History Shows That NAFTA Is a Disaster

When President Clinton signed NAFTA he promised that it would ensure that it would bring good jobs that paid well to the U.S. Ross Perot predicted it would have a different affect, saying that we would see a great sucking sound pulling jobs south to Mexico. After 20 years what has been the result of NAFTA on the economy and on the American middle class? Nothing short of a disaster, as it has taken away jobs and manufacturing from the U.S. leaving our economy on shaky ground.

As we said before, it has now been more than two decades years since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) passed in the U.S. Before signing the agreement, President Clinton told us the lie that it would ensure good jobs for Americans, including 200,000 jobs in the first year alone. Instead it has only been the beginning of America’s fall from power. Instead of a favorable balance of trade, we now have significant trade deficits. Instead of jobs we have unemployment.

According to recent studies, NAFTA has caused a staggering $181 billion U.S. trade deficit with NAFTA partners Mexico and Canada and the related loss of 1 million net U.S. jobs. Once we consider also our growing income inequality, it is easy to see that NAFTA has been a terrible deal for us.

It is easy to see how this has affected wages in the U.S. The average household income in the U.S. in 1999 was $56,080, in 2012 it was $51,017, and today it is $44,900. The affects of NAFTA have taken their toll on the American worker. With these lost wages and jobs real unemployment has risen to 23%.

Support for NAFTA among Americans is very low. One survey found that 53% of Americans believe the U.S. should “do whatever is necessary” to “renegotiate” or “leave” NAFTA, while only 15% believe the U.S. should “continue to be a member of NAFTA.”

So why hasn’t anything been done about this? If NAFTA has been so terrible why aren’t we pushing harder to end it? Consider this – our media is controlled by six massive corporations. These corporations work hard to make sure that the issues that really affect Americans aren’t brought to light. If Americans were really aware of how terrible these trade agreements were there would be massive protests.

We must act now to restore America, and that begins with doing away with NAFTA. Contact your Congressional Representative today and tell them we must get out of NAFTA.

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History Shows That NAFTA Is a Disaster | Economy In Crisis