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Don't Be Fooled By Last-Minute CAFTA Lies |
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Corporate America and its congressional/White House shills are
turning up the heat in their efforts to pass the Central
American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). The pact is
expected to come up for a vote in the next few weeks - and so
far, it appears that lawmakers of both parties have the votes to
defeat this atrocity. But, as the debate over NAFTA shows, lots
of bad things can happen at the end. The first thing I would
suggest a Democrat do before supporting CAFTA is go pick up a
copy of John R. MacArthur's "The Selling of Free Trade." Short
of that, take a look at these three bullets about how dishonest
the key pro-CAFTA myths are:
DON'T BE FOOLED BY SIDE AGREEMENTS: The
Hill Newspaper reports Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) is warning
lawmakers not to put faith in side agreements reached with the
administration in the days leading up to a vote. Remember, these
were the same kinds of side agreements the last administration
promised would make NAFTA better for American workers. Take a
look at a recent study from UCLA and another report to see just
how hollow those side agreements turned out to be. They were
nothing more than a way to feign support for workers and
the environment, without really doing anything serious.
DON'T BE FOOLED BY ETHNIC
APPEALS: The Bush administration is trying to
convince Hispanic members of Congress that CAFTA is good for
Latin America. Again, this is the same malarkey that was peddled
during the NAFTA debate. But look no further than this Boston
Globe piece to know that these corporate-written free trade
deals are not only destructive to the American economy, but also
to our trading partners' economy. As the Globe notes
"Mexican workers struggle to find
NAFTA benefits." The
Economic Policy Institute backs up that article, noting
"compensation and working
conditions for most Mexican workers have deteriorated"
since NAFTA as "the share of stable, full-time jobs has shrunk."
There is absolutely no evidence to show that the same exact
thing will happen in Central America. Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA)
of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus voted in 1994 for NAFTA,
but now admits these kinds of deals will launch a
"race to the bottom"
unless the trading partners are held to wage and labor
standards.
