Why I defend NAFTA on DU, in four charts

[JDPriestly]

55. Our very large corporations, banks and farming enterprises need to be broken up.

They close off opportunities for new ideas and new ways of doing things.

We don't have to have only small businesses, but we need to break up a log of the conglomerates.

We have vertical and horizontal monopolies. The choice of products to buy is far to small for a country of our size. And we need industry so that we have products to sell to other countries.

I know people don't think that our terrible, negative balance of trade is a problem. But I do. I think it is a problem in and of itself, but more importantly I think it is a symptom of problems we ignore such as the fact that our tax base, in the absence or shall I say with the reduction in revenue for the government due to losses in import taxes and manufacturing wages, two traditionally important sources of revenue for the government, is declining. And our large, monopolistic corporations buy influence, engage in blatant corruption to reduce their tax burden. Who is to support the commons? Who is to support our government?

Our negative balance of trade also suggests that we have problems with an overvalued currency. And if our currency were valued more realistically compared to other currencies, what would our living standard look like?

I think that before NAFTA, but especially since NAFTA, we are living on the accumulation of wealth from past generations. We are spending that wealth very quickly on junk ffrom other countries. We are really dependent on foreign imports.

Try buying socks made in America or shoes. You can find them. But most of the ordinary, every day products we buy are not made in America. The ratio of products that middle class and poor people buy that are made in America is way off balance. We are importing too much. That means that our workers are not maintaining, learning or developing skills with which they can make products. That means we are less and less capable of being self-sufficient with each day and certainly with each trade agreement.

Our negative trade balance tells the story. What percentage of Americans know how to make something, work well, professionally with tools? We have lost these skills.

I know someone who attained the level of master carpenter at a very young age. His father set the example and was himself a master carpenter working for a top American furniture producer. The young man learned his skill -- and then the furniture industry pretty much closed down in most of America. This young man is now retired. He worked only a very short time as a carpenter. The jobs just weren't there. And that is now true of so many Americans.

The good jobs just aren't there. We have the illusion of prosperity because our currency is overvalued.

As someone said the other day, China has a positive balance of trade with us but it does not buy our products. It buys our assets. That's the problem. The countries that have a positive trade balance with us, that is the countries to which we owe money, are buying our valuable assets, our property, etc. That is not good for America. Some of that does not hurt, but if you look at things as they are developing in California, you see that there is too much foreign money buying America. And Americans can't afford to buy homes much less other assets.