BK on Identity

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Sat Mar 3 11:54:32 PST 2001


Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:


>Doug pooh-poohs protectionist critics of NAFTA, etc. who say that
>free trade agreements have had a negative impact upon American
>workers

Not exactly. I think the effects of trade are generally exaggerated, but they're appealing because they locate the source of trouble abroad instead of within our own economy and poliitcs. Besides, it's an empirical fact that the U.S. working class did better in terms of both employment and earnings in the 7 years since NAFTA took effect than it did in the previous 7.

And, the U.S. working class unquestionably benefits from imperialism, so it gets very problematic to make the claims about trade agreements assaults on our "sovereignty" that nationalist labor types make.

Doug



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list