Spreading the Wealth

The Democratic presidential candidates seem to be waffling a little on the subject of NAFTA. Seems like they’re taking cheap flights back and forth between Ohio and Texas, while changing their tune to suit each state.

Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton roundly condemn NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, as they campaign across Ohio, which holds its primary Tuesday. But the candidates are relatively silent about the matter in Texas, another delegate-rich state holding a primary the same day — one that has seen an economic renaissance along its southern border since the agreement came into effect in 1994.

I live in one the cusp of Northeast (southern) and Southeast (northern) Ohio. I can tell you that most families around that have previously thrived thanks to manufacturing jobs, are struggling to buy groceries. The Hoover Company, Timken, Danner Press, Rubbermaid and Republic Steel were all huge employers in this part of the state. Unfortunately, these business have moved or are looking to move operations south of the border. This leaves thousands of local families out in the cold.

Sure, there’s a nice economy down on the Texas/Mexico border, because of NAFTA. That’s beautiful. But that border isn’t all there is to the U.S. And all this screeching about illegal immigrants has zero to do with the way the economy is crumbling for some manufacturing communities. It’s the jobs going away, not the immigrants taking the jobs. But who’s listening?

I have no faith in either of these candidates because of their flexibility regarding this issue. You either see what NAFTA is doing to U.S. manufacturing communities, or you don’t. There’s no middle ground there. Of course, it’s not just NAFTA doing all of this damage. Cheap labor in China and India are also causing harm to this sector of the economy. It doesn’t help that the manufacturers who move their operations over there aren’t being penalized for leaving U.S. soil. It doesn’t help that Wal-Mart, whose shelves are stocked with cheaply made goods, gets tax breaks all over the country. There should be some kind of financial incentive for companies to stay here, as well as some kind of penalty for moving operations somewhere cheaper.

I don’t see that happening. I do see that China and India are starting to thrive and as their people are becoming more aware, things are changing. I’m going to predict citizens of these two countries are going to start demanding the kind of salaries and benefits that their American counterparts were getting. Then the prices will go up, the quality of product (and lives!) will improve, and the global economy will skyrocket. That, of course, can only benefit the rest of us.

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