There was this very ironic article in the newspaper here:
http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20041204-202423.shtml
They've come to tell the 15,000 people who lost jobs from NAFTA how wonderful it is --- and how the federal government will be handing out $3,000 to $4,000 to the laid off --- you'd think if free trade were really so helpful the federal government wouldn't have to be spending billions of dollars (more than $20 billion a year) because it's been such a disaster:
Kristin Forbes, 34, the youngest member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, spoke Friday about solutions to lost manufacturing jobs that have hit El Paso hard.
The best way to strengthen the nation's manufacturing sector is for the United States to continue to expand trade with other nations, including China, and to take other steps to improve the national economy as a whole, including improved retraining programs for laid-off workers, she said.
El Paso's garment industry has lost thousands of jobs in recent years.
Forbes said President Bush has proposed spending $20 billion in 2005 for job training and re-employment programs. "Some (programs) had checkered successes" and need improvement, she said.
A new idea is "personal re-employment accounts," which would provide money, perhaps $3,000 to $4,000, to laid-off workers to spend "as they see fit" for training or other help to get another job, Forbes said. Congress approved a pilot project to test the idea, she said.
One wonders if Krisine Forbes actually ever held a job not provided by the Gummint or her daddy.