July 12, 2011
By Maxwell Strachan
When the North American Free Trade Agreement (click here) was first signed in 1994, proponents said it would eventually create jobs for the U.S. economy.
17 years later, a new report estimates, the American worker only has hundreds of thousands of job losses to show for it.
According to a report by Economic Policy Institute economist Robert Scott, entitled "Heading South: U.S.-Mexico trade and job displacement after NAFTA," an estimated 682,900 U.S. jobs have been "lost or displaced" because of the agreement and the resulting trade deficit.
The historic agreement, signed just three years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, tore down trade barriers between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, making trade and investment easier for businesses without allowing for the cross-border movement of labor. Despite the agreement being considered a boon for Mexico, the country's economy grew only 1.6 percent per capita on average between 1992 and 2007, The New York Times reported in 2009....
Bernie Sanders, whether he realizes it or not, is carrying King's vision of equity for minorities.
...In 1963, blacks (click here) were rapidly gaining more equality in their rights. In most places in the U.S., schools, restaurants and stores were integrated. But even in these places, many black Americans could not buy homes where they pleased, or get good jobs....
The message of income and wealth inequality is not a new message. It was the message of Martin Luther King, Jr. decades ago. He saw the need for more to be done.
The need for uplifting minorities and/or women has never been fought to completion. Lincoln was assassinated not because the Civil War was settled and African Americans could not longer be considered chattel. Lincoln was assassinated because he saw the 'next step' in bringing Black Americans to sincere equality. For Lincoln it was the vote and it wasn't even the vote for Black Women, it was for Black Men.
The struggle for equality was never over for women either. There are still inequalities for minorities and women. So, while Caucasian Bernie Sanders is from a predominantly White Population in Vermont, that does not mean he believes the work for equality for minorities and women is complete. He holds the values of minorities and women within his political aspirations.
Harry Belafonte, while being far more eloquent than I, is absolutely correct. Bernie Sanders is as much a defender of equality for all Americans as anyone.
As far as all these COMPLETELY STUPID free trade agreements, there is no place for them in First World Countries because it destroys its economy and impoverishes it's people. The CEOs that are trying to earn their next bonus at the cost of THE VERY ECONOMIC BASE of the product by cutting wage costs to the company in moving factories to another country (which is a really radical move) is about as STUPID as they come.
The only way it works is when companies build car companies in Mexico while KEEPING their car factories in the USA as well. In that is the clear understanding Mexican workers will improve the Mexican economy while ending trends in impoverishment. But, if a CEO thinks moving to Mexico is beneficial to both the company and Mexico, that is only fooling the Board of Trustees.
Reagan did no one a favor when the stood up to a pilot's union. He only ended the best strategy for maintaining the middle class and the vibrant USA economy. There isn't a free trade agreement today worth the paper it's written on. And don't start about Columbia. It is an agreement that is used by both sides of the Columbian power brokers; the government and FARC and people are still dying.
By Maxwell Strachan
When the North American Free Trade Agreement (click here) was first signed in 1994, proponents said it would eventually create jobs for the U.S. economy.
17 years later, a new report estimates, the American worker only has hundreds of thousands of job losses to show for it.
According to a report by Economic Policy Institute economist Robert Scott, entitled "Heading South: U.S.-Mexico trade and job displacement after NAFTA," an estimated 682,900 U.S. jobs have been "lost or displaced" because of the agreement and the resulting trade deficit.
The historic agreement, signed just three years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, tore down trade barriers between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, making trade and investment easier for businesses without allowing for the cross-border movement of labor. Despite the agreement being considered a boon for Mexico, the country's economy grew only 1.6 percent per capita on average between 1992 and 2007, The New York Times reported in 2009....
Bernie Sanders, whether he realizes it or not, is carrying King's vision of equity for minorities.
...In 1963, blacks (click here) were rapidly gaining more equality in their rights. In most places in the U.S., schools, restaurants and stores were integrated. But even in these places, many black Americans could not buy homes where they pleased, or get good jobs....
The message of income and wealth inequality is not a new message. It was the message of Martin Luther King, Jr. decades ago. He saw the need for more to be done.
The need for uplifting minorities and/or women has never been fought to completion. Lincoln was assassinated not because the Civil War was settled and African Americans could not longer be considered chattel. Lincoln was assassinated because he saw the 'next step' in bringing Black Americans to sincere equality. For Lincoln it was the vote and it wasn't even the vote for Black Women, it was for Black Men.
The struggle for equality was never over for women either. There are still inequalities for minorities and women. So, while Caucasian Bernie Sanders is from a predominantly White Population in Vermont, that does not mean he believes the work for equality for minorities and women is complete. He holds the values of minorities and women within his political aspirations.
Harry Belafonte, while being far more eloquent than I, is absolutely correct. Bernie Sanders is as much a defender of equality for all Americans as anyone.
As far as all these COMPLETELY STUPID free trade agreements, there is no place for them in First World Countries because it destroys its economy and impoverishes it's people. The CEOs that are trying to earn their next bonus at the cost of THE VERY ECONOMIC BASE of the product by cutting wage costs to the company in moving factories to another country (which is a really radical move) is about as STUPID as they come.
The only way it works is when companies build car companies in Mexico while KEEPING their car factories in the USA as well. In that is the clear understanding Mexican workers will improve the Mexican economy while ending trends in impoverishment. But, if a CEO thinks moving to Mexico is beneficial to both the company and Mexico, that is only fooling the Board of Trustees.
Reagan did no one a favor when the stood up to a pilot's union. He only ended the best strategy for maintaining the middle class and the vibrant USA economy. There isn't a free trade agreement today worth the paper it's written on. And don't start about Columbia. It is an agreement that is used by both sides of the Columbian power brokers; the government and FARC and people are still dying.
