Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It was a net negative for everyone except for a few money bundlers and investors. Indigenous Mexican farmers were forced off their lands, their diets were destroyed as high fructose corn syrup and American fast food flooded their markets, and they lost out on most of the manufacturing to China.
In America small towns were decimated and consultant work or marketing was specialized labor that was subsidies by industrial profits. Prices went up but wages were stagnant, and now Walmart is our largest employer rather than GM.
Rothbard opposed NAFTA.
Anyways productive here is subjective. Milton may think consultant work and marketing, and does design engineering (very broad spectrum) is more productive because on paper more money is sent their way. But in practical terms we are not producing most of the actual output.
In turn or service industry in terms of maintenance relies on cheap migrant labor, our social system has been crushed, and corporate america is more reliant on Chinese supply chains than ever before.
Actually statistics show it’s a net positive. It wasn’t good for those with only a high school degree and no marketable skills who expect the world to stand still for them.
What was the word on the street at the time, especially from non political people.
I'm not talking about the government or the politically minded, just yourselves and the average people you know.
Did they support it or not?
Has their (or yours) opinion on the matter changed since?
A lot of people did. Especially business interests and wall street investors.
People will always be willing to sell out their country if there is money to be made.
You have many that are trying to blame the liberals for all this, but in the late 90s, it was liberals that were protesting against trade with China.
The Chamber of Commerce and Business Community called the cops to crush these protesters and smeared their name throughout the corporate media as business hating Communists.
So off Big Business went to Communist China to get some of that cheap Commie Labor.
On the whole, NAFTA was a good deal for America. Here's proof: after years of railing against NAFTA, and making a big deal about pulling out of it, Trump went and negotiated basically the same treaty with a different name - USMCA.
Bingo.
Even Donald Trump knew deep down NAFTA was good for America.
If they didn't, that certainly didn't stop Bill Clinton from being reelected.
They are all puppets just like Obama was.
Remember Occupy Wall Street happened on Obamas watch.
The Bankers called the cops to crush the protesters and Obama stood by and did nothing and the Republicans stood with Obama on this.
The Bankers also brought in some hippies and agitators and people looking for a handout in order to shut it all down.
Many wanted to hang the bankers but the bankers got what they wanted instead.
NAFTA has been a net positive for the United States. Just about every damn economist supports liberalized trade. Adam Smith was a promoter and David Ricardo's Theory of Comparative Advantage is in an early chapter of every Macro 101 book.
Yes, there are losers when it comes to trade and they will whine like the little ******* they are.
That may work in a world with no borders or countries, but since that is not the case, every country is going to look out for their own interests. China is looking out for theirs and we should look out for ours. Our Constitution demands it. Common Sense demands it.
Why even have a country then if not for its people.
It will never fly in the USA where we accept being a loser country so globalists and a few traitors in this country can get richer.
I wonder if the average person saw the effect this bill would have to accelerate the departure of US production, most probably figured it would lower the price for them
Yes, we did. Unfortunately, too many idiots were duped by Clinton and voted for him.
Those who saw it coming voted for Ross Perot.
This is why we cannot have grifters in the Oval Office, as they will sell anything not nailed down to gain personal wealth. Biden is another grafter, like Clinton.
Ironically, the same dems who decry the results of NAFTA and China trade status now are going to vote for Biden, repeating the same mistake.
As long as their candidate supports gay marriage, abortion, and illegal immigration, dem voters will allow their candidate to loot the country and gain whatever wealth they want. The litmus test of dems for a suitable candidate ignores the primary issues of the US. Democrat candidates understand this as well, and will support those pet "eddy current" issues for the opportunity to gain office and rip off the nation blind.
Actually statistics show it’s a net positive. It wasn’t good for those with only a high school degree and no marketable skills who expect the world to stand still for them.
I'm curious why you would even care?
In another post you said you were going to retire in the Philippines or some other cheap living country.
So, why would you care about this country and our policies? It will be no skin off your back.
They're actually medicine, medicine, and more medicine. Up there with medicine is engineering, particularly chemical followed by computer engineering and computer science. Law, sales, marketing are up there as well. Consulting not so much anymore. There's a few very highly paid consultants but all the ambitious people aren't going into public accounting to turn consultant these days. Salaries aren't that high for the Big Four so it's not the draw it once was. PwC and EY have moved more into tax avoidance as consulting has dried up. Companies just aren't interested in paying for consulting services like they once were, but they're always interested in ways but with the complexities of tax there's always demand for services to avoid paying taxes.
I mean, I get your point. We should go back to exploring for oil by using shovels as that's real work and using sound mapping isn't real work. It's just a Luddite point.
Yes, design is a big money making career. Engineers in biochemicals and tech are still hired in America.
But even on the design side of payrolls, much of the specialized knowledge in technology has been lost, including but not limited to aeroplanes and rockets.
Nonetheless your hyper bottom line outlook for corporate america wasn't always the consensus, and increasing total revenue does not effect society in the same way when capital is globalized and security markets have easy access to other members of the WTO.
Rather than just hoping international finance solves the worlds problems, you should look to how to increase practical knowledge in this country with the goal to build a society we like, not just one that looks better on a spread sheet.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
