Wait a minute...!
Posted on 10/08/2007 5:43:10 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
SAN JOSE: Costa Rica's president Oscar Arias declared victory Sunday in his drive to join a free trade deal with the United States, announcing on television that voters had backed it in a referendum.
"The people of Costa Rica have said yes to the free trade agreement, and that for me is a sacred wish," Arias said in a televised address to the nation after Costa Ricans voted in their tens of thousands on the measure.
Earlier partial results showed that with 73 per cent of votes counted, just over 50 per cent of voters said yes to the agreement against 47.5 per cent who voted no, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. Turnout was around 60 per cent.
The Central American Free Trade Agreement is to open local markets to US products but also boost Costa Rican exports to the United States.
It has been accepted by several other countries in the region, but faced left-wing opposition in Costa Rica, where Arias was forced to call a referendum on it after more than three years of domestic debate. - AFP/ac
Wait a minute...!
As much as I would like to give the world the isolationist middle finger, I don't think it would be in our long term interest. Just IMO subject to change
Your problem, my friend, is with the idea of foreign aid and not trade.
I wonder if they used Hugo Chavez’s voting machines for the election?
I have a problem subsidizing Mexico for anything, anything. After all NAFTA was supposed to solve Mexicos problems. Lies,lies, lies from the free traders. Every year we subsidize Mexico for something or another. So NAFTA was and is a failure especially after 14 years.
The EU is working hard to develop a solid trading front against US trade - but with limited success so far thanks to friends like Britain and Poland.
We really need to bring the Americas together as trade partners to counter EU efforts. And, don’t forget China is worming its way into this hemisphere big time.
Exactly, it only boosted trade with Mexico from $81.5 billion in 1993 to $332.23 billion in 2006.
There was lots of activity around my Costa Rican neighborhood: Banners, honking horns, people dressed in No or Si tee shirts and hats. About 1/2 block from the voting booths the two camps had their tents ups and eager volunteers ready to get voters to the polls. In my neighborhood the two camps were peaceful, but the TV new showed one neighborhood where things got very verbal. The No people had lots of tattoos and rings th
My husband and I walked over to the local mall here just out side San Jose, and we were careful to avoid passing the “No” people. We look far too American and they looked far too tattooed, body pierced, and hate those eeevil yankees for my comfort.
Today, the La Nacion, ( the leading Costa Rican newspaper ) devoted its entire front page to one single headline: “ Si!”.
I am attending a Spanish language school here in San Jose, and every morning my husband and I walk through the University of Costa Rica campus. There is plenty of anti-American, EEEEvil-capitalism, pro-Marxist propaganda pasted on nearly every free pole and flat surface. Also, LOTS and LOTS of “Vote No!” graffiti everywhere. There is little to none for the Si side.
what bothers me is how close the election was. Apparently nearly half the voters agree with the hate-America activists.
Marxism is alive and well here in this part of the country. It is also alive and well in our own country. Marxists have infested our K-12 schools, colleges and universities, our social welfare agencies, and they are found elected positions of every kind. Unless we start calling Marxism what it is, we will lose this philosophical civil war.
You waste too much time posting on the internet. You could be spending that time searching for the next cheap labor pool to ship US jobs to.
You want me to hire cheap labor? Why would they work for an evil American? Oh, yeah, I forgot, jobs working for American companies pay better. Stupid foreigners, working at better paying jobs. Too bad they’re not as smart as you.
How much of your figures are from inflation? How much of your figures show that we just changed trading partners such as buying oil from Saudi to Mexico? How much of you figures show that Americans send products to Mexico to be shipped back here.
If NAFTA was so good, why are we subsidizing Mexico to the tune of $1billion this year? Face it, NAFTA is a failure just like the other free trade agreements.
"...73 per cent of votes counted, just over 50 per cent of voters said yes..."
Some think what counts is the people that vote. Well it isn't. All that matters is the people who count the votes.
In what may come as a shock to you, NAFTA was supposed to open up the Mexican market to U.S. exports, and it is a glowing success. You are just looking for excuses . . . because you have a problem with foreign aid (as do I), you are firing upon the wrong targer.
oops . . . target
The Constitution can not be overridden by anything but a Constitutional Amendment. Treaties are commitments made by our government, but our government only has as much authority as granted to it by the Constitution, and any commitments made by the government that exceed its authority are not valid.
The problem is that the Supreme Court is who gets to decide when the government exceeds its authority, and the Court has a poor track record of reigning in the government.
Have faith. You just described an American campus.
Foreign aid’s bad, so is foreign immigration, so foreign trade must be bad too.
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