Opinion

Globalization good only for profiteers

Posted March 04, 2008 10:00 pm

Globalization and "free trade" send good American jobs abroad, which creates unemployment, lowers wages and breaks unions.

Downsizing and offshoring cost us our middle-class jobs. Perverted corporate bankruptcy laws eviscerate pensions, contracts, labor rights, safety and environment. Combat and blame offshoring, not immigration for our job losses.

Globalization under GATT, NAFTA and CAFTA cause major job/wage losses here. Conservatives never blame globalization. Instead they scapegoat immigrants.

Corporate globalization escalated poverty in Mexico -- lowered wages there to $5 a day from $5 an hour forced risky immigration here.

Also decreased wages in Mexico due to NAFTA caused U.S. companies to relocate assembly plants there, breaking wages and unions here.

Since NAFTA, predatory U.S. chains caused significant bankruptcies and takeovers of small businesses in Mexico.

"Nineteen million more Mexicans live in poverty today than when NAFTA was passed," according to Jim Hightower's January "Lowdown."

Globalized economies sent jobs and wages plummeting for workers everywhere while mega-corporations profiteer, shift populations, and undermine consumer safety and the environment.

M. Russell

Crystal Lake

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