NAFTA? CAFTA? What’s Afta’?

I think most people sleep fairly well at night. I know I do. The only things that wake me up are the occasional loud noise from outside or our barking Lassa Apso, Shanna Bu. I describe the waking type of outside noise because there is always noise from outside. We live in a small town west of Portland, Oregon and there is always the noise of trucks on the highway, distant barking dogs or the newspaper delivery person with squeaky brakes. I can sleep through all of those because I am used to it and the noise itself is meaningless.

I believe that’s how most Americans see politics. It is the usual distant noise that doesn’t require ones attention until it gets so loud or disturbing that you must pay attention and give it notice. That has been what has happened since George W. Bush took office in 2001. The noise of politics seemed distant and not too disturbing until things got so out of hand we had to change the course!

I don’t know how long it will take to undo the damage Georgie Boy and his cohort Republicans have done to this country, if, indeed, all of it can be undone. Time will tell. It will also take a dedicated, thoughtful and persistent congress to accomplish it. But all the damage to this country was not done under the rubber stamp congress.

Unfortunately, Americans weren’t paying attention when Clinton was president and the government passed NAFTA. My only excuse is that I was sleeping and the noise of politics didn’t disturb me enough to pay attention. I thought at the time it was a bad idea and could hurt our labor economy, but I reasoned that Clinton had been doing a good job and was a much smarter man than I, so Clinton probably knew more than I did and I trusted him. Well, I shouldn’t have! I should have spoken up. I should have written my congressmen and senators to express my concern.

NAFTA lowers the American middle class standard of living by exporting jobs to countries that pay pennies to our dollars for labor. This country’s labor force cannot compete at those prices for labor. The result is that jobs are exported, factories close and the labor force that had a middle class standard of living now have to take lesser paying jobs to survive. The middle class is disappearing.

The price conscious consumer may like it. Corporations most definitely love it! Corporations get cheaper labor, maintain good selling prices and increased profits and appeal to the uninformed consumer. That's why trickle down economics does not work. The wealthy do build factories and put people to work. They build them in China or South America!

Then Bush and the government passed CAFTA. It is the same, middles class destroying disaster that NAFTA was. What’s afta’ NAFTA and CAFTA? A disappearing middle class is what’s after any of the AFTA measures. They must be stopped!

Can they be undone? I don’t know. I believe that right now, the government has greater problems to solve, such as Iraq, health care and Social Security funding. The unfortunate big looser in this lack of priority is the middle class victims that have already lost their jobs, adjusted to a lesser life style and can not wait for government to “get-around-to-them.” When you are hungry, you must eat.

The most important lesson I learned about politics in all of this is to pay attention to all the noise. My only hope now is to make politicians listen and influence their vote as much as a constituent can. I encourage you to do the same. Watch the government! Remember, they work for us and we are their Boss!

I still sleep well at night, though I am concerned about the future and my own ability to continue to earn a living. But it’s been a hell of a lesson!

That’s As I see it. . . How do you see it?