Bush strongly defends NAFTA

[Heracles 417]

(Bush doesn't think NAFTA needs renogiating)...Do you agree or disagree with this view? Why?

I agree. NAFTA does not need renegotiating as it is not to blame for the American economy. The only thing I think that should be changed is free trade in general. Free trade is great when other nations follow through themselves. Free trade should not mean the other country's goods are not taxed while America goods are taxed when exported to their country. That is what needs to be renegotiated.

American jobs have not gone to Mexico or Canada but rather to China and India. Two nations not part of NAFTA.

Edited April 23, 2008 by Boo-Yah!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

(Bush doesn't think NAFTA needs renogiating)...Do you agree or disagree with this view? Why?

I agree. NAFTA does not need renegotiating as it is not to blame for the American economy. The only thing I think that should be changed is free trade in general. Free trade is great when other nations follow through themselves. Free trade should not mean the other country's goods are not taxed while America goods are taxed when exported to their country. That is what needs to be renegotiated.

American jobs have not gone to Mexico or Canada but rather to China and India. Two nations not part of NAFTA.

This guy had this stain on his car that he couldn't seem to get out. This other fella observed his problem and offered a solution. He handed him a bottle of liquid which he guaranteed would remove the stain or he'd give him his money back. So the frustrated car owner paid the man twenty dollars and proceeded to apply the liquid onto the stain. Well the stain came off alright, but so did the car's paint underneath. Would you say the bottle of liquid was effective for removing stains?

[Heracles 417]

This guy had this stain on his car that he couldn't seem to get out. This other fella observed his problem and offered a solution. He handed him a bottle of liquid which he guaranteed would remove the stain or he'd give him his money back. So the frustrated car owner paid the man twenty dollars and proceeded to apply the liquid onto the stain. Well the stain came off alright, but so did the car's paint underneath. Would you say the bottle of liquid was effective for removing stains?

What don't you like about NAFTA?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

This guy had this stain on his car that he couldn't seem to get out. This other fella observed his problem and offered a solution. He handed him a bottle of liquid which he guaranteed would remove the stain or he'd give him his money back. So the frustrated car owner paid the man twenty dollars and proceeded to apply the liquid onto the stain. Well the stain came off alright, but so did the car's paint underneath. Would you say the bottle of liquid was effective for removing stains?

What don't you like about NAFTA?

Are you saying the bottle is an effective stain remover, yes or no?

[Heracles 417]

This guy had this stain on his car that he couldn't seem to get out. This other fella observed his problem and offered a solution. He handed him a bottle of liquid which he guaranteed would remove the stain or he'd give him his money back. So the frustrated car owner paid the man twenty dollars and proceeded to apply the liquid onto the stain. Well the stain came off alright, but so did the car's paint underneath. Would you say the bottle of liquid was effective for removing stains?

What don't you like about NAFTA?

Are you saying the bottle is an effective stain remover, yes or no?

Not it is not effective. Enough with the stain removers.

How is NAFTA a failure though?

Edited April 23, 2008 by Boo-Yah!

[Jack and Barbara 0]

Government allies and what the people think are two completely different things though.

Sure the war did not help at all but as I said earlier I think it merely brought peoples feelings to the surface. The biggest issue I would say people have with the US abroad is the governments constant meddling with everyone else. The other thing is that people know very little about the US apart from what they see on TV, watch in movies or hear from others. I myself never realized how diverse the country is until living here.

It still seems to me that in reference to allied countries (because our enemies will hate us regardless), that there are many people who want to come to this country and who like what they know of the country outside of the current administration. Others can chime in here too, but I don't think Clinton, Bush 1, Regan, etc, were hated worldwide on any level as Bush is today. The government, in turn, is hated as well, but not the culture on the same level.

I disagree that the Iraq war brought most peoples feelings to the surface. Some people, maybe, but if anything it brought new feelings to the surface since it was somewhat of unchartered territory - superseeding the UN and going at it with the "coalition" of England and a handful of countries, unlike the war in Afghanistan (which many other countries did support). America serving as the watchdog or enforcer of global affairs is nothing new, but the Iraq war brought new meaning to this enforcer role.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

This guy had this stain on his car that he couldn't seem to get out. This other fella observed his problem and offered a solution. He handed him a bottle of liquid which he guaranteed would remove the stain or he'd give him his money back. So the frustrated car owner paid the man twenty dollars and proceeded to apply the liquid onto the stain. Well the stain came off alright, but so did the car's paint underneath. Would you say the bottle of liquid was effective for removing stains?

What don't you like about NAFTA?

Are you saying the bottle is an effective stain remover, yes or no?

Not it is not effective. Enough with the stain removers.

How is NAFTA a failure though?

(from LA Times)

It's not just Democrats who want a time out. Six in 10 Republican voters said that free trade had hurt the U.S. and that they would support tougher import restrictions, according to a Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll in October.

"We're seeing the strongest opposition to free trade expansion in recent memory," said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas, a Washington-based business group that promotes open markets in the Western Hemisphere. "NAFTA has become symbolic of the fears and apprehensions of globalization in general."

Despite promises that NAFTA would help keep Mexicans at home, illegal immigration to the U.S. has accelerated. About two-thirds of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States have arrived since 1995, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Many hail from rural Mexico -- casualties, critics say, of a trade deal that pitted highly subsidized U.S. and Canadian agribusiness against Mexican producers working tiny plots.

"The dimensions of the problem are finally becoming obvious," said Raul Fernandez, a professor of Chicano and Latino studies at UC Irvine. "Policymakers in the United States realize they have created a monster, and that monster is devouring them."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-naft...0,1668218.story

[Heracles 417]

(from LA Times)

It's not just Democrats who want a time out. Six in 10 Republican voters said that free trade had hurt the U.S. and that they would support tougher import restrictions, according to a Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll in October.

"We're seeing the strongest opposition to free trade expansion in recent memory," said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas, a Washington-based business group that promotes open markets in the Western Hemisphere. "NAFTA has become symbolic of the fears and apprehensions of globalization in general."

Despite promises that NAFTA would help keep Mexicans at home, illegal immigration to the U.S. has accelerated. About two-thirds of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States have arrived since 1995, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Many hail from rural Mexico -- casualties, critics say, of a trade deal that pitted highly subsidized U.S. and Canadian agribusiness against Mexican producers working tiny plots.

"The dimensions of the problem are finally becoming obvious," said Raul Fernandez, a professor of Chicano and Latino studies at UC Irvine. "Policymakers in the United States realize they have created a monster, and that monster is devouring them."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-naft...0,1668218.story

Interesting considering the article recently posted in OT about how abolishing NAFTA would ruin Mexico. The pathetic enforcement of the immigration laws and pathetic policing of the borders has nothing to do with NAFTA. People are always going to try to enter a richer nation regardless of the trade agreements.

Edited April 23, 2008 by Boo-Yah!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I have to say - that was a particularly bad speech that Bush gave there.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

PA looks to be a state to win for the Dems in the general election...

With the Pennsylvania primary voting under way today, early Pennsylvania exit polls are showing that 9 out of 10 people think the country is in a recession.

As in earlier primaries, at least half of voters said the economy was the most important issue facing the country. About half as many said Iraq was the top issue. Health care trailed in importance.

Pennsylvania Democrats had a sour view of the economy _ four in 10 said the country is in a serious recession and at least as many called it a moderate recession. Only about one in 10 said the economy is not in recession.

This assessment contrasts drastically with Bush's own assessment of the economy that he gave this morning, in which he dismissed talk of a recession:

"We're not in a recession, we're in a slowdown," Bush said at a news conference at the end of a two-day summit with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/22/9...-u_n_98070.html

[Teacher Mark 53]

This guy had this stain on his car that he couldn't seem to get out. This other fella observed his problem and offered a solution. He handed him a bottle of liquid which he guaranteed would remove the stain or he'd give him his money back. So the frustrated car owner paid the man twenty dollars and proceeded to apply the liquid onto the stain. Well the stain came off alright, but so did the car's paint underneath. Would you say the bottle of liquid was effective for removing stains?

What don't you like about NAFTA?

Mexican Trucks.

[Ban Hammer 12,836]

This guy had this stain on his car that he couldn't seem to get out. This other fella observed his problem and offered a solution. He handed him a bottle of liquid which he guaranteed would remove the stain or he'd give him his money back. So the frustrated car owner paid the man twenty dollars and proceeded to apply the liquid onto the stain. Well the stain came off alright, but so did the car's paint underneath. Would you say the bottle of liquid was effective for removing stains?

What don't you like about NAFTA?

Mexican Trucks.

someone don't like you hotlinking

[Heracles 417]

Mexican Trucks.

They can get around that anyway. All the US needs to do is set a minimum standard on the trucks entering the country. Even then. Free trade does and should not mean that Mexican truck drivers can drive all over the US. Free trade is the exchange of goods, tariff free.