It’s the Economy Stupid!
March 1, 2008
After watching the democratic debate at Cleveland State University, I have been thinking a lot about the role of the North American Free Trade Agreement in the election and its polarizing effect. I’ve been searching the blogosphere for posts about this very topic to see what others are thinking and saying about it.
At the time of its passage, I was a supporter of NAFTA. I believed in free trade and that the economy would sort out all of these ugly issues. Lately I seem to be vacillating on this issue.
I do believe that free trade is a good thing, but that we must have a component of fairness as well.
According to the Department of Labor, the national unemployment rate hovers at 4.9%. From my college days, I know that this is a pretty low number. But for those Americans that form that statistic of 4.9%, it is far too high.
Is NAFTA to blame for jobs going overseas and leaving what is termed the “rust belt?” In Ohio, we have seen many factories closed up and jobs shipped to Asia and Latin America. If operating costs are far cheaper in those countries, again, is that the fault of NAFTA? If the advent of emerging technologies has decreased the number of workers required to assemble a product, is NAFTA to blame?
This election reminds me of the famous statement of James Carville and Bill Clinton, “It’s the Economy Stupid!” What are your thoughts on NAFTA?
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This work by Jason Rowsey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
