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"...free trade does not hurt the American worker and benefits us all."

It may sound good, but like the proverbial 'free lunch', Free Trade is not Free.

If an American factory pays 500 workers an average of $8.00 an hour that’s $4000 an hour or $32,000 a day, which is $640,000 a month (20 day work month), or $7,680,000 ($7.6mil) a year.

Of course this does not include, health, social security and retirement benefits, nor does it include safety and pollution measures mandated by our government which more than double that amount/labor cost.

However, if the factory moves to Indonesia or Communist China or Mexico, OR JORDAN etc. and pays 500 workers .25 cents an hour, the total wages become $125.00 an hour, $1000 a day, $20,000 a month, or $240,000 a year, with NO benefits & NO government oversight.

This leaves CEO’$/Corp$. well over $7,440,000 ($7.4m) to play with. Most of this windfall goes straight into management’s/Corporate/CEO’s pocket !!!

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Now do you understand why ‘Predatory’ Glo-Baloney Capitalists on Wall Street are doing so well these days, and why these GREEDY Corps. and their lapdog politicians will do/say anything to hang onto THEIR Free Trade Money-Pump.

Desperate Children, Prison & Slave Workers get exploited in the 3rd World --
Decent Paying Jobs & secure families & communities & our National Sovereignty are disposable in the U.S.

Hypertexted from the Original Publication by: CITIZENS FOR BETTER GOVERNMENT --- http://www.afn.org/~govern/index.html

Interesting theory, but please respond to the point that I made about wages rising in real terms post NAFTA and GATT. The truth is that free trade has increased the amount of money in the hands of the american worker at the same time that it increased the wealth of investors (what you call corporate fat cats, but what I call union pension funds, personal 401(k) accounts, etc....). It also holds down inflation on goods for which there is little value added (brooms) and allows the American economy to pursue producing things of greater worth and higher complexity (airliners, turbines for powerplants, automobiles). Keep believing the protectionist lie if you want, but the facts do not support you.