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Subject: What's wrong with NAFTA and GATT
 
Bart,

Clinton pushed through Nafta which Perot predicted perfectly. 

A giant sucking sound of jobs being sucked out of the economy as corporations began
off shoring everything possible to boost their bottom line.  That trend was accelerated
under Bush until we now manufacture nothing.  The dominant activity of the US economy
now consists of nothing but shuffling money back and forth, pushing paper that signifies
nothing of tangible value to the average American.

Hold on a second... you might be able to educate me.
What about NAFTA changed something?

Are you saying no American corps had laborers out of the country until Clinton signed NAFTA?
Are you saying Walmart didn't import from China until after 1993?
What part of NAFTA made Anmerican corps suddenly start using cheap labor?
Why would they pay $40K a year when they can pay $4K?

Clinton also signed the repeal of Glass-Steagall, the fundamental banking reform of the New Deal.  
That law separated investment banking from commercial banking and effectively regulated the industry
for 70 years preventing the abuses which lead directly to the meltdown of 1930-33 and 2008. 
He could have vetoed the damn bill.  He signed it.

I don't mean to insult you, but you KNOW this?
Or is this something you heard from a Nader/Perot voter?

Seriously, I'll bet 90% of people with a strong opinion on Glass-Steagle have never read it.
If you're into bashing the Clintons (didn't say you were) you don't NEED to read it.
All you have to do is repeat what Nader says.

Clinton also signed the bill that ended AFDC so when the economy collapsed the number of people in poverty soared.

So, that's an unintended result of something that happened in Clinton's future?
Are you saying Clinton should've foreseen the collapse?

The caliber of people holding the office has been like reverse evolution.

Now look at the GOP candidates. 
Jesus Christ on a cracker, these clowns would have been shamed off the stage 50 years ago
for their vapid ignorance and stupidity.  They don't believe in science but superstition. 

Gawd help us all.
  Vince

Subject: What's wrong with NAFTA and GATT

Glass Steagal repeal (Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act)was passed by veto-proof majority in both
the House (83%) and Senate (90%). It would have become law whether Clinton signed or not.

JUDGEMENT: Blame Gramm-Leach-Bliley, not Clinton.

NAFTA could have been Vetoed, but Clinton favored it. I consider this an honest mistake.
All the prevailing conventional wisdom at the time was it would be good for the USA.
Clinton did add provisions to protect American workers & prevent exporting environmental damage to Mexico.

The problem is the protections are toothless and have never been enforced. NAFTA has no provisions
to prevent corporations from closing factories in the US and moving the jobs to Maquiladoras where
workers are paid a pittance in comparison to US workers. AND, once they've done so, the corporations
can hold their profits "off shore" without paying taxes on them until they can extort another "one time tax holiday"
from the US government for the promise of "creating jobs" just like they did during the last "one time tax holiday".

[In case you missed it, there's a heavy dose of sarcasm there. The corporations used the repatriated funds
from their "one time tax holiday" to buy back their own stock, pay bonuses & dividends, not to create jobs]

On the whole, Perot got it right about the "giant sucking sound" of US jobs going south under NAFTA.
The real Clinton miracle on jobs is he managed to create so many new jobs despite what NAFTA was doing to our economy.

On the down-side, many of the jobs Clinton "created" were held by Wall Street vampires who eventually
sucked all the blood out of the economy.

The other thing NAFTA did was to devastate Mexico's agricultural sector by allowing the importation of
cheap food from US factory farms. The upshot is the massive farm unemployment NAFTA caused in
 Mexico is one of the primary motivators behind the surge of illegal immigrants into the US.

JUDGEMENT: Clinton got taken on NAFTA just like the rest of us. He still did a damn good job creating jobs.

The GATT was agreed in 1947. It has been updated 7 times since then - 1949, 1951, 1955-1956,
1960-1962, 1964-1967, 1973-1979 & 1986-1994.

Because GATT is a Treaty, it does not require the signature of the President. Or more precisely, a treaty
is not subject to Presidential Veto once it has been submitted to the Senate for ratification (requiring 2/3 vote,
i.e. veto-proof majority). It was the most recent round of GATT - negotiated by Reagan, Bush I & Clinton
administrations - that Clinton submitted to the Senate for ratification.

GATT is currently being renegotiated & updated yet again beginning in 2001.

JUDGEMENT: Every time I hear someone nattering about Clinton & GATT,
I know they don't know what they're talking about. My suggestion for them is
RTFM - PRINTED ON THE BOTTOM OF THE BOOT-HEEL!
  John S

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