$1.2 million per minute leaving the country

[kansasblue]

due to balance of trade deficit according to:


http://www.economyincrisis.com/

[RobertSeattle]

1. You can almost HEAR the Walmart cash registers...

:evilgrin:

[htuttle]

2. Apparently, that is what is making that 'giant sucking sound'

[DBoon]

3. and the minutement are worried about a few poor mexicans

coming in.

In the meantime our wealth is being drained out.

[EVDebs]

7. Oopie. They send out around $20 billion / yr back home to Mexico

http://www.migrationinformation.org/feature/display.cfm?ID=89

Uh, isn't that money that could be spent HERE rather than propping up corrupt regimes back home ? And Mexico isn't alone in remittances...

[bloom]

4. That's a sobering figure.

From the site you posted:

Imagine if Congress decided that a single state in the US, such as California, was in desperate needs of jobs and investment and made dramatic changes to boost that state's economy.

• Imagine Congress did the following for only 1 US state:

• Drop the minimum wage to $0.53/hour

• Exempt them from child labor laws

• Expand the work week

• Reduce protection for health, safety, retirement and the environment



On top of this, the companies residing in California still have free duty-free access to all of the others states. In other words, California companies could produce at a fraction of the cost of other states yet would be able to sell directly into all other 49 US states and compete at no additional cost.

What would you think of that? You and the other 49 states might agree that this was absolutely ridiculous!

But this is exactly what is happening right now with NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). Not with California, but with Mexico at the time NAFTA was passed.

When NAFTA was passed, many people thought the same way you probably do now. The results have indeed been disastrous:

• The trade deficit with Mexico is now one of the largest of US trading partners (5th largest deficit trading partner)

• Mexican wages remain as low as they were prior to NAFTA and are still a small fraction of US wages

• Wealth and power has not filtered to the people. Most of the Mexico is still controlled by less than 100 corporations in Mexico

• Many of our other trading partners have relocated facilities to Mexico to circumvent other trade agreements with the US

• US manufacturing has lost 4 Million jobs in the past 10 years

[bloom]

5. Another related website/group:

http://www.citizen.org/trade/index.cfm


"Global Trade Watch (GTW) promotes democracy by challenging corporate globalization, arguing that the current globalization model is neither a random inevitability nor “free trade.” Our work seeks to make the measurable outcomes of this model accessible to the public, press, and policy-makers, while emphasizing that if the results are not acceptable, then the model can and must be changed or replaced. GTW works on an array of globalization issues, including health and safety, environmental protection, economic justice, and democratic, accountable governance."

[leveymg]

6. It's called capital flight. U.S.-based Multinationals aren't, anymore,

except for the legal and military protection paid for by U.S. taxpayers. They largely take their profits abroad, now, and reinvest overseas.

A public-spirited Administration would prosecute abusive multinationals for tax evasion, price and supply manipulation, pollution, illegal campaign contributions, and wrongful gains. Many of these companies, their executives, and biggest stockholders should have their assets seized worldwide. That's a trade policy the Anerican people might support. :patriot: