Skip to main content

Readers Comments on CAFTA

Aaron, a reader, posted some comments I found compelling. Like he said, unfortunately, legislations can be horribly long-winded and difficult to understand for someone without a legal background, as myself.

Are there any lawyers among my readers who would respond or comment on CAFTA and clarify?

See my comments on your earlier post. CAFTA is not so much about reducing tariffs as it is about corporate welfare. As a conservative, I assume you are against welfare.

If you are a free trader, then you really should be concerned with CAFTA, which has all sorts of protectionist provisions woven in. Further, as a Latino, you should be concerned about how NAFTA has inflicted severe hardships on Mexico, which has seen poverty rates grow from 43% just prior to NAFTA to 70% today. This in turn has led illegal immigration from Mexico to skyrocket since the enactment of NAFTA.

The impact on Central Americans will be even worse (unless, of course, you are a lucky member of the incestuous business elites which have always worked to maintain strict class barriers). Indigenous communities in Guatemala (which constitute nearly 60% of the population) are particularly vulnerable since they traditionally have relied on subsistence agriculture as a way of life. Over millennia, the Maya have carefully crafted strains of corn that prosper in steep rocky highland soils unsuitable for growing other crops. Subsidized US corn will decimate these communities (as it did in Mexico after NAFTA), leading to increased immigration to the US.

Do not take CAFTA on its face as a piece of free trade legislation, as it is being marketed. As you become more educated about the actual contents of these 2,200 pages of legalese codifying corporate protectionism, I think your conservative principles will lead you to rethink your position. (question: does it take 2,200 pages just to reduce tariffs?? - that in itself should at least give pause)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Al Cardenas Comments on Univision Democrat Forum

Al Cardenas is Chairman of Romney for President's Hispanic Steering Committee. I got the following email from the campaign. Boston, MA – Al Cardenas, the Chairman of Romney for President's National Hispanic Steering Committee, issued the following statement regarding tonight's Democrat presidential forum on Univision: "Tonight's Univision forum demonstrated once again the consequences that a President Clinton, President Obama or President Edwards would have on the Hispanic community.  Whether it's tax increases for families and the two million Hispanic business owners, socialist-style health care, coddling dictators, opposing free trade with our allies or putting family values last, the Democrat presidential candidates made clear how out of sync their policies are with the best interests of the Hispanic community. Mitt Romney has put in the effort to reach out to this vital bloc, and, after watching tonight's debate...

Harry Potter Mania -- Discussion

There is a great discussion going on at WorldMagBlog on the whole Harry Potter mania. Nothing to do with Latinos, I suppose, but I thought I would ad my two cents. A reader commented: I think its interesting how much people want to be in a group that is all connected by some common thread. It says a lot about our desire for homogeny, not always along racial, sexual or religious lines, but also simply based on what we do in our spare time. The interesting thing about Harry Potter fans vs. Star Trek fans is that a vast majority of them are kids who have grown up with the books, or the parents of said kids. I wonder if what sort of effects this will have on them as they get older (and whether or not they will remain HP fans). We live in an obsessive culture. Posted by David B. at July 22, 2005 07:54 AM This is an interesting phenomenon. I would think it is indicative of our society, more than anything else. I tend to agree with the idea that it shows a desire or need for communi...

Communism: Good Money for the "El Viejo"

I guess Fidel Castro is doing ok . Forbes lists Castro as one of the richest in the world, right up there with the Queen of England. I bet he didn't like the attention. It was hard to figure it out, but it seems they managed to throw some numbers together. In the past, we have relied on a percentage of Cuba's gross domestic product to estimate Fidel Castro's fortune. This year we have used more traditional valuation methods, comparing state-owned assets Castro is assumed to control with comparable publicly traded companies. A reasonable discount was then applied to compensate for the obvious disclosure issues.