Centrists of the world unite!

[TexasTowelie]

50. I think that at least some of those manufacturing jobs were lost because of other considerations

besides NAFTA. Those manufacturing jobs were also sent to countries that were not part of NAFTA, such as countries in Asia. The manufacturing sector was no longer competitive on a global basis. There was also job loss in the textile industry that were concentrated in southern states.

FWIW, job losses in the U.S. economy were not limited to blue collar industries or jobs that required only a modest amount of education and technical skills. I worked with an IT company in Dallas and a lot of that work was outsourced to India.

As far as NAFTA was concerned, the negotiations were started under Reagan so both political parties can take credit and can take blame. The Democratic Party took a hit when a lot of textile jobs were lost in the South. I certainly sympathize for those that lost jobs, but I think that it is over-simplifying the situation by saying a trade agreement cost us those jobs. Those jobs were either going to disappear because the factories were no longer competitive or the alternative to keeping those jobs was to impose tariffs which is essentially a tax on the consumers purchasing the products being manufactured. Undoubtedly, some people weren't able to put together the pieces of the puzzle while others were capable of understanding the complexities and they either relocated or they found work in other fields.