruptions continued.
>> 
>> Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.) at one point appeared to address the
>> audience directly, saying that "these agreements are fairly one-sided
>> in our favor—they actually open up markets that are closed to us." He
>> added that "these agreements actually create jobs for Americans."
>> 
>> "That's not what the International Trade Commission said," replied a
>> man who later identified himself as Robert Naiman, policy director for
>> Just Foreign Policy.
>> 
>> "The tariff cuts alone in the U.S.-South Korea trade agreements could
>> increase exports of American goods by $10 billion to $11 billion," Mr.
>> Kerry continued.
>> 
>> "What about imports?" replied Mr. Naiman, who managed to keep his
>> voice just low enough to avoid being escorted out of the room. Mr.
>> Naiman later added: "Workers supported you, Sen. Kerry. Why aren't you
>> listening to workers now?"
>> 
>> --
>> Robert Naiman
>> Policy Director
>> Just Foreign Policy
>> www.justforeignpolicy.org
>> [email protected]
>> _______________________________________________
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>> https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA
> 95929
> 
> 530 898 5321
> fax 530 898 5901
> http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com
> _______________________________________________
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