Comments on: Economists: Don't Blame NAFTA For Downturn

Washington Post Analysis: Many Say NAFTA Has Been A Net Plus, If A Modest One, For The Economy

[greeneyes222]

Economists saw nothing wrong with predatory lending in the mortgage market either. For all practical purposes, economists have the same connotations as used car salesmen.

I think we should start outsourcing economists and see how they like it when it happens to them. They haven''t gotten anything right yet, and there''s no reason to pay these idiots what they''re paid when it would be cheaper to hire economists from India or China or Mexico.

[rudy654-2009]

What a propaganda piece this article is.

[mcv57]

Posted by mac4440

I want you to go to your old college professor and slap him for wasting your money, cause you sure sound stupid to me.

[mcv57]

The economist they mentioned are the White House''s toilet cleaners. Too bad they did not mention names to these nobel prize losers and liars. NAFTA has only proven to be good for one thing - to make the rich richer.

[mac4440]

Wake up people...read the facts...Jobs didn''t go to Mexico, they went to Asia. NAFTA has been a plus for America

[walt1944-2009]

Economists are claiming that it''s not NAFTA or any FREE TRADE agreement that is responsible for the recession in the USSA.

Back in 1992, Ross Perot (remember him?)claimed that NAFTA would destroy the country, that jobs would be shipped overseas by the boatload, the dollar would turn into useless paper, and the economy would go through the floor. Everyone thought he was crazy, BUT HE WAS RIGHT ON, and we were just too stupid to realize it!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!!
sig heil, (more of the same) McCain!!!

[sharncedar]

Why do economists always lie? Why do they always oppose the people? Why do they argue and spin and spew garbage and in the end it ALWAYS comes out precisely for whoever is in power?

There is something really wrong with the economics training or profession in this country. "Economists" seem to be the cheapesy kind of liars, we all will never forget the pronouncements of "Greedscam" one after the other that whatever inane policy of the whatever government he happened to serve under was somehow the very best economic thing to do, miracle of miracles. Tax increases were great under Clinton, then tax cuts were great under Bush.

Now we have some unnamed "economists" pronouncing how great NAFTA is. What a surprise. An honest economist is becoming an oxymoron. Have you people no shame, no professional pride?

[brittanicus-2009]

Absolute Garbage! We have the agenda of the globalist, open border, free traders pushing for the free movement of cheap labor throughout the North American Continent Padlocks on closed premises reveal that thousands of American industries have closed down, because they cannot compete with cheap labor in other countries, because of this ugly treaty called NAFTA.
The explosive rise in our nation''s trade deficit is another fundamental menace to this country and our economy. The trade deficit through the first 11 months of last year came in at $662 billion dollars, on pace to jump 17 percent from 2004''s record deficit. In fact, the trade deficit has nearly doubled since the president Bush took office.

First we need to get our own citizens hired, instead of the 12 to 30 million foreign nationals that is catastrophic to our economy. Now right now, we need THE SAVE ACT. We need to remove by deportation or ATTRITION people who broke our immigration laws.

Keep calling your Democratic Congressmen today to co-author THE SAVE ACT! Toll free numbers include 18778516437 and 18662200044, or call toll 12022243121 AND REGISTER YOUR OUTRAGE at ongoing efforts to keep our country from enforcing its immigration laws!

[popstom1]

clean out the 401s clean out the banks sellall your
stock drop the bomb and sit back and watch the wall
street blood suckers starve

[sjbj2322]

How will it get spun that Hillary doesn''t like NAFTA and Bill does? WELL...maybe it will finally get spun that Hillary Clinton is running for president - NOT BILL!! Moreover, I''m sick and tired of hearing all the criticism of NAFTA being blamed on the Clintons. Have we forgotten that GEORGE W. has been in the White House for 8 years and certainly had ample opportunity to change, modify, do away with programs if he thought them to be advantageous to our economy. No - let''s blame the Clinton''s because is politically advantageous to do so. As others have noted, NAFTA has had good and bad aspects to it so why hasn''t the Bush administration been more responsive in tweaking the program to eliminate the negative aspects that have hampered the economy.

[gkc99]

Of course it was "economists" who have flown the US economy into the ground, with ample help from head "economist" Alan Greenspan.

Their opinions are pretty dismissable.

[gkc99]

Of course it was "economists" who have flown the US economy into the ground, with ample help from head "economist" Alan Greenspan.

Their opinions are pretty dismissable.

[sjc_1]

NAFTA has to do with Mexico, Canada and the U.S. not Asia. We have imported very affordable oil from Canada and Mexico under NAFTA. Mexico is one of the largest customers for U.S. exported products. On the whole, over the long run, NAFTA has had mixed results, but net positive. It may make good political speeches, but it is better to get the facts right.

[questionnews]

Hiilary doesn''t like NAFTA (at least while she''s running), hubby Bill loves NAFTA. How will this get spun?

[ricinboerne]

I seem to recall a little guy named Ross Perot who ran for President way back when... who stood up in front of the cameras with his little charts and graphs and tried to explain why NAFTA was gonna be bad for us all... why globalization was not the way... and the majority of Americans laughed at him. Well, my friends, they aren''t laughing now! And with regard to "many economists," who are they? Where are they? What are their names? Are they in the US or in India???

[mudrose-2009]

They need to blame anybody and anything for their ill will. Nafta is another casualty of bullying unions. Businesses won''t tolerate it. They can get cheaper labor across the border. We are in a global economy and we have to compete. But leave it to the Democrats to shoot the American people in the foot with stupidy and ignorance. Like I keep saying victimization and poverty is big business. He who pimps it the loudest holds the deck.

[idnnsg]

"The North American Free Trade Agreement is once again a prime scapegoat for ... sending jobs overseas and flattening wages for U.S. workers. ... But is that judgment fair? ... Many economists do not think so"

"Many"? How many is "many"?

I''ll bet there are "many economists" who DO think NAFTA is responsible for many of the lost jobs.

[ianlou]

Good luck defending any of our trade policies concidering our current economic condition. NAFTA is only one of many ways or current leadership has sold out the average American.