PING
Total crap. I hate it. Giving US sovereignty to Canada and Mexico is the final death knell.
What the bleep is wrong with Bush? Is he just a RINO globalist like Bush Sr?
No thanks to all that.
Jim
http://www.cfr.org/publication.html?id=8104&jsessionid=fc388d8487a1cb20b151554f4c9963a4
Task Force Urges Measures to Strengthen North American Competitiveness, Expand Trade, Ensure Border Security
May 17, 2005
Council on Foreign Relations
May 17, 2005--North America is vulnerable on several fronts: the region faces terrorist and criminal security threats, increased economic competition from abroad, and uneven economic development at home. In response to these challenges, a trinational, Independent Task Force on the Future of North America has developed a roadmap to promote North American security and advance the well-being of citizens of all three countries.
When the leaders of Canada, Mexico, and the United States met in Texas recently they underscored the deep ties and shared principles of the three countries. The Council-sponsored Task Force applauds the announced "Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America," but proposes a more ambitious vision of a new community by 2010 and specific recommendations on how to achieve it.
Pointing to increased competition from the European Union and rising economic powers such as India and China in the eleven years since NAFTA took effect, co-chair Pedro C. Aspe, former Finance Minister of Mexico, said, "We need a vision for North America to address the new challenges." The Task Force establishes a blueprint for a powerhouse North American trading area that allows for the seamless movement of goods, increased labor mobility, and energy security.
"We are asking the leaders of the United States, Mexico, and Canada to be bold and adopt a vision of the future that is bigger than, and beyond, the immediate problems of the present," said co-chair John P. Manley, Former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. "They could be the architects of a new community of North America, not mere custodians of the status quo."
At a time of political transition in Canada and Mexico, the Task Force proposes new ideas to cope with continental challenges that should be the focus of debate in those two countries as well as the United States. To ensure a free, secure, just, and prosperous North America, the Task Force proposes a number of specific measures:
Make North America safer:
Establish a common security perimeter by 2010.
Develop a North American Border Pass with biometric identifiers.
Develop a unified border action plan and expand border customs facilities.
Create a single economic space:
Adopt a common external tariff.
Allow for the seamless movement of goods within North America.
Move to full labor mobility between Canada and the U.S.
Develop a North American energy strategy that gives greater emphasis to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases -- a regional alternative to Kyoto.
Review those sectors of NAFTA that were excluded.
Develop and implement a North American regulatory plan that would include "open skies and open roads" and a unified approach for protecting consumers on food, health, and the environment.
Expand temporary worker programs and create a "North American preference" for immigration for citizens of North America.
Spread benefits more evenly:
Establish a North American Investment Fund to build infrastructure to connect Mexico's poorer regions in the south to the market to the north.
Restructure and reform Mexico's public finances.
Fully develop Mexican energy resources to make greater use of international technology and capital.
Institutionalize the partnership:
Establish a permanent tribunal for trade and investment disputes.
Convene an annual North American summit meeting.
Establish a Tri-national Competition Commission to develop a common approach to trade remedies.
Expand scholarships to study in the three countries and develop a network of Centers for North American Studies.
Co-chair William F. Weld, former Governor of Massachusetts and U.S. Assistant Attorney General, said, "We are three liberal democracies; we are adjacent; we are already intertwined economically; we have a great deal in common historically; culturally, we have a lot to learn from one another."
Organized in association with the Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, the Task Force includes prominent former officials, businessmen, and academic experts from all three countries. A Chairmen's Statement was released in March in advance of the trinational summit; the full report represents the consensus of the entire Task Force membership and leadership.
Chief Executive of the Canadian Council of Chief ExecutivesThomas d'Aquino, President of the Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales Andrés Rozental, and Director of the Center for North American Studies at American University Robert A. Pastor serve as vice chairs.Chappell H. Lawson, Associate Professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is director.
Building a North American Community: Report of the Independent Task Force on the Future of North America is available on the Council website.
Founded in 1921, theCouncil on Foreign Relations is an independent, national membership organization and a nonpartisan center for scholars dedicated to producing and disseminating ideas so that individual and corporate members, as well as policymakers, journalists, students, and interested citizens in the United States and other countries, can better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other governments.
The Mexican Council on Foreign Relations(COMEXI) is the only multi-disciplinary organization committed to fostering sophisticated, broadly inclusive political discourse and analysis on the nature of Mexico's participation in the international arena and the relative influence of Mexico's increasingly global orientation on domestic priorities. The Council is an independent, non-profit, pluralistic forum, with no government or institutional ties that is financed exclusively by membership dues and corporate support. The main objectives of COMEXI are to provide information and analysis of interest to our associates, as well as to create a solid institutional framework for the exchange of ideas concerning pressing world issues that affect our country.
Founded in 1976, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives is Canada's premier business association, with an outstanding record of achievement in matching entrepreneurial initiative with sound public policy choices. A not-for-profit, non-partisan organization composed of the chief executives of 150 leading Canadian enterprises, the CCCE was the Canadian private sector leader in the development and promotion of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement during the 1980s and of the subsequent trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement.
Geez! Haven't you heard?! The CFR doesnt' MEAN anything. It's powerless. Anything you read into their recommendations is just conspiracy theory. Whatever you've heard or read is just propaganda. You need a BIG tinfoil hat.
/??
Your thoughts....
It is outrageous...I think there are some things that are going on in the world that must be dealt with. I am talking about the inevitable war that we are going to face with China. This is an attempt to insulate ourselves from the creeping threat of Communist China. They already control the Panama Canal. They just built the largest shipping port in the Phillipines with air strips and resources capable of landing and servicing long range bombers. They are pumping $200 billion into anti US governments in Central and South America in the name of economic development...ie regional influence. Castro and Chavez are just puppets. Venezuela has just bought 100000 ak47's to equip an army they are building (supposedly in response to a perceived threat of a US invasion of their country). We can ill afford to piss off our Northern and Southern neighbors to the extent that they start developing diplomatic and business relationships with China. Mexicans in the United States send $20 billion a year back to Mexico. This is as big a revenue generator for their economy as their entire oil industry. This is why immigration is such a touchy issue with Bush and Mexico right now and also explains his staunch support of a guest worker program. We had nuclear weapons pointed at our cities from Cuba at one time and I don't think we want to repeat that mistake. If a guest worker program of some sort is agreed upon, these people won't be working for a fraction of US wages. They will be paid the same as anyone else that does the job. They will also be paying taxes. I am not advocating wholesale immigration or naturalization of existing illegals. There is a line that has to be walked though and Mexico knows it. They aren't above using the threat of consorting with the enemy to their advantage. I think it is the responsibility of any administration to protect the rights of American workers first and foremost, but without some sort of radical change in thinking by our leaders, this is the road we are headed down. Competition will lead to eroded wages. With the amount of debt that our average family is carrying in the US, we could be in for some tough times ahead. Then there is the inflation that no one seems to be talking about. Once all the money is spent from the equity mortgages everyone seems to be taking out on their houses, the market could take a real nose dive. Bush just tightened the bankruptcy laws on consumer credit for this very reason. Not a pretty site. If the Dems get back in office, their tax rampage should be just icing on the cake. I think everyone subscribes to the utopian idea that if we let every one come over here and compete from overseas for American jobs that we will increase their standard of living to be on par with our own. What no one seems to get is that at the same time, we will significantly reduce our own, basically meeting them half way.
Thank you for getting the word out! Not only should we contact our Senators and Representatives, but also President Bush and our Governors, in protest.
Send letters to the Editors of our local newspapers, and a link to this article to everyone in our address books.
We need to deport every politician in Washington DC and start all over.
As long as this isn't being blared away on TV, and thus into the lastest gossip on Oprah, the CFR is just something to chuckle about.
Goodbye sovereignty. This is against the Constitution, illegal...disgusting.
"Ensure Border Security..."
That makes no sense. If we can't defend our borders now, how are we going to defend the borders of three different nations?
Notice that none of the recommendations are "adopt a common currency" like they have in Europe. That would be the final straw with the vast majority of Americans.
Remember, the CFR has no real power.
George Bush is a dangerous, dangerous man to conservatism.
bump
No suprise at all, it started with NAFTA and is being pushed forward to completion with CAFTA and the FTAA.
Resurrect Manifest Destiny. Aim to the north first, then to the south. The first round of Manifest Destiny took us from sea to sea. This second round must take us from arctic to tropic.