While President Obama has spent weeks crisscrossing the country publicly promoting his American Jobs Act, ironically in Washington his administration has been focused on lobbying Congress to approve a package of job-killing free trade deals. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the NAFTA-style South Korea Free Trade deal could cost America roughly 159,000 jobs while Colombia would export another 54,000.

The crux of this dispute: Was Boeing’s decision to build their new plant in South Carolina just a case of the company wanting to be assured that there would be less union activity, and thus less chance that strikes would delay the production of the 787’s? Or was it done to weaken the power of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the union representing 25,000 Boeing workers?

I was on the PBS News Hour with Jim Kessler of Third Way last night, during which Kessler said the NAFTA-like South Korean free trade agreement was a great deal for the U.S. Of course he thinks KORUS is good for the US. What’s he going to say, the banks that fund his organization are tickled pink the US government won’t be able to pass “too big to fail” laws, or ban risky financial products and services?