According to the Trucker paper that you can pick up at the Flying J, McCain was in Mexico and Colombia telling them that NAFTA is a win-win.

Well duh, he's right.

Try getting information from sources other than truck stop papers.

Yeah,he is right. It's a win for him and his multinational corporate friends. That's two wins. He's sounding more like George all the time.

Oh, and another thing......are you the Neo-Publican operative in charge of truck drivers? What's wrong with a truckstop paper? It seems to me that they're right on every time.

The value of Mexican goods exported to the United States grew from $39.9 billion in 1993 to $210.8 billion in 2007, an increase of 437 percent.

• The United States exported $136.5 billion worth of goods to Mexico in 2007, up 242 percent since 1993.

Over that period, gross domestic product (GDP) grew 50 percent in the United States and 46 percent in Mexico.

More Investment. The United States is the largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Mexico, accounting for over half of the $19 billion invested there in 2006. In addition, U.S. companies contribute around 50 percent of the investment funds for Mexico’s maquiladoras — factories that assemble products (such as apparel, auto parts and electronic goods) from imported U. S. components for export back to the United States. These firms account for almost half of Mexican exports and over $41 billion in annual sales.

Investment in Mexico has helped increase the efficiency of U.S. domestic production. Many manufacturing companies are able to reduce costs by shifting assembly of their products to the maquiladoras. This has helped boost U.S. manufacturing output, which rose by almost 60 percent from 1993 to 2006. By contrast, output increased only 42 percent in the 13 years before NAFTA.

More Jobs. The greatest opposition to NAFTA (and free trade in general) comes from the belief that foreign competition hurts U.S. employment. This misconception stems from the fact that while the greater benefits of free trade are often dispersed relatively evenly across an economy, losses tend to be concentrated in a few sectors or industries. But job losses are balanced by other jobs created in more productive sectors of the economy, and the new jobs usually pay more than the lost ones. For instance:

• U.S. employment rose from 110.8 million in 1993 to 137.6 million in 2007, an increase of 24 percent.

• The U.S. unemployment rate averaged 5.1 percent for the first 13 years after NAFTA, compared to 7.1 percent during the 13 years prior to the agreement.

Moreover, increased openness to trade has been accompanied by a more rapid rise in wages. For example, from 1979 to 1993 U.S. business-sector real hourly compensation rose at an annual rate of 0.7 percent each year, or 11 percent over the entire period. Between 1993 and 2007, however, real wages rose 1.5 percent annually, for a total of 23.6 percent.

Well Ronno I usually agree with you but I totally disagree with you on this.. The numbers may be pretty close but a bit skewed... the numbers posted do not take in consideration the population growth in America compared to what it was before NAFTA.. more people basically means more production ( how many illegal Mexican we have in this country now after NAFTA????) jobs lost creates higher paying jobs? that could not be father from the truth... pay has increased a little of coarse but the cost of living has sky rocketed so pay increase you speak of is non existent when considering the cost of living increase... Numbers can always be skewed to prove a one sided view but need to include the negative in there as well to get the truth....
GDP growth in America probably had something to do with the 25 million illegals that flooded the country...
46 GDP probably had something to do with all of our $25+ an hr factory jobs heading to Mexico
Those are the facts behind the numbers.... American business men won not the American working class.............
Free trade is not good for America (It can't be changed back to the way it was again now) but good for the rest of the country... Free trade does open markets for corporations but the American worker usually gets the bad end of the deal while upper management/ CEO's are the only ones who benefit from it... Selling of American realestate is not a good ideal neither.. selling company after company to foreign companies is not a good ideal neither.. how is it going to be good for Americans when over half this country is owned and ran by foreign governments and foreign corporations? this is what trade agreement such as NAFTA and CAFTA creates..

Historical U.S. Population Growth
by year 1900-1998

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by year 1900-1998 Date National Population Population Change Average Annual Percent Change July 1, 1998 270,298,524 2,554,929 0.95 July 1, 1997 267,743,595 2,553,801 0.96 July 1, 1996 265,189,794 2,424,846 0.92 July 1, 1995 262,764,948 2,475,711 0.95 July 1, 1994 260,289,237 2,543,134 0.98 July 1, 1993 257,746,103 2,751,586 1.07 July 1, 1992 254,994,517 2,867,115 1.13 July 1, 1991 252,127,402 2,688,690 1.07 July 1, 1990 249,438,712 2,619,482 1.06 July 1, 1989 246,819,230 2,320,248 0.94 July 1, 1988 244,498,982 2,210,064 0.91 July 1, 1987 242,288,918 2,156,031 0.89 July 1, 1986 240,132,887 2,209,092 0.92 July 1, 1985 237,923,795 2,098,893 0.89 July 1, 1984 235,824,902 2,032,908 0.87 July 1, 1983 233,791,994 2,127,536 0.91 July 1, 1982 231,664,458 2,198,744 0.95 July 1, 1981 229,465,714 2,241,033 0.98 July 1, 1980 227,224,681 2,169,194 0.96

It is an ill wind that blows no one good, change hurts some as it helps others.

The reasons for NAFTA are world wide, it makes our hemisphere more competitive than it would be without it.

And why isn't it? NAFTA has created more jobs than it has lost....(only in states that have embraced it).

I don't see anywhere where this chart shows ILLEGAL Mexicans that number over 25 million (some estimat as high as 35 million)

301,139,947 divided by 25,000,000 = 12.0455979

1 in 12.04 people in America is illegal

That is a HUGE FACT that is not in any of the statistics that you posted...... And a majority of those people came here after NAFTA...

I don't know about 25 to 35 million. possible I guess but I've been led to belive 10 to 12 million, a lot to be sure but still...I also find it hard to believe mexicans are buying that many American made products.

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