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March 8, 2008

Yes, We Can . . . Expect Some Better Facts on NAFTA

Philip Levy makes the case, in an essay in The American I recommend you read in full:

. . .what about the factory workers in Ohio? Are they just imagining those lost jobs? Of course not. Manufacturing employment in the United States did hit a peak and then begin a steady decline. The problem is that the peak was in 1979, 15 years before NAFTA came into force. The long-term decline of American manufacturing jobs has much more to do with technological change than with trade. We’re producing more stuff with fewer workers.

But is there any harm if someone decides to run the same old Washington textbook campaign, take a few shortcuts of reasoning, and hold NAFTA responsible for the pain of displaced workers? There is. It offers false hope. It leads beleaguered citizens to think that a U.S. withdrawal from NAFTA would make their lives better, when it would almost certainly make their lives worse.

Can we demand better analysis and a more responsible approach from our aspiring political leaders? Yes, we can.

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