[Dat Mon]

YOU SAID..."free trade vs expanding government to block the actions of private citizens and porkbarrel it."

Are you saying that CAFTA is just a bunch of private citizens free tradin' with other private citizens?

Ive read through some of the documentation on this...I see mention of government and international government agencies involving in setting up this agreement...and enforcing it. After all...it is being voted on in GOVERNMENT... as we speak.

This IS THE GOVERNMENT....not only in the US but in all of those little countries where the government has alot more control over private citizens than it has in the US.

BTW... as far as your comment on protecting American jobs...you will be pleased to learn that in all the documentation I read...no mention of protection of American jobs was evident.

HOWEVER... that was NOT the case for all of those poor people over on the other side of the fence in Central America. I read page after page of special exemptions and considerations given to protect the jobs and the 'system' of those folks in those 'other' countries.

So much for philosophy....lets talk reality.

[Dat Mon]

I SAID..."you will be pleased to learn that in all the documentation I read...no mention of protection of American jobs was evident."

WRONG... I forgot about the one protection that SHOULD be removed...a special interest in this country that gets massive government handouts...


THE US SUGAR INDUSTRY STAYS PROTECTED...at least for the forseeable future.

So much for philosophy...lets talk reality.

[traviskicks]

So much for philosophy....lets talk reality.
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yea, thats why i support CAFTA because it is at least a step in the right direction. In theory, private citizens should be able to trade with private citizens from other countries without government interference. As you state, this is not a reality because government gives itself the power to block it.

For example, if I bring in some sugar to sell and save American consumers mucho dinero the US government will throw me in jail for smuggling.

These trade agreements can be as one-sided as they like. They are not hurting anyone but themselves. By protecting their workers, they are in fact going to end up hurting their workers and their economy.

Its like the argument that airbus is getting more subsidies than Boeing. Well, who is getting their money stolen to fund airbus? Productive job creating Europeans! It's like Reagan said:

"Believe me, you cannot create a desert, hand a person a cup of water, and call that compassion. You cannot pour billions of dollars into make-work jobs while destroying the economy that supports them and call that opportunity. And you cannot build up years of dependence on government and dare call that hope."

So let the Europeans destroy their economies and jobs to protect one industry (which won't even be protected in the long run cuz it'll get lazy and fat)

So, if one country is shooting itself in the foot to protect its workers or industries, I don't see why we should follow suit.

I realize what is happening isn't the uptopia that I may seem like I was describing, but at least its a step in that direction.