Thread: CAFTA a bad deal for Badgers and Gophers

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincitie ... 220092.htm

Posted on Tue, Jul. 26, 2005


CAFTA a bad deal for Badgers and Gophers

DAVID NEWBY

Here in Wisconsin we're always flattered when our neighbors to the west look to us for guidance. We're proud of our beautiful state, our progressive history and our diverse and hardworking population. You've got Lake Superior and the Twins. We've got Lake Michigan and the Packers (and the Brewers and the Bucks).

Wisconsin would like to be No. 1 in this friendly rivalry, but we'd like our leadership to be based on the facts. That's why it was upsetting to see your editorial pointing to Wisconsin as a success story under current trade policies ("Why Minnesota needs CAFTA," July 17).

Despite the growth in exports to Mexico cited in the Federal Reserve report you cited, NAFTA has not been good for workers in Wisconsin.

Since 1993, thanks to NAFTA, the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (which established the World Trade Organization), and Most Favored Nation status for China, Wisconsin has lost nearly 92,000 manufacturing jobs. Good-paying jobs with benefits, family-supporting jobs are gone. Part-time jobs at Wal-Mart simply cannot take their place.

Have Wisconsin exports to Mexico and Canada increased since NAFTA? Yes. Has that improved our economy? Ask the 92,000 workers who lost their jobs because Wisconsin production was outsourced to Mexico or Canada (or China). Those who support and promote so-called "free trade" agreements count only the gains, not the losses. That's the same as counting what you win at the casino â€â€

Thank you Wisconsin AFL-CIO for standing tall for the Truth about CAFTA!!

CAFTA is NAFTA but worse, the C stands for CON!!

Defeat CAFTA!! Vote No House of Representatives, our elected representatives of the Best Interest of the American People, not multi-national corporations.