The top story in today’s CJ is that Rep. Walter Jones doesn’t like cooperating with Canada and Mexico.
His beef is with the Security and Prosperity Partnership between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. This has become a favorite topic on talk radio with dire warnings of a coming North American Union.
I find conspiracy theories (from Kennedy’s assassination to anything involving Karl Rove) generally attribute both too much guile and too little sense to the far-too-many conspirators. (Compare these to the Black and Decker plot in the General Assembly.) Regardless, Jones’ contention rests on a lack of context and a further lack of logic.
Jones claims: “Since NAFTA was approved, the United States has lost 3.1 million manufacturing jobs.” This is highly likely given that NAFTA was approved nearly 14 years ago, which would mean an annual manufacturing job loss of 221,000 people. Manufacturing jobs were increasing through the 1990s after NAFTA. The greatest job loss in manufacturing has been since 2000 (data), hard to blame NAFTA for that when jobs were increasing up to that point: an economic slowdown and changing technology had more impact than trade with Mexico or even China.
Jones also says the SPP “will result in more American jobs going to Mexico and more illegal aliens coming to America.” Will someone explain to the estimable Congressman that if Mexico has more jobs, then fewer people from Mexico will see a need to leave if they want to feed their families?
