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[whytemyke]

Bush signed into law today CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement. It only passed voting in the HOUSE by 2 votes, and it just got signed into law by our 'courageous' leader today. The bitch about it is that if people thought job-exportation was bad enough when they were mainly going to mexico (dont know about the rest of the country but most jobs exported in michigan went to mexico to use the NAFTA shit), but now they can export to all over central america. Sure, it's great for people in Central American countries, and the people who own the businesses that are going there (more profit, easier to get into the american market and cheaper workers), but is it so good for the American people?

not in the least. But at least our wonderful leaders in the White House showed their true colors today by voting for their wallets instead of for their constituents.

have fun trying to find a job in this country in the next 20 years without a masters degree or 20 years experience. :/ It sucks, but it looks like we're gonna get levelled out a bit with the rest of the world.

the only part I like is that it strengthened laws for intellectual property rights.

If anyone thinks i'm overreacting here, lemme know and tell me why. I'm more than open to discussion on this as my opinion on whether this is good or bad is nowhere near set in stone. but from what I gather, this seems really bad.

 

[MrAngryFace]

We'll all be working Service Industry soon lolz. American will become the McDonalds for the one world govt.

 

[Tommie Hu$tle]

Looks like the administration is for distrubution of wealth afterall.
It just happens to be yours.

 

[MrAngryFace]

LOLZ JOKES ON US! I dont have any wealth tho.

 

[Tommie Hu$tle]

LOLZ JOKES ON US! I dont have any wealth tho.

Thanks to CAFTA you never will.

 

[kablooey]

It's hardly that great for Central America either, though. Money that they have to expend to open up their markets is money that they could've used for education, healthcare, social programs, etc. Instead their workers get to work for next to nothing while the fat cats here lap up the profits. Hooray for free trade!

 

[Hitman]

America has too much money anyways.

 

[MrAngryFace]

I dont care so much. Im mostly worried everyone else will be poor and they cant drive their precious SUVs.

Except they could just get more credit cards~!

 

[aceface]

What is this, the ninteenth century? Free Market Capitalism is ordained by god!!

 

[Forgotten Ancient]

Well, if you go buy what we're taught in economics, Free Trade is an overall good thing for the global economy. At a glance it looks bad for us because jobs are being sent overseas/out of the country, but the theory is that it's done to help keep prices down and keep "our" companies competitive with foreign firms.

While I can see the logic in this, the problem I have is that it's never seemed to keep prices way down. I know inflation has been historically low lately, but I don't think there'll be a sudden price drop in any products that end up being produced more cheaply elsewhere.

Another problem I have is that while outsourcing jobs is able to reduce the cost of manufacturing, that savings is generally passed over the consumer and onto the varios stockholders/CEOs/etc. So, in effect, we have less jobs, a greater disparity between the rich and the poor, and an increasing dependence on foreign manufacturing.

So...heh...I'm not 100% for or against free trade. The more "selfish" side of me doesn't like it so much, but it has it's usefulness if implemented correctly.

 

[MrAngryFace]

Well it comes down to how much you want a one world govt/organization. I mean in order for that to happen the richer countries (US) will have to suffer for an uncertain amount of time as shit is distributed all over, and as noted, not nearly (in terms of fairness) is being distributed.

This does us little good if other countries arent doing the same. Im all for one big happy family but right now it just looks like a big ol stick up the butt for america, at the hands of Americans. Lolz irony.

 

[nfreakct]

Rich people, CEOs, and stockholders are people too!

 

[Triumph]

Rich people, CEOs, and stockholders are people too!

Not when I get done with them they're not.

 

[MrAngryFace]

Itll probably take another generation before the Rich vs Poor shit gets bad enough to get REAL notice. Its just a shame the people who are in the line of fire are so distracted with their credit funded mass consumerism to notice the shit thats going down.

 

[whytemyke]

If everyone in America was going to take a hit for this dispersal of wealth, I wouldn't mind. But what it's doing is saying to the rich business-owners that they're going to be fine, while telling the workers that we're willing to sacrifice your jobs to other COUNTRIES. The bitch about it is that we're still paying taxes for them to give our jobs to other people for nothing at all... essentially, we're paying the government to give away our jobs.

and Forgotten hit it on the head-- all the while the gap between rich/poor will grow even more.