Selling Out the Dollar Adjusting to NAFTA

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The director of Public Citizens Global Trade Watch, Lori Wallach, spoke at the Janesville Academy for International Studies about a week ago. Wallach believes NAFTA has led to disturbing economic trends which have resulted in huge trade deficits and job outsourcing just to name a few. Although this may sound like an opinion, she has recent history and hundreds of shuttered American factories to back her up. But perhaps her most telling bit of advice was this:

The U.S. trade deficit is so large and so threatening that Wallace recommends people put 30 percent of their retirement savings in assets measured in another currency – Euros.

Wow. That says a lot, and I completely agree with her perspective.

Beginning with the union busting policy of Ronald Reagan, the drive to isolate, starve and eventually destroy American labor has been in full swing. Although the Bill Clinton era was one of the most prosperous in U.S. history, he had to fight with a hostile Congress for most of the time. In recorded history, Clinton may turn out to have served as nothing more than an interim president between two failed presidencies because of one huge mistake. To my disappointment then, Bill Clinton endorsed the George H.W. Bush free trade agreement known as NAFTA. It was and still is a huge mistake with repercussions still to come.

Wallach’s comment about the future of the U.S. dollar reminded me of the time soon after the WTC buildings were destroyed back in 2001. I clearly recall seeing the image of a Arab man, waving his fist into the camera lenses on a crowded street somewhere in the middle-east and shouting the words,”sell your U.S. dollars.” Who would think just five short years later, we have economists and retirement planners alike encouraging people to divest themselves of U.S. dollars?! My question is then; Have the terrorists won? And what has the current president done to reverse this trend? To top this off, there are reports that countries such as China are preparing to cash in hundreds of millions of dollars in Treasury Notes and exchange them for Euros. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket really caught on big, I guess. One problem though is that our treasury, in real terms of liquidity – is bankrupt! Yet, we are bombarded daily with good news of economic growth and prosperity from the mainstream media and governmental propagandists. We are now heading into the final two years of an economy designed and built by George W. Bush. It has no brakes, the tank is empty and a nut is loose behind the wheel. With all it’s problems the best thing we could wish for is for it to stop moving, but that won't be easy when you’re going downhill.

Although the Wallach speaking engagement was news in itself and reported on by the Janesville Gazette, the newspaper planted seeds of doubt in the report with this little tidbit.

JG excerpt:
Despite her connections to advocacy groups, Wallach said she wasn’t just spouting opinions.

This short yet powerful sentence implied that despite her connections to advocacy groups, what she has to say may be useful or true, because the Gazette said so. Or possibly that her logic is skewed by her connections. Whatever the Gazette intended here, Wallach apparently had to defend her logic by claiming she was not just spouting opinions. On the other hand, the Gazette regularly quotes the opinions and perspectives from members of activist groups and organizations such as Common Cause, Taxpayers Alliance, or the Heritage Foundation without ever writing in opinion disclaimers or that their connections may improperly bias their views.

Point of my criticism here is that although the mainstream media report on news events, etc., they have taken it upon themselves to act as judge and jury by throwing in their opinion in news articles. After all, who is the news subject here, the person being covered or the paid writer just doing their job? Of course if they identify it as an opinion piece, that’s different. But the mainstream media does this gentle form of propaganda regularly to exercise control over both the reader’s intake and the direction and provenance of the subjects intentions.

I have yet to see in my lifetime where facts are taken and every person regardless of their education, environment or background have come to the same conclusion. I can go as far as to say that the sun is hot and bright and yet, 3 out of 4 people will argue this statement with me for hours. It eventually becomes apparent. Someone is right and someone is wrong.
For comprehensive reports and damage assessments of trade agreements see:
Public Citizen
Trade Watch
World not for sale