Save the USA: stop CAFTA

[poncho]

Originally posted by Pennsylvania Jim:
No. CAFTA is not free trade, it's a huge pile of regulations along with a plan for elites to control it.

All we have to do is give up our national sovereignty and independence and to erase our borders to become "good global citizens".

 

[KenH]

Ruben Navarrette Jr. / Syndicated Columnist

Nagging questions linger despite hard sell on CAFTA

SAN DIEGO — For President Antonio Saca of El Salvador, the Central American Free Trade Agreement is a no-brainer. He considers it a "win-win" proposition and — that being the case — he probably doesn't fully understand why the American people need to be sold on the trade pact.

Yet, opposition to the agreement — which was signed one year ago but still needs to be approved by Congress — has become so intense that the chances for passing it don't look good.

- rest at LINK

 

[Pennsylvania Jim]

Originally posted by Palmetto Boy:
The sources you are citing are highly partisan. Please reply with your own analysis or observations from evaluating the legislation.

Trading with another nation benefits both parties. If both parties were not better off for making the trade they would not transact business.

Does this mean that we are giving a form of aid to other countries? I guess, but we aren't losing anything in the process. In fact we are gaining because our businesses have new markets to sell their products in and new sources to get products and materials less inexpensively. This makes our economy more efficient and the products we buy less expensive.

Amazing. You chide others for ignorance, yet haven't even read enough to realize that these arragements are the antithesis of free trade. They are huge plans to regulate trade.

 

[gb93433]

Originally posted by Jim1999:
Our dollar was never more than 5 cents higher than the US dollar and that was for a very short time in the mid-eighties,,lately, we are doing a little better, but for the most part our dollar was worth about 40 to 50 US cents.

That's interesting because I lived in Bellingham, WA from 1972-74 and every day we went to the bank to find out the exchange rate and in 1972 the canadian dollar was worth 10 percent more than the US dollar. I can remember one time when I went to Canada to purchase some things and I asked for canadian dollars before I left the US and I gained about two percent on my money.

 

[Pennsylvania Jim]

It looks like the GOP has a big enough lock on things to force this through against the will of the people.

I wish they would use their power to outlaw abortion rather than for gutting our economy for their buddies.

 

[KenH]

Do you have some updated info, PA Jim? The last I heard this was in big trouble on the hill.

 

[Pennsylvania Jim]

Ken, I hope you're right. I probably have no more info than you, I was just stating an opinion.

The best information on this is HERE

 

[Baptist in Richmond]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,156719,00.html

My favorite statement is the lead sentence:

"The latest international trade agreement to hit Capitol Hill faces an uncertain future, as proponents say market openings in Central America will boost exports and help the U.S compete with China while critics charge that previous trade agreements have only resulted in job losses at home."

Everyone go to google and find out the average salaries and GNP figures for the Central-American countries in question. Wow: these "market openings" are going to be a real shot in the arm for the economy, huh?

"The Bush administration, flanked mostly by Republicans and some business and trade organizations, is pushing for congressional approval of CAFTA."

Yep, I knew it: CAFTA is part of the "mandate."

"'By passing CAFTA we would open up a market of 44 million consumers who already import more of our goods and services than Australia or Brazil,' President Bush declared in a White House event last week with the leaders of the participating Central American countries."

Again, check the average salaries of these 44 million consumers.

Palmetto Boy, did you notice these statements?

"I think not only would CAFTA encourage more outsourcing, but it is the primary purpose of it," said Alan Tonelson, a research fellow with the U.S. Business and Industry Council, which represents small and medium-sized companies in the United States.

Tonelson pointed to numbers by the American Manufacturing Trade Coalition, opponents of the treaty, which cite Bureau of Labor Statistics reports showing that the U.S. textile and apparel industry lost more than 373,000 jobs between 2001 and February 2005. According to Tonelson and AMTAC, unless serious revisions are made to CAFTA, the industry would suffer even greater losses.

Michaud, who said Maine lost 23 percent of its manufacturing base after the North American Free Trade Agreement (search) passed in 1993, said NAFTA taught a lot of lawmakers to be leery of trade agreements that promise job growth for American workers.

You can argue that those are low-paying jobs as long and as passionately as you want, but the simple fact of the matter is that those jobs represent disposable income that is leaving the shores and will not return. That is money that is no longer in our economy.

This is going to pass, and there is nothing any of you can do to stop it.

Have a great week anyway,
BiR

 

[KenH]

Originally posted by Baptist in Richmond:
This is going to pass, and there is nothing any of you can do to stop it.

I continue to be amazed by your use of absolutist language, BiR.

Maybe you'll learn better someday.

When the opposition is double dog daring the proponents to bring it up for a vote, you know it is in serious trouble.


"U.S. lawmakers on Thursday demanded either a speedy vote or an overhaul of President Bush's free-trade pact with Central America, warning they had the votes to defeat it in the House of Representatives.

"If there was a vote today we would have about 190 Democrats and 40 Republicans. This agreement is not even close," Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown told a news conference.

Both Republican and Democrat Senate and House members were marking the one-year anniversary of President Bush signing the U.S-Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, on May 28. It has since languished in Congress amid rising opposition."

- SOURCE

 

[Baptist in Richmond]

Originally posted by KenH:
I continue to be amazed by your use of absolutist language, BiR.

Maybe you'll learn better someday.

Don't worry: you'll see.........

 

[KenH]

No, BiR, you'll see that the agreement will not pass the House in its current form.

 

[Conservative Christian]

Ken is probably right on this one.

My sources agree with his that CAFTA is in hot water, though Bush and company are doing some serious carrot stick-dangling and arm-twisting in order to try and save it.

According to my sources, under Fast Track Authority guidelines, the bill must be brought up for a straight up or down vote, with no prior amendments or changes allowed.

All concerned citizens who oppose the anti-American CAFTA agreement need to contact their U.S. Senators and Representative immediately, and politely ask them to vote against this bill.

For more info, go to:

www.stopcafta.com

 

[Pennsylvania Jim]

Originally posted by Baptist in Richmond:
This is going to pass, and there is nothing any of you can do to stop it.

Have a great week anyway,
BiR

The saddest part is that most will enthusiastically support and re-elect (again) those who are pushing it.

I'm dumbfounded that so-called "conservative Christians" would vote their own country's destruction.

 

[poncho]

It doesn't help when the "big two parties" only run globalists as candidates. Eitherway your going to vote for the countries destruction.

 

[Terry_Herrington]

Originally posted by poncho:
It doesn't help when the "big two parties" only run globalists as candidates. Eitherway your going to vote for the countries destruction.

Unfortunately, on this point you are probably correct.

 

[poncho]

Originally posted by KenH:
No, BiR, you'll see that the agreement will not pass the House in its current form.

I agree, it won't pass in the current form. I reckon it will have some things changed or cut out to make the opposition happier and the changes or cuts passed in other bills and or EXO's.

Speculation on my part of course.

 

[JGrubbs]

First, in President’s Bush’s press conference, then his radio address—CAFTA is his cup of tea and he’s trying to make it sound as sweet a deal as possible.

On Saturday, he stated on radio, “Third, Congress needs to ratify the Central American and Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement, known as CAFTA. On Monday, I will travel to Florida to discuss CAFTA with leaders throughout the hemisphere. I look forward to telling them that CAFTA is a good deal for workers, farmers and small businesses in the United States and throughout the hemisphere."

Source: BayouBuzz.com

I just saw President Bush on Fox News talking about how great CAFTA is.

In the next month, Congress is expected to vote on the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement, which would expand U.S. trade with Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. A vote is likely before Congress takes its July 4 recess.

Source: The Oregonian

 

[Baptist in Richmond]

Good Info, JGrubbs!

Here is another story of interest:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/05/AR2005060500967.html

Even The Washington Post is onboard....
God's Best to you,

BiR

 

[Baptist in Richmond]

Greetings from downtown Atlanta, where BiR is on a VERY LONG business trip. I am staying at the Ritz Carlton, which is the greatest hotel chain in the world. They are so great, in fact, that they know that I have a preference for the New York Times, and it is waiting at my door every single morning I am here.

Speaking of the New York Times, did any of you read it today? Specifically, the "Business Day" section, page C4???

Here is a link to the story on MSNBC, which is a reprint of the AP article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8048762/

This is interesting:

From the article:
The panel also rejected, on a 10-10 vote, a proposal by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to ensure that labor laws are enforced, and it did not take up suggested amendments to protect the sugar industry from what it perceives as threats from Central American imports.[emphasis mine]

Wow: I am starting to like Senator Kerry.......

BTW, Ken, if Tom DeLay is on board with this, you can count on a passage in the House. We already know that the Administration is supporting this. With DeLay, it will pass.

Regards,
BiR

 

[KenH]

"Part of the public unease measured in every recent poll stems from the forces of globalization, notably the easy flow of investment across national borders and the shift of many jobs to previously laggard countries such as India and China. And part of it stems from the tax and budget policies of the Bush administration, which have added to the income inequality of the country and created an economic recovery in which profits and productivity have grown while wages and incomes have stagnated.

As a result, the political alignments have changed in Congress, shifting the odds against approval of CAFTA and requiring a massive effort from the administration to avert a significant foreign policy setback."

- rest of David Broder's article at LINK