2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Hillary Clinton Emails: Secret Negotiations With New York Times, Trade Bill Lobbying Revealed [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Here is the problem, statistically, median wages and incomes have not risen in the long run.
NAFTA has cost the US its industry and its economic independence. I am 72 years old. I remember the industry we had before NAFTA. I watched C-Span in 1985 when the Congress was discussing whether to change laws that would permit us to negotiate the kinds of trade agreements we have today. A Democratic senator forecast that if we allowed this kind of trade, we would end up handing each other hamburgers for a living. We are nearly at that point.
Lots of nail studios, hair salons and other kinds of low-level service jobs -- hard on your feet for relatively low pay -- on the business street in my area.
We used to have a lot of industry, lots of it, in America.
My favorite example is the loss of the company, Maytag. Used to make the wonderful, solid, well-built, durable washing machines in Newton, Iowa. That factory was lost.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-town-maytag-left-behind?
Maytag was purchased by Whirlpool which moved production of the washers to its plants.
The production was then moved to Monterrey, Mexico.
http://inthesetimes.com/article/1790/maytag_moves_to_mexico
And in 2013, at least some of the production was moved back to the US but not to Newton, Iowa.
I have a good Maytag that was produced in Newton, Iowa. It still works and is excellent.
It's so sad that we have had this movement of our industry, sales of good manufacturers, moving the production to other countries. It has brought with it economic disruption, insecurity and serious social problems.
Very sad. And when you think of all the moving of plants and disruption of life that the changes in location for Maytag washers and similar products have meant, you have to ask whether it was worth and if so, for whom. Because it certainly has not been worth it for ordinary Americans.
Hence the great enthusiasm for Bernie Sanders.
Had it not been for the trade agreements and the excessive greed of a few at the top of the financial heap in America, Bernie would probably remain a quietly independent senator. But mark my words, he will be president. And he will push for laws that require companies that want to outsource and import but don't want to invest in good jobs for ordinary people in the US to pay high taxes for the privilege of selling products in the US.
We cannot survive as a country if we continue our current trade policies. Our trade deficit is too high. We will not survive with that kind of imbalance of trade.