On 5 Sep 2006 12:54:44 -0700, wrote:

>Retitled:
>
>Tracey1212 wrote:
>> George Leroy Tyrebiter, Jr. wrote:
>> > On Tue, 05 Sep 2006 05:46:14 GMT, Speeders & Drunk Drivers are
>> > MURDERERS > wrote:
>> >
>> > >I suspect there will be a run on roofing nails too. We need to bring
>> > >a halt to this merger with mexico that Bush and the congressional
>> > >traitors of both parties are stuffing down our throats.
>> >
>> > I bought a copy of NAFTA, and read the parts which were readable. Lots
>> > of it was not readable - consisting of long lists of all kind of stuff
>> > and what the current and future tariff rates would be. Twine, twisted,
>> > cotton, 13 percent. Twine, twisted, nylon 13 percent on and on and on.
>> > But the actual comprehensible part, on the rules? It was clear to me
>> > that what Nafta does is
>> >
>> > level the playing field. To the benefit of the US.
>> >
>> > Remember all the talk about how the playing field was rigged against
>> > us? It was. Example - Mexico. We were paying a tariff of about 3
>> > percent on average for stuff made in Mexico sold in the US. But they
>> > were screwing our goods, charging the Mexicans a fifteen percent
>> > tariff, on average, for our goods. That was a playing field really
>> > tilted against us. It wasn't fair.

Why is America selling government subsidized corn to Mexico at prices
below cost of production? This has forced 10's of thousands of Mexican
farmers into unemployment. The end result has been illegal immigration
into the US in search of work to support their families.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0423-02.htm
Published on Friday, April 23, 2004 by the Los Angeles Times
A Flood of U.S. Corn Rips at Mexico
by Michael Pollan

Americans have been talking a lot about trade this campaign season,
about globalism's winners and losers, and especially about the export
of American jobs. Yet even when globalism is working the way it's
supposed to — when Americans are exporting things like crops rather
than jobs — there can be a steep social and environmental cost.

One of the ballyhooed successes of the North American Free Trade
Agreement has been the opening of Mexico to American farmers, who are
now selling millions of bushels of corn south of the border. But why
would Mexico, whose people still subsist on maize (mostly in
tortillas), whose farmers still grow more maize than any other crop,
ever buy corn from an American farmer? Because he can produce it much
more cheaply than any Mexican farmer can. Actually that's not quite
right — it's because he can sell it much more cheaply.

This is largely because of U.S. agricultural policies. While one part
of the U.S. government speaks of the need to alleviate Third World
poverty, another is writing subsidy checks to American farmers, which
encourages them to undersell Third World farmers.

The river of cheap American corn began flooding into Mexico after
NAFTA took effect in 1994. Since then, the price of corn in Mexico has
fallen by half. A 2003 report by the Carnegie Endowment says this
flood has washed away 1.3 million small farmers. Unable to compete,
they have left their land to join the swelling pools of Mexico's urban
unemployed. Others migrate to the U.S. to pick our crops — former
farmers become day laborers.
....


>> > So what Nafta does is mainly stop them from screwing us. They have
>> > agreed to lower their tariffs way down, to zero for a whole bunch of
>> > stuff. And we agree to lower our tariffs on their stuff, often to
>> > zero.
>> >
>> > So instead of playing on an unfair playing field, we can now compete
>> > with Mexican goods on a level playing field.

You forgot to mention that US companies moved their manufacturing into
Mexico under NAFTA to take advantage of cheaper labour. Unfortunately,
third world countries in the Pacific rim had even cheaper labour so
the Mexicans lost these jobs eventually.

>> > Why in God's name would you be opposed to that?
>> >
>> > WHy do you favor the old system, where our companies got royally
>> > screwed when they tried to sell stuff into Mexico?
>> >
>> > While their stuff got off so light when it came in here?
>> >
>> > THere is also a chapter on a court to resolve disputes. Seems
>> > reasonable to me to have a court to resolve cheating etc. I don't see
>> > a problem with that.

The US government has refused for years to accept the NAFTA court
rulings. BTW, this cost Americans $1,000 for every new house built in
the last 5 years or so. The softwood lumber industry in the States has
the ear of the government - to hell with the people. They finally
conceded this year.

http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index....t/17/softwood/
NAFTA Softwood Appeals Nearing End
International Trade Minister Jim Peterson has suspended the Aug. 22
softwood lumber talks with his U.S. counterpart Rob Portman as a
result of the American decision to not comply with the latest NAFTA
ruling.

>> > AND THATS IT. That's all NAFTA is.
>> >
>> > It's not the Spawn of Satan.
>
>> Nearly 37 million US jobs have been deported south of the border to
>> some latin dump as a result of NAFTA. So, why would you be opposed to
>> that, dingbat?

NAFTA is a pile of ****e.....