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Even The Wall Street Journal now admits that NAFTA cost us more jobs than we gained.

Of course, it's buried in the middle of an article.

By Chuck Kelly

OpEdNews.com

     Remember all the promises that were made to American workers that NAFTA would create more jobs in the U.S. than it would lose? And ever since NAFTA was passed, it was claimed that we were actually, in fact, gaining more jobs than we were losing.

     Now the truth finally comes out, even in our conservative financial press. It's buried, of course, in the middle of an article about the Bush Administration’s attempts to put still more pressures on the incomes of working-class Americans. 


      
From The Wall Street Journal, December 18.
      

        
U.S. Reaches a Trade Agreement

        With 4 Central American Nations

        
WASHINGTON—The Bush administration reached agreement on a
        free-trade deal with four Central American countries but now faces an
        election-year fight that could mirror the brawl in the early 1990s over
        opening up trade with Mexico.
        
Free-trade skeptics in Congress say the agreement must overcome stiff
        opposition amid rising anxiety in the U.S. over the flight of jobs
        overseas and the merits of trade liberalization….
        
The Central American Free Trade Agreement, known as Cafta, will stir
        controversy in Congress because of what opponents describe as its weak
        provisions on labor and environmental rules, and tough patent
        protections that could limit access by Central Americans to important
        medicines. Many lawmakers also are concerned that increasing trade with
        Latin America could lead to more job losses in the U.S., particularly in
        the hard-hit textile and clothing sector….
        
Debate a decade ago over the North American Free Trade Agreement, or
        Nafta, drew loud warnings that liberalized trade with Mexico would lead
        to huge job losses in the U.S. Trade with Mexico has soared since
        Nafta's debut in 1994, but recent studies have concluded that the U.S.
        did lose more jobs in various industries than it gained because of the
        pact….

      

      
      

      
     What’s worse—even more than the fact
      that Nafta caused us to lose more jobs than we gained—is that the wages
      of the workers who didn’t lose their jobs to other countries were
      depressed because of the increase in the labor supply in this country.
      
     And that, of course, is the hidden agenda
      of America’s Republicans and conservative Democrats: cut labor costs to
      increase corporate profits. Benefit investors at the direct expense of
      working-class Americans. And they’ve been incredibly successful.
      

      
Chuck Kelly is at http://www.KellySite.net.
      He holds a Ph.D. in industrial communications from Purdue University, is
      now a retired management consultant, and author of the books, THE
      DESTRUCTIVE ACHEIVER, THE GREAT LIMBAUGH CON, and CLASS WAR IN AMERICA.
      This article is originally published at opednews.com.
      Copyright Chuck Kelly, but permission is granted for reprint in print,
      email, blog, or web media so long as this credit is attached