Time for Mexexit and Canadone - NAFTA Must Go

[Weatherman2020]

The only thing NAFTA has done for middle class Americans is to join the unemployed and watch the quality of their products circle the drain.

 

[waltky]

Even if we exit NAFTA...

... it's not gonna bring the jobs back here...

... as long a Mexico offers cheaper labor and land costs.

But it may stem the tide of future jobs outflowing from here somewhat.

 

[Weatherman2020]

Even if we exit NAFTA...

... it's not gonna bring the jobs back here...

... as long a Mexico offers cheaper labor and land costs.

But it may stem the tide of future jobs outflowing from here somewhat.

You put tariffs on the imports.

 

[sealybobo]

The only thing NAFTA has done for middle class Americans is to join the unemployed and watch the quality of their products circle the drain.

Glad you finally agree with liberals. We've been saying this for decades. Here is what we were telling conservatives in 2004 and all they told us to do was fuck off.

When Republicans try to blame Bill Clinton for NAFTA, they are trying to pretend they aren’t the ones who pushed/push for unregulated free trade. Here is what we were saying about free trade in 2004. I challenge any Republican to show me one article from 2004 that shows they were for regulating free trade or tariffs.

Democracy - Not "The Free Market" - Will Save America's Middle Class

1. There is no such thing as a "free market."

2. The "middle class" is the creation of government intervention in the marketplace, and won't exist without it (as millions of Americans and Europeans are discovering).

The conservative mantra is "let the market decide." But there is no market independent of government, so what they're really saying is, "Stop government from defending workers and building a middle class, and let the corporations decide how much to pay for labor and how to trade." But that’s insane because corporations only care about 1 thing and that’s maximizing shareholder profits. Governments set the rules of the market. And, since our government is of, by, and for We The People, those rules have historically been set to first maximize the public good resulting from people doing business. If you want to play the game of business, we've said in the US since 1784 (when Tench Coxe got the first tariffs passed "to protect domestic industries") then you have to play in a way that both makes you money AND serves the public interest.

The "middle class" is not the natural result of "free trade." Those policies will produce a small but powerful wealthy class, a small "middle" mercantilist class, and a huge and terrified worker class which have traditionally been called "serfs." The middle class is a new invention of liberal democracies, the direct result of governments defining the rules of the game of business and when domestic industries are protected from overseas competition, a middle class will emerge. When government gives up these functions, the middle class vanishes and the rich get richer.

Conservatives complained about Smoot Hawley tariffs but the main result was that American businesses now had strong financial incentives to do business with other American companies, rather than bring in products made with cheaper foreign labor: Americans started trading with other Americans. It brought jobs back to America. Most of the Founders advocated and passed tariffs to protect domestic industries and workers. We've done it before, with tariffs, anti-trust legislation, and worker protections ranging from enforcing the rights of organized labor to restricting American companies' access to cheap foreign labor through visas and tariffs. The result was the production of something never before seen in history: a strong and vibrant middle class.

 

[Weatherman2020]

The only thing NAFTA has done for middle class Americans is to join the unemployed and watch the quality of their products circle the drain.

Glad you finally agree with liberals. We've been saying this for decades. Here is what we were telling conservatives in 2004 and all they told us to do was fuck off.

When Republicans try to blame Bill Clinton for NAFTA, they are trying to pretend they aren’t the ones who pushed/push for unregulated free trade. Here is what we were saying about free trade in 2004. I challenge any Republican to show me one article from 2004 that shows they were for regulating free trade or tariffs.

Democracy - Not "The Free Market" - Will Save America's Middle Class

1. There is no such thing as a "free market."

2. The "middle class" is the creation of government intervention in the marketplace, and won't exist without it (as millions of Americans and Europeans are discovering).

The conservative mantra is "let the market decide." But there is no market independent of government, so what they're really saying is, "Stop government from defending workers and building a middle class, and let the corporations decide how much to pay for labor and how to trade." But that’s insane because corporations only care about 1 thing and that’s maximizing shareholder profits. Governments set the rules of the market. And, since our government is of, by, and for We The People, those rules have historically been set to first maximize the public good resulting from people doing business. If you want to play the game of business, we've said in the US since 1784 (when Tench Coxe got the first tariffs passed "to protect domestic industries") then you have to play in a way that both makes you money AND serves the public interest.

The "middle class" is not the natural result of "free trade." Those policies will produce a small but powerful wealthy class, a small "middle" mercantilist class, and a huge and terrified worker class which have traditionally been called "serfs." The middle class is a new invention of liberal democracies, the direct result of governments defining the rules of the game of business and when domestic industries are protected from overseas competition, a middle class will emerge. When government gives up these functions, the middle class vanishes and the rich get richer.

Conservatives complained about Smoot Hawley tariffs but the main result was that American businesses now had strong financial incentives to do business with other American companies, rather than bring in products made with cheaper foreign labor: Americans started trading with other Americans. It brought jobs back to America. Most of the Founders advocated and passed tariffs to protect domestic industries and workers. We've done it before, with tariffs, anti-trust legislation, and worker protections ranging from enforcing the rights of organized labor to restricting American companies' access to cheap foreign labor through visas and tariffs. The result was the production of something never before seen in history: a strong and vibrant middle class.

So President Clinton signed the Bill to approve NAFTA yet he bears no responsibility for it. Makes sense in Leftardania, but not the rest of the world.

 

[sealybobo]

The only thing NAFTA has done for middle class Americans is to join the unemployed and watch the quality of their products circle the drain.

Well I can't wait to hear what Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell have to say about that.

For the record I agree with trump.

 

[Toro]

The only thing NAFTA has done for middle class Americans is to join the unemployed and watch the quality of their products circle the drain.

The far left wing socialists in Canada agree with you.

That's because protectionism is a far left wing policy.

 

[Toro]

People who want the government to use taxes to engineer economic outcomes to distribute wealth from one group of people to another are liberals.

Hence, protectionists are liberals.

 

[P F Tinmore]

NAFTA (and other so called trade agreements)

Send production over seas and bring the stuff back here to sell to unemployed people.

Good plan.

 

[Moonglow]

The only thing NAFTA has done for middle class Americans is to join the unemployed and watch the quality of their products circle the drain.

You are gonna break Reagan's heart..

 

[Moonglow]

The whole idea of free markets is a bust and it was proven in England over 125 years ago...But for some reason people are still spouting that we need free market trading....Well, we have it.....