Thread: Flawed free-trade deals will cost American jobs

Flawed free-trade deals will cost American jobs


Stand with working families and oppose these three proposals.

By Linda Chavez-Thompson

Published 09:04 p.m., Friday, August 12, 2011


The only thing Texas needs more than rain is jobs. But instead of focusing on job creation, Congress is poised to consider three NAFTA–style trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia that will kill more Texas jobs.

We were promised Texas would be a NAFTA winner, but the Economic Policy Institute reported the United States has lost more than 682,000 jobs to NAFTA. About 55,600 jobs were lost in Texas. Additionally, the U.S. trade surplus with Mexico became a $97.2 billion deficit.

Now, the same multi-national corporations that have moved so many jobs offshore want Congress to stick Americans with three more job-killing trade deals.

EPI predicts the Korea trade deal would kill 159,000 jobs in its first seven years. Even the official U.S. government studies show that this deal would increase our trade deficit.

The hardest hit sectors would include Texas industries like motor vehicles, transportation equipment, electronics, metals, textiles and apparel. These sectors provide more than 233,500 jobs to Texans. More than 12,000 of these jobs are in the San Antonio metro area.

The Korea trade agreement jeopardizes jobs by allowing certain goods with up to 65 percent foreign content to count as “made in Americaâ€

Poll after poll shows that the vast majority of Americans oppose NAFTA-style trade deals. Now, it is up to us to stop more NAFTA-style damage by asking each of our congressional representatives this question: Whose side are you on? If elected officials really stand with working families, they will oppose these three flawed trade deals.

Americans must stand up, speak out and vote against anyone pushing any "free trade deal". We must also repeal those already in effect.

Our economy must have its manufacturing base to support our nation. The companies who left under free trade must bring the production needed to serve our market back to the United States.

I can't stress enough the five simple steps we must take to fix our economy and save ourselves:

Judy's Five Steps To Fix the US Economy:

1. stop illegal immigration and reduce legal immigration
2. pass the FairTax
3. protect our trade
4. legalize/regulate/tax under 2 the illegal drug trade
5. drill baby drill

It's not complicated. It's very simple.

Obama is chiding Congress to approve the newest free trade agreements with Columbia and South Korea, saying that these deals will improve our economy.

Exactly how? We have boat loads of trade agreements and each and every one has contributed to the loss of US jobs and all have hurt our economy.

Bush also was a free trade traitor. Why is so little press given to these policies? The American worker knows it is the problem, and yet politicians are allowed to support the downfall of the US with impunity.

This is a bipartisan agenda of globalization that will destroy us. So, where will these people who vote this in live and work? What do they know that we don't?