U.S. Secretary Of Commerce Says NAFTA Plus Agreement Needed To Take On China

The same old propaganda baloney and fraudulent promises the Mulroney and Chretien governments have used to force the FTA and NAFTA on us with lowered standards of living in all 3 countries.

China has become an economic powerhouse, because North American, and to a lesser degree European and Japanese companies, have transferred a lot of capital and technological knowledge in their insane search for increased profits. GM is now shutting down many North American operations, cutting 25,000 jobs to transfer them to China, with a $3. billion additional investment. So, what this con man and our braindead politicians are proposing is that North American corporations, already overprivileged under NAFTA, should "compete" with their own Chinese branches,, so they can blackmail their employees into more cuts and more Chinese slave labour camps. E.g. Wal Mart has 4800 factories in China, with wide range of documented human rights abuses, and is the 8th largest commercial partner in the Chinese economy. Who would Wal Mart compete against under NAFTA plus, apart from forcing more of their own employees below the poverty level and transferring more costs on already overburdened social safety nets. I've recently read a Californian study, showing the thousands of dollars each Wal Mart job costs to the State. Yet, politicians are clamouring for more. It is obvious that these people are not proposing any improved trading relationships, but the giving up more of our citizen and human rights to an already fraudulent scheme, so that a few multinationals and Chinese communist cadres can get even more powerful and richer, while destituting more millions on both sides of the Pacific. Ed Deak, Big Lake, BC.

The only way one can "take on China", is either bomb it to oblivion, or create working conditions here that are comparable to the ones over there. There ain't no middle ground.

Face it, Uncle Sam. You didn't create a "thousand year reich" either, and your time is up.....

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RickW

<a href="http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displayStory.cfm?story_id=4065641&subjectID=349020&fsrc=nwl&emailauth=%2527%25290%253E1%2521LDGQ%2540%25220%250A">http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displayStory.cfm?story_id=4065641&subjectID=349020&fsrc=nwl&emailauth=%2527%25290%253E1%2521LDGQ%2540%25220%250A</a><br />
<p>---<br>RickW

Who really wants to "take on China" anyway? If you are a working person, a pensioner or a student, or anyone else other than the tiny, super-selfish, moneyed elite, every time we "take on" this one or that one economically, you loose. Your salaries and pensions are squeezed, social benefits disappear, vital public utilities go up in price and your life gets harder. Those greed-soaked fat cats who con you with all these empty lies and emptier promises are the only ones who ever benefit from such madness. Surely by now we have learned that lesson. If they want to "take on" someone, let them get the hell out of Canada and do it. Believe me, no matter what nonsense they spout, we would all be a lot better better off if they did. NAFTA is great curse on ordinary Canadians, and the sooner we can rid ourselves of it and those who support it, the sooner we can start to improve things for all those who have been hurt by it. Wake up Canada!

I agree. It may take many years, but perhaps one day our brainwashed economists and politicians will wake up to the reality that all forms of competition always increase costs and the more we compete the higher the costs? Or is it too much to expect a bit of logic and common sense from them ? This rule applies to all sporting competition and in business competition becomes a crime of exploitation and colonization. There are thousands of examples in history where this process repeated itself time after time, with millions paying for it with their living standards and lives. Neoclassical market economics are the biggest crime wave in history, with predictable results for self destruction. Ed Deak, Big Lake, BC.

I sincerely hope the time of the USA is not up. If this is the case Canada gets thrown into the deep end and no handbook on how to swim. Our future is totally alligned with the good old USA. That, kind and gentle hearts is how we enjoy our standard of living. Stick with the team that got you there and that of course is the US. East, West means nothing in Canada. North and south is the most important.