Remember when Ross Perot said "If NAFTA is passed the giant sucking sound will be Amercian jobs leaving"?

he wasn't wrong

Perot was the only independent in years who made sense and had some popularity. It is truly no wonder that the Democrats and Republicans shut him out of the debates in 1996--neither of them wanted to control their spending or raise taxes to bring down the debt, it is so much simpler to just gag the guy asking for responsible government. Now America is a little less able to afford debt reduction, and we need it even more--thanks to massive spending increases and tax reductions by the Republicans, followed by more increased spending and no tax increases by the Democrats.

I didn't vote for Perot in 1992, usually voting for a third is voting against yourself. I did vote for him in 1996--I felt that a statement that we need democracy in the United States was more important than deciding which of the entrenched and dogmatic parties was going to screw me over the least. (And then we got the election of 2000--maybe someday....)

Sorry, I don't remember Perot saying that, but it sounds like something he would say.

US jobs were leaving long before NAFTA.

Why?

Business in nations with universal healthcare systems have a competitive advantage over US businesses stuck with the high costs of providing primary healthcare benefits to workers.

Those who couldn't compete packed up and left for countries where they could remain viable.

Business in nations with lower corporate taxation have a competitive advantage over US businesses stuck paying higher US rates.

American businesses packed up and left for countries with better corporate tax structures.

Businesses in nations with better educational systems have a competitive advantage over US businesses handicapped by less-skilled work forces.

US businesses faced with that packed up and left for nations with better educated populations.

Even with successive US governments spending more on corporate welfare than on public welfare, it's not enough to keep American businesses from going where the grass is greener.

Whining about NAFTA isn't going to change that.

Upgrading America to get caught up with the rest of the world will.

The world didn't give up cars and trains just because some people preferred horses & buggies.

The world's not going to change just because Americans want to live in the past, either.

That's the nature of progress: Sink or swim. The choice is yours.

Either America drags itself kicking & screaming into the 21st Century or it doesn't.

If it can't or won't, it deserves to be forgotten by history.

And yet we still aren't seeing NAFTA cost the US many jobs. Of course, that could be because of the Chinese trade deal.

Get used to it until it's reversed.

Yep and I knew he was right when he said it.