“Take this job and ship it” by Senator Dorgan

p.s. commenting does not work in Firefox.

Sounds like your version is too old…
Clear Private Data and reload page, perhaps.

The problem starts with trade deals negotiated without consideration of the impact on workers.

I don’t know all the facts, here, but I suspect NAFTA was negotiated with very careful/thoughtful consideration of its likely impact on wages/workers. In fact, I suspect that decimating work conditions and wages, and eventually the workers, was at least one of the objectives, if not the primary objective of NAFTA.

I don’t think there’s any reason to give these people (Bill Clinton) the benefit of the doubt – they know what they’re doing. It’s time we stop saying, “Oh – they were trying so hard for a good result, but unfortunately, these side effects just kinda popped up – but the planners really intended well.” No – in fact, they did not ‘intend well’.

p.s. commenting does not work in Firefox.

p.p.s. i wish i could just ‘comment’ on the article instead of replying to someone else’s comment, which might not be what i want to do.

On top of that, US has been very creative in maintaining discriminatroy agricultural trade barriers and Mexico ignored provisions to assist ordinary working people, farmers and business people in adapting to new trade and international finance regime. In fact, I think case can be made that Mexico implemented the provisions in a way that would maximize the damage to workers, small-medium size farmers and small business people.

Recent rise in agricultural prices due to increased agricultural commodity demand from Asia and US bio-energy subsidies as given some small farms in Mexico a lifeline. However, the effects of NAFTA have a lot to do with recent increase in undocumented workers.

Remember all those poor Mexican workers, farmers and small businesspeople NAFTA was supposed to help? Remember how opponents of NAFTA were demonized as being elitist do-gooders who were actually working to harm these lower income populations? Well, OK, lemme tell you -NAFTA went through and these vulnerable populations cynically used by NAFTA proponents to sell their schemes got crushed. And many came north because they needed to feed their families. Remember that for next time.