...NAFTA has become a key topic for the U.S. presidential race, as both Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton threaten to leave the pact unless it is renegotiated. Those statements earned them harsh rebukes from leading NAFTA experts.
"The comments of both senators were distressing," says Robert Pastor, a former Latin American advisor to President Jimmy Carter and co-director of the Center for North American Studies at the American University in Washington, D.C. "Their ultimatum to our neighbors - either renegotiate or we'll repeal - was as arrogant as anything president Bush has done in the region in the past eight years."
Both seem to be debating issues long since decided and ignoring the real agenda of the next decade, he argues. "Their remarks do not auger well for North America," says Pastor, who wrote Toward a North American Community, a 2001 book arguing for deeper integration similar to the European Union. "They appear to lack the vision to make North America more competitive and secure, which after eight years of stagnation is a source of great concern."...
Stumble It!
I was doing a lot of custom work for various stores and designers, who all demanded special prices and treatment. About 15 years after I started my business, I realized that they were pushing me into the poorhouse, not that we were far from it at any time.
So, I wrote very nice letters to all my commercial customers, informing them that from then on, everybody is going to get and pay the same prices, commercial and private.
That was unheard of and screams and threats I received were really scary, but I had no choice. They were back within a few months. The guy, who took over my contracts with a large department store, Woodward's, in Vancouver, was bankrupt within a year.
So much for "wealth through competition". The whole purpose is legalized robbery.
Ed Deak.
: "Mr. Pastor, howbout I integrate my foot into your butt?!"